Ear Wax

Often times when cleaning my ears I have wondered why does hair grow in our ears and why do we have ear wax. It never made sense to me. I never saw any purpose in them-except to give extra cleaning work. However, after doing some research, I learned that ear wax and ear hair works together to serve a very important purpose.

Ear wax is also known as cerumen. It is a sticky gummy substance that is produced by the outer ear canal. As it forms it sticks to the walls of the ear canal and gathers on the short hairs growing within the canal. The wax and waxy hairs trap dust, lent, dandruff, and air borne particles, preventing them from reaching the drum. As the ear wax dries up it comes out taking with it the dust and debris it trapped.

When grooming and cleaning the ears one must be very careful.

Ear Wax Blockage

From experience I know ear wax blockages can occur from the use of Qtips. The Qtips do not remove all ear wax from the ear. It pushes most of it deep into the ear canal. The cotton particles from the Qtip gets pulled from the Qtip by the sticky ear wax and acts as a bind to hold accumulated ear wax, as straw holds mud when making mud houses. I found that the best way to clean ears is by not using Qtips nor any other type of items to dig into the ear canal. Normally ear wax comes out the ears naturally. As new ear wax is produced within the ear the old sticky ear wax is pushed up out the ear canal by new wax. When the old ear wax comes within reach then would be the best time to clean what is easily reachable.

People who wear hearing aids and wear earplugs are prone to have ear wax blockages because they force the wax back into the ear canal, causing it to build up over time. These people should periodically use ear wax removal products. However, an important thing to keep in mind is to not use ear wax removal products too frequently. Using ear wax removal products to often can affect the ear's ability to make ear wax which can result in ear irritation.

So everyone be careful when cleaning your ears.