Do earwax candles really work? What is happening when you use one?

Question

Do earwax candles really work? What is happening when you use one?

In: 10

Answer 1

No they don’t.

The theory: you put the candle in your ear and it forms a seal where air can’t get into your ear canal, except for up the top of the candle. You light the top on fire. Fire burns oxygen, meaning that the oxygen inside your ear canal should be getting consumed by the fire of the candle. This is supposed to then create a small vacuum in your ear canal, which should then pull stuck earwax off from the skin inside your ear and suck it out through the candle.

In practice: this doesn’t work. There’s not enough pull in the vacuum to make it work – don’t know why, but I’m guessing that the seal isn’t airtight enough, or that the fire is just surviving on external oxygen, not the stuff inside the ear canal.

Answer 2

No they don’t.

The theory: you put the candle in your ear and it forms a seal where air can’t get into your ear canal, except for up the top of the candle. You light the top on fire. Fire burns oxygen, meaning that the oxygen inside your ear canal should be getting consumed by the fire of the candle. This is supposed to then create a small vacuum in your ear canal, which should then pull stuck earwax off from the skin inside your ear and suck it out through the candle.

In practice: this doesn’t work. There’s not enough pull in the vacuum to make it work – don’t know why, but I’m guessing that the seal isn’t airtight enough, or that the fire is just surviving on external oxygen, not the stuff inside the ear canal.