164
submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by yogi_pogi@lemmy.world to c/til@lemmy.world

the type of earwax you have comes down in part to your skin type, Dr. Shapiro explains. People with oilier skin may have wet earwax, while those with drier skin tend to have dry earwax, she says.

People of East Asian descent are more likely to have dry earwax, while wet earwax seems to be more common with everyone else

top 43 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] njm1314@lemmy.world 73 points 6 months ago

"Earwax is one of those things that you probably think about for around 0.2 seconds every other month, if that."

Article lost all credibility in the first sentence.

[-] Frozengyro@lemmy.world 30 points 6 months ago

Yea, if I'm not cleaning out my ears once it twice a week, I'm getting a blockage.

[-] NaoPb@eviltoast.org 1 points 6 months ago

Need to unclog the traffic jams from the tunnels every once in a while.

[-] Frozengyro@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

Get the lead out

[-] seathru@lemmy.sdf.org 32 points 6 months ago

“The only safe way to clean wax from the ear canal at home is with earwax drops,” Dr. Tweel says. That means applying a few drops of something like baby oil, mineral oil, glycerin, or hydrogen peroxide in your ear canal and letting it sit for a day or two

That's one way to spend your weekend.

[-] JayDee@lemmy.ml 12 points 6 months ago

I'll continue to live dangerously via Q-tips. Been doing it since I was a child, and no doctor's told me I've irreparably damaged my ears yet.

[-] xlash123@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 months ago

The trick with Q-tips is to not go far. I mainly use it to clean the initial part of my ear and only rubbing it in a circular manner to prevent cramming anything in there. If I find myself the need to go deeper, I will use eardrops.

[-] lone_faerie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 6 months ago

The best discovery in my life is something called the Elephant Ear. It's a squirt bottle for getting water behind your earwax and pushing it out from the back

[-] zer0squar3d@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 6 months ago

Hydrogen peroxide dissolves it, when the bubbling stops it's done.

[-] Macropolis@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

I just recently discovered the use of peroxide in this way. It's cheap and works better than anything else I've tried.

[-] zer0squar3d@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 months ago

Yeah from what I was reading it's used professionally in dr offices. IIRC they use like slightly more concentrated h2o2 (hydrogen peroxide) but I wouldn't even if you could get your hands on stronger stuff as it could cause DMG and it's mainly, again from my understanding, used to speed up the process so you aren't sitting there for like 30 minutes or something. Again, probably wrong and may have forgotten this incorrectly. Consult a Dr not some rando online.

[-] Chev@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

This seems to be a plant... Can you provide a link or something?

[-] lone_faerie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 6 months ago

As a kid, I had really bad earwax and had to go to the doctor because it was affecting my hearing. They used this and it was life changing.

https://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Washer-Bottle-Doctor-Easy/dp/B005M2B5P0

[-] Dasus@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

That was done to me and it sounds worse than it is.

For me it was using eardrops and then putting earplugs on and sleeping the night. The next day the school nurse (this was >20 years ago) flushed my ears. Felt orgasmic afterwards, could actually hear properly. After that I learned how to wash my own ears — inside and out.

[-] i_am_not_a_robot@feddit.uk 30 points 6 months ago

Apparently this is the one thing which is controlled by a single gene, and works as you were taught in school with dominant and recessive traits.

Nothing else does, including the things you were taught like eye and hair colour - they are much more complicated.

[-] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 18 points 6 months ago

I'm going to doubt the single gene hypothesis. I have dry ear wax in one ear and wet in the other.

[-] Communist@lemmy.ml 22 points 6 months ago

Is there any chance you're a chimera?

[-] i_am_not_a_robot@feddit.uk 10 points 6 months ago

Hmm, maybe it's one per ear?!

[-] tiredofsametab@kbin.run 5 points 6 months ago

Do you notice that the amount and/or scent of your perspiration is different comparing the two sides of your body?

[-] ulterno@lemmy.kde.social 1 points 6 months ago

Did you wash one ear and not the other?
Or did you sleep on one side on a sweaty night?

[-] DarkNightoftheSoul@mander.xyz 14 points 6 months ago
[-] wjrii@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Something (maybe Alexandrite") borked the link for me. If anyone else has the same issue, here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaqQJj24yCY_bDQ35jS0Gvw

And yeah, that's nasty. I had to get my earwax flushed out once. It was unpleasant and super gross, and I've used the specialized peroxide solutions a couple of times in the years since. My wife has the dry wax gene, and finds wet wax both gross and confusing.

The only thing I'll add is that having used a cheap camera earwax cleaner, the magnification makes every normal little waxbooger look like a Star Trek brain slug, so while still dramatic (don't get me wrong), the videos always look just a touch more dramatic than they really are.

[-] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 2 points 6 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://www.piped.video/channel/UCaqQJj24yCY_bDQ35jS0Gvw

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 months ago

I had to get my earwax flushed out once.

Like, with a warm water jet by a nurse?

It's ooky but it certainly works.

[-] wjrii@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Yup. Big-ass syringe full of warm water, possibly with some solution in it (I don't recall that part). It was affecting my hearing in one ear, and the flush fixed it right up.

[-] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 2 points 6 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

I'm just gonna leave this here.

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

[-] Zerlyna@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago
[-] DarkNightoftheSoul@mander.xyz 1 points 6 months ago

What's the matter, Zerlyna? Did I post the wrong link?

[-] yum@lemmy.eco.br 1 points 6 months ago

I think it's just really impressive to see that much ear wax coming out of someone's ear. I honestly had no clue

[-] Zerlyna@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

🤣 TIL too much lol. Never seen that much come out of an ear before!!

[-] DarkNightoftheSoul@mander.xyz 2 points 6 months ago

I should have included a trigger warning 🤣

[-] ebits21@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 months ago

I’m an Audiologist. Love it when you get one of these. ;)

[-] Lemming421@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

My god, that’s glorious

[-] Avialle@lemmy.world 9 points 6 months ago

If you are the wet type you may reconsider buying expensive in-ears. The chance to ruin them quite fast is not that low.

[-] k110111@feddit.de 8 points 6 months ago

I remember reading a fact that the same gene that leads to dry earwax also leads to higher likelihood of big boobs

[-] Wiz@midwest.social 5 points 6 months ago

[subscribe to newsletter]

[-] z00s@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

Which tastes better?

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

Multiple types of saliva too

[-] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

Eew.. Dry saliva sounds way more unpleasant than dry earwax

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

If you've ever been working out too hard and you want to spit but your saliva won't, that's that saliva. It sucks.

[-] MapleEngineer@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

I have the ABCC11 gene. I have dry ear wax and no body odor.

[-] NaoPb@eviltoast.org 3 points 6 months ago

I use a cotton swab when it becomes itchy or I can feel and hear it moving.

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 1 points 6 months ago

Just like boogers!

this post was submitted on 18 May 2024
164 points (95.6% liked)

Today I Learned

17808 readers
349 users here now

What did you learn today? Share it with us!

We learn something new every day. This is a community dedicated to informing each other and helping to spread knowledge.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must begin with TIL. Linking to a source of info is optional, but highly recommended as it helps to spark discussion.

** Posts must be about an actual fact that you have learned, but it doesn't matter if you learned it today. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.**



Rule 2- Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding non-TIL posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-TIL posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.



Partnered Communities

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS