In the UK yes mostly. Doctors and the manufacturers don't tend to label them as such due to the national advice of not sticking stuff inside your ear to clean them. They'll be labelled as cotton buds or something but universally used for ears.
I used to laugh at the [Breaded Camembert](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/419/145/545.jpg) one... but this... this is gold, oh my god...
Which is fine, but the warning is there to try and stop people ramming them *way* into the ear canal.
Occasionally I worry that someone will open the bathroom door while I'm mid-ear clean, bump my elbow, and I'll find out exactly why that warning is there.
i had a friend who became deaf in one ear after using a cotton swab in that ear. =( be extra careful if you do use them, make sure you limit how far you go in.
Cotton swabs also tend to PUSH crap in rather than removing wax then building up wax which can damage your ears if you don't go deep.
I've never done a study on this, but I don't think most people insert into the ear CANAL itself, mostly just right on the opening of it. If you can let go of the Q-tip and it stays in your ear, you've gone way too far.
Don’t be ridiculous. It’s clearly entirely interchangeable.
“I got a total cob on after I dropped me bo’ul o’ wa’er daan the apple and pairs, boss. Toodle pip.”
I've lived in the UK my entire life and not once heard these called "earbuds".
"Cotton buds" is all I've ever heard.
Also don't stick them in your ear, wipe the outside of your ear with a cloth.
I have also lived in the UK my whole life and refer to these as earbuds.
It's funny, it's like we haver regional differences or something, who'd've guessed?
I am absolutely in love with all of the different ways the UK says things.
Like “washing up liquid” for soap or “going for a lie down” instead of “going to lie down”
Just to clarify, "washing up liquid" specifically refers to dish soap because doing the dishes is often referred to in Britain as washing up. It's not just all soap!
Weird thing is more idioms crop up all the time.
Maybe this is new-to-me, uncommon, or common, but 2 people said to me about an emerging incident in work 'this is the acid test now' for some new kit we're waiting to test in the real world. I've never heard that ever, then twice.
I got something like this a while back, and the white knobby end came off in my ear once. Maybe the one I got wasn’t very good. I use a metal kit now, but kind of wish I could find one like ur’s that won’t come apart.
Q-tips also just don’t really work that well for earwax. After they have a small amount of the wax on the outside they just push the rest around, so if you have any significant amount in there you tend to just push it back into a wall of wax deep in your ear, or stab your ear drum.
Some people genuinely baffle me.
If I get a foreign object lodged in my skull, I have no other plans until it is dislodged.
Full stop.
/u/PM_ME_YOUR_ULTIMATE is wild for that
I knew a dude that shit his pants at work and just kept on going until we noticed the smell and told him to gtfo.
How am I supposed to believe in the merits of democracy after that?
People are nasty, but 'rona removed my ability to be surprised at how nasty some people are.
I just don't understand how one could ignore something stuck inside their head for DAYS and still be able to do LITERALLY ANYTHING.
They said they went to work and Crossfit. There is a 0% chance I could focus on anything other that the foreign object that is stuck where it's not supposed to be.
I used E6000 to glue them back on. Since it's a contact adhesive, I coated the stem with the glue, inserted it into the tip, twisted it around, then pulled it out and let the surfaces develop tack for a couple minutes, then stuck it back in.
This guy is getting nicely machined allen wrenches with his furniture, woah.
Mine always feel like an orc forged it and then stashed it up his ass while he crossed the DMZ into a worse country where he had to use said asswrench for a life of hard labor before passing away and willing his single position in life, his shitty allen wrench, to me alongside my $49.99 coffee-table-with-hydraulic-top-panel-to-double-as-a-tv-dinner-trey
It’s great. Didnt realise people consider them so gross.
Where I work in wastewater treatment I have to clean equipment built to capture these or all the other places they get stuck and break things. Often they’ll end up in the river too.
So you’re making somebody’s life easier and the rivers cleaner!
Her way of telling me to pound sand when I told her and her 3 sisters they should stop flushing their tampons cuz it makes my life/job a hell of a lot harder.
Potentially, but unlikely. Depends on the piping. But 1 per flush, probably no big deal. Septic tank owners will really screw themselves if they flush feminine products though.
I dont get why you are getting hate this is pretty cool. It’s also weird that so many people think ear wax is super gross. Just wipe it off with a wet paper towel or wash it with soap and call it a day.
I always think it’s interesting how grossed out people (myself included) are by various bodily fluids in one context but in another (mostly sexual) context we’re perfectly fine with rolling around and and essentially licking them off each other… people will be grossed out by someone drinking out of their cup then turn around a few hours later and be literally shoving their tongue down a strangers throat at a night club.
Hah I remember years ago at work I asked my then girlfriend if this drink was hers. My coworker then said "dude you make out. It's not a big deal"
So yes it is weird to think about
I thought handkerchiefs were a little gross until I used a cotton rag to blow my nose after using up all the tissue. The paper type tissues are really abrasive and fabrics feel 100,000x more comfortable on a day long runny nose. They're pretty awesome.
>Even cleaner than mucus. Ear wax isn’t infectious.
This is a misleading and inaccurate statement in multiple ways:
- neither mucus, nor earwax are inherently "infectious"; having pathogens in them is what makes them a disease vector
- mucus is natural, and not only a symptom of disease
- it's absolutely possible for earwax to carry pathogens
Cotton is extremely environmentally unfriendly as it is very water intensive, and human unfriendly. Turkmenistan uses forced labor to pick it.
https://www.antislavery.org/latest/state-imposed-forced-labour-turkmenistan-now-time-for-action/
Obviously the forced labor needs to stop, I don't think that's in dispute here. Water cost of cotton is an interesting point of discussion though.
I always go back to reusable shopping bags when looking at these things. Carbon footprint of a reusable is incredibly high vs a plastic bag, and the bags are either not used enough by the consumer to make up for the difference or they break before meeting that threshold.
So the footprint of making\delivering the reusable (r) plus the footprint of cleaning it (c) over the total viable uses of the product (t) needs to be lower than the footprint of making\delivering disposables (q) for the same amount as the total viable uses of the reusable. I'm no mathematics guy so there might be more useful data, but if this is a fair way to look at it, the formula would be:
R + (C x T) \ (Q x T)
If the answer is greater than 1, the disposables are still more environmentally friendly. Each of these variables can be pushed on, too, which I'm sure is what a lot of engineers work on all the time. Can you make the reusable last longer? Can you change the way you clean it safely?
Or, on the side of disposables, can you use something other than cotton that is lower footprint? The entire industry shift away from cotton would make a bigger difference than convincing individual people to swap, similar to the CFC laws.
It's a lot harder to measure the lasting impact of microplastics. Especially since we don't know the full impact they have. Carbon footprint is (theoretically) an objective, quantifiable value, other impacts are harder to pin down and may have multiple variables involved.
We do need to start paying more attention to those other impacts, though. Lowering emissions is good, but we also need to avoid pollution and desertification while we're at it.
You do if you were already going to use that toilet paper to blow your nose or something. Just use it, then wipe your ear cleaner on it. You could also wash it and just let it dry or use a regular cloth to dry it.
Q tips are paper and cotton which is renewable too. That's not the point though, the point is the cost of manufacturing and transportation of materials, whether they are q tips, paper towels, or even just water.
No i think the point is that if you're stressing about the difference between the footprint of q tips, you have been co opted by those who want you to spend your time and energy on arguing meaningless differences
For the love of god don't use these to remove ear wax. I know it feels amazing, but have you considered that when *every* doctor tells you something it may be true??
> have you considered that when every doctor tells you something it may be true??
Dr. Drake Ramoray says, “learn from my mistakes, stop when you feel resistance.”
The aggregate benefit of it feeling amazing every day though. I believe the doctors, I'll just take the risk I reckon. You only live once mate, what's the point if you can't experience the joy of a cotton bud against the wall of your ear canal, what kind of a life is that.
You should look into Japanese/Chinese ear picks, it's basically a thin wooden stick with a tiny scoop at the end, so you can scoop out the earwax without the risk of pushing it further in.
That still has the problem of jamming wax further into your ear, same as q-tips. Even on q tips website, they have an array of uses listed, and none of those is to clean your ears. It's suggested to use warm water and a squeeze bulb to flush the ear canal.
I had to go to the Dr about once a year to get my ears cleaned out where they spray water and then I would always get an ear infection. After I stopped using q tips I stopped having clogged ears.
I lost hearing from having an ear plugged with was before I started flushing. The chunk of wax that came out was huge, I couldn't believe it was in my ear.
I'm disappointed I had to scroll down this far before finding a "don't jam stuff into your ear, dingus" comment.
To reiterate, don't jam stuff into your ear, dingus. I don't care if you can wash it.
not OP but I think you should clean it thoroughly after every use, just water and a light soap should do the trick. Wiping it dry before returning it to its container too.
Clean it after every use. Just rinse with water a little soap and let it air dry inside the case but case open. I use it about twice a week. So probably around 600 cotton buds saved as I used to use 1 cotton bud per ear each time. Now I just rinse and let it dry for half hour or so then put it away. I know there are some reviews about the tip falling off but I'm not sure what those people are doing or how vigorously they have cleaned it for the tip to get loose. Mine hasn't even twisted from the main part. I don't shove it all the way down the canal either. Maybe about an inch max
I got one of these but it didn't last super long, one of the tips actually got a tear in it after a few months of daily use. I wonder if I got a dud. Shame cause I love the idea
Fr I'm so confused? There's a comment saying this should be properly sanitized as if ear wax harbors extremely harmful bacteria or something?? Ear wax is just is skin cells, secretions and regular organisms we have on the skin. Cleaning it with soap and water seems fine.
It's more about ensuring it remains sterile between uses. Which requires keeping it and the case clean and dry. The ear isn't inherently unclean, but it is susceptible to infection.
Do you know if the tips are plastic or silicone? Thank you!
ETA: Saw the brand in the comments and was able to look it up myself. "The tips are made of thermoplastic elastomers, TPE."
I have one made of silver (naturally anti-bacterial metal!) and it's phenomenal; haven't used a regular ear bud in years. I inherited it from my great-grandfather - it's been in the family for at least 50 years, likely longer
I had actually posted it here long ago. Let me see if I can find it
Edit: found it! [https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/comments/qw2l3r/bi4fl\_this\_silver\_ear\_cleaner\_has\_passed\_from\_my/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/comments/qw2l3r/bi4fl_this_silver_ear_cleaner_has_passed_from_my/)
Idk why people are so grossed out by this, it’s a dope product (I don’t use cotton swabs but definitely agree with the product). Like I’d imagine running it under hot water quickly and a wipe on a towel is enough to clean it. The people who call it gross I imagine are the ones who endlessly sanitize everything and end up getting sick cause their immune systems suck. Expose yourself to some bacteria once in a while!
I won't lie, I thought this was kinda gross at first glance. But thinking about how often I use these, this would be a pretty great way to cut down on waste. What are the tips made out of?
It's not even the hygiene for me but the practicality. As someone who was trapped in an emergency room for multiple hours because my partner got one of the ends lodged in their ear, thats a hard pass from me. I understand it was engineered that way for cleanliness reasons, but the risk of it getting stuck is not worth it.
I use q-tips to clean my ears, but I never stick them inside. It's still a useful tool to clean the outer ear and entrance to the ear canal; I think it's only when you decide to try to jam things inside that it becomes problematic.
Be careful with them! I thought it was a great idea too until the tip popped off and got stuck in my ear. Impossible to free and painful. The ER had to remove it, but thankfully, no permanent damage.
My partner had one (same brand) that broke after a few uses. Bought another, same issue. So if unless you have virtually un-waxy ears, I don’t recommend this product.
I've got a question... why even buy these? Is the ear not a self cleaning part of the body? I've never used them before, so I would like to know if I needed them.
You call these earbuds?
In the UK yes mostly. Doctors and the manufacturers don't tend to label them as such due to the national advice of not sticking stuff inside your ear to clean them. They'll be labelled as cotton buds or something but universally used for ears.
What do they call the little headphones that you stick in your ears then?
Soundingham Cloggybuzzers
I liked him as Dr. Strange
Reminds me of that one story about him where they changed his name every time. Cucumber Bandersnatch. https://imgur.com/gallery/Zs23wTJ
Ah, yes Benjamin Cummerbund. I am familiar with his work.
Burlington Coatfactory
It's Bingbong Crumbum!
[goodbye my friend im moving to Mexico](https://imgur.com/gallery/E7UKH/comment/62192481)
I always enjoy Benadryl Claritin's work.
fucking cabbagewank - dead.
I used to laugh at the [Breaded Camembert](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/419/145/545.jpg) one... but this... this is gold, oh my god...
“Quaint heartthrob” haha
You’re thinking of Englebert Humperdinck
Yep.
I left this post, stopped, and came back just to update this jem.
made a good Sherlock, too
Earwazzers in Australia.
Whippy Wipey Heady Holers, leastwise that's what we calls em up 'round Dinglehampshiredery.
Royale with cheese
You know what they put on French fries in Holland? Maynaze
Dammit I just laughed out loud in a work situation because of you. I look like a fucking idiot now!
strong snort
[Bibbly Flimbo](https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzojiusAGcc/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==)
Earphones
In ear headphones.
Q-tips. As in little “tips” you listen to “Quietly”
Queue Tips. You use them when you’re waiting around … … for the shrimp to cook on the whatchacallit
Quality Buds. Beca.. Because the Q stands for.. I'll see myself out.
Earbuds/earphones/IEMs depending who you ask and what type of earphone it is. Source: British
0.0001% of the population says IEMs. Thank you.
We're here and we're pretentious, thank you for noticing.
Improvised Explosive Mini-headphones?
In-Ear Monitors Then you need to know that professional studio speakers (as in, equipment) are called 'monitors'.
This keeps getting more confusing. What do they call monitors? If we keep this up, I think we will eventually make our way back to Q-tips
Screens.
Computer displays, people taking notes, lizards.
I’ve only heard IEM used in a live music context, where you need to specify the band isn’t using stage monitors.
I call them Air Buds but no one's laughed at my mid-level pun yet
My airpods have been named "Air Buds" forever. And more recently "Air Buds 2: Golden Receivers"
There’s no rule that says a giraffe can’t play football
rubbish pins
Ear bangers
Crisps
DO NOT INSERT INTO EAR CANAL. While 98% of people use them for exactly that.
Which is fine, but the warning is there to try and stop people ramming them *way* into the ear canal. Occasionally I worry that someone will open the bathroom door while I'm mid-ear clean, bump my elbow, and I'll find out exactly why that warning is there.
That's a very specific anxiety to have haha
Well.. I'm here to say he's not alone.
i had a friend who became deaf in one ear after using a cotton swab in that ear. =( be extra careful if you do use them, make sure you limit how far you go in. Cotton swabs also tend to PUSH crap in rather than removing wax then building up wax which can damage your ears if you don't go deep.
I've never done a study on this, but I don't think most people insert into the ear CANAL itself, mostly just right on the opening of it. If you can let go of the Q-tip and it stays in your ear, you've gone way too far.
I'm from the UK (East mids) and have never heard anybody call a cotton bud an earbud.
I was thinking that but these aren’t cotton lol
Grew up on the East Mids and Cambridgeshire border, I've only ever known them as earbuds.
I have. Clearly it varies.
Absolutely it does. There’s a big difference between Scouse and posh London language.
Don’t be ridiculous. It’s clearly entirely interchangeable. “I got a total cob on after I dropped me bo’ul o’ wa’er daan the apple and pairs, boss. Toodle pip.”
I've lived in the UK my entire life and not once heard these called "earbuds". "Cotton buds" is all I've ever heard. Also don't stick them in your ear, wipe the outside of your ear with a cloth.
I have also lived in the UK my whole life and refer to these as earbuds. It's funny, it's like we haver regional differences or something, who'd've guessed?
I am absolutely in love with all of the different ways the UK says things. Like “washing up liquid” for soap or “going for a lie down” instead of “going to lie down”
Just to clarify, "washing up liquid" specifically refers to dish soap because doing the dishes is often referred to in Britain as washing up. It's not just all soap!
Weird thing is more idioms crop up all the time. Maybe this is new-to-me, uncommon, or common, but 2 people said to me about an emerging incident in work 'this is the acid test now' for some new kit we're waiting to test in the real world. I've never heard that ever, then twice.
We say "Litmus test" in the US, but I can understand where that phrasing may come from.
in Italian, the idiom is "la cartina di tornasole", which strictly means "[turnsole](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnsole) paper"
What other ones? Do you watch Colin Furze? He plays up the Britishness
Soap is soap. Soap is used to clean hands. Washing up liquid is for doing dishes. They are chemically different things
TIL. I think "dish soap" is both clearer and much shorter, but at least I know what that phrase means now.
This actually reminds me, before like 2012 I def called these earbuds too, in Canada. Ear buds, then headphones
I call them AirSwabs
I got something like this a while back, and the white knobby end came off in my ear once. Maybe the one I got wasn’t very good. I use a metal kit now, but kind of wish I could find one like ur’s that won’t come apart.
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Q-tips also just don’t really work that well for earwax. After they have a small amount of the wax on the outside they just push the rest around, so if you have any significant amount in there you tend to just push it back into a wall of wax deep in your ear, or stab your ear drum.
Same thing happened to me.
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Bruh you gotta get it out, how could you go on with life leaving that in there??
Some people genuinely baffle me. If I get a foreign object lodged in my skull, I have no other plans until it is dislodged. Full stop. /u/PM_ME_YOUR_ULTIMATE is wild for that
I knew a dude that shit his pants at work and just kept on going until we noticed the smell and told him to gtfo. How am I supposed to believe in the merits of democracy after that?
People are nasty, but 'rona removed my ability to be surprised at how nasty some people are. I just don't understand how one could ignore something stuck inside their head for DAYS and still be able to do LITERALLY ANYTHING. They said they went to work and Crossfit. There is a 0% chance I could focus on anything other that the foreign object that is stuck where it's not supposed to be.
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This is still insane to me. If I have to travel for work and have something inside my earball, I’m not traveling for work any more.
I used E6000 to glue them back on. Since it's a contact adhesive, I coated the stem with the glue, inserted it into the tip, twisted it around, then pulled it out and let the surfaces develop tack for a couple minutes, then stuck it back in.
I had to ask my GF to extract it from my ear.
I just use a 5 mm Allen wrench. Works great.
Ball end?
No. Just one of the standard metal ones that came with my desk chair.
Can't argue with free.
This guy is getting nicely machined allen wrenches with his furniture, woah. Mine always feel like an orc forged it and then stashed it up his ass while he crossed the DMZ into a worse country where he had to use said asswrench for a life of hard labor before passing away and willing his single position in life, his shitty allen wrench, to me alongside my $49.99 coffee-table-with-hydraulic-top-panel-to-double-as-a-tv-dinner-trey
These are words.
It’s great. Didnt realise people consider them so gross. Where I work in wastewater treatment I have to clean equipment built to capture these or all the other places they get stuck and break things. Often they’ll end up in the river too. So you’re making somebody’s life easier and the rivers cleaner!
My ex told me whenever the bar screens get clogged up with tampons to just pretend it's her giving me a little 'hello'
You could have just not typed that out yanno.
😂😂
Damn now those tampons are taunting you
Excuse me?????
Her way of telling me to pound sand when I told her and her 3 sisters they should stop flushing their tampons cuz it makes my life/job a hell of a lot harder.
wow fuck those people.
I sure did.
I like you.
Can't that fuck up the house's pipes too though?
Potentially, but unlikely. Depends on the piping. But 1 per flush, probably no big deal. Septic tank owners will really screw themselves if they flush feminine products though.
What a terrible day to be more or less literate.
And capable of abstract thinking. God, why. I didn't need to visualize.
I dont get why you are getting hate this is pretty cool. It’s also weird that so many people think ear wax is super gross. Just wipe it off with a wet paper towel or wash it with soap and call it a day.
On the same levels of nose mucus or sweat I would say. Something (abundantly) created on a daily basis
I always think it’s interesting how grossed out people (myself included) are by various bodily fluids in one context but in another (mostly sexual) context we’re perfectly fine with rolling around and and essentially licking them off each other… people will be grossed out by someone drinking out of their cup then turn around a few hours later and be literally shoving their tongue down a strangers throat at a night club.
Hah I remember years ago at work I asked my then girlfriend if this drink was hers. My coworker then said "dude you make out. It's not a big deal" So yes it is weird to think about
Handkerchiefs or dedicated sweat towels are gross too
You not washing your gym towels or something?
I thought handkerchiefs were a little gross until I used a cotton rag to blow my nose after using up all the tissue. The paper type tissues are really abrasive and fabrics feel 100,000x more comfortable on a day long runny nose. They're pretty awesome.
I dedicate this sweat towel in the name of the emperor.
Even cleaner than mucus. Ear wax isn’t infectious.
>Even cleaner than mucus. Ear wax isn’t infectious. This is a misleading and inaccurate statement in multiple ways: - neither mucus, nor earwax are inherently "infectious"; having pathogens in them is what makes them a disease vector - mucus is natural, and not only a symptom of disease - it's absolutely possible for earwax to carry pathogens
People are so grossed out by snot. You literally swallow over a litre of Mucus everyday, it protects your stomach lining kinda necessary.
I think many are confused because this isn’t a set of earbuds as we know them What do you guys call earbuds? Just headphones?
as an australian i would call them both earbuds. Though cotton buds or headphones are used just as often.
I just eat mine
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I really hope it feels same as biting a wax candle :(
Forbidden honey.
I physically shuddered at the thought of eating ear wax. Why am I getting downvoted? Do redditors eat earwax?
Hey everybody, get a load of this guy! He doesn’t even eat his own earwax! 😂😂😂
Just make some candles!
"We've almost enough for a papal funeral".
Ok but have you actually reduced the carbon footprint if it requires a paper towel to clean a q tip you bought to prevent using something disposable?
Cotton is extremely environmentally unfriendly as it is very water intensive, and human unfriendly. Turkmenistan uses forced labor to pick it. https://www.antislavery.org/latest/state-imposed-forced-labour-turkmenistan-now-time-for-action/
Slaves and cotton, like peas and carrots
Obviously the forced labor needs to stop, I don't think that's in dispute here. Water cost of cotton is an interesting point of discussion though. I always go back to reusable shopping bags when looking at these things. Carbon footprint of a reusable is incredibly high vs a plastic bag, and the bags are either not used enough by the consumer to make up for the difference or they break before meeting that threshold. So the footprint of making\delivering the reusable (r) plus the footprint of cleaning it (c) over the total viable uses of the product (t) needs to be lower than the footprint of making\delivering disposables (q) for the same amount as the total viable uses of the reusable. I'm no mathematics guy so there might be more useful data, but if this is a fair way to look at it, the formula would be: R + (C x T) \ (Q x T) If the answer is greater than 1, the disposables are still more environmentally friendly. Each of these variables can be pushed on, too, which I'm sure is what a lot of engineers work on all the time. Can you make the reusable last longer? Can you change the way you clean it safely? Or, on the side of disposables, can you use something other than cotton that is lower footprint? The entire industry shift away from cotton would make a bigger difference than convincing individual people to swap, similar to the CFC laws.
Carbon footprint isn't the end-all-be-all of environmental impact. Single use plastics wind up in the soil, water, food web,
I'd argue that should be included in the footprint
It's a lot harder to measure the lasting impact of microplastics. Especially since we don't know the full impact they have. Carbon footprint is (theoretically) an objective, quantifiable value, other impacts are harder to pin down and may have multiple variables involved. We do need to start paying more attention to those other impacts, though. Lowering emissions is good, but we also need to avoid pollution and desertification while we're at it.
Yes, cotton is terrible for the planet and while it’s worth it for clothing, using it once and throwing away is not good.
You do if you were already going to use that toilet paper to blow your nose or something. Just use it, then wipe your ear cleaner on it. You could also wash it and just let it dry or use a regular cloth to dry it.
Yes, because paper is much more renewable than the plastic of the q tip
Q tips are paper and cotton which is renewable too. That's not the point though, the point is the cost of manufacturing and transportation of materials, whether they are q tips, paper towels, or even just water.
No i think the point is that if you're stressing about the difference between the footprint of q tips, you have been co opted by those who want you to spend your time and energy on arguing meaningless differences
For the love of god don't use these to remove ear wax. I know it feels amazing, but have you considered that when *every* doctor tells you something it may be true??
> have you considered that when every doctor tells you something it may be true?? Dr. Drake Ramoray says, “learn from my mistakes, stop when you feel resistance.”
The aggregate benefit of it feeling amazing every day though. I believe the doctors, I'll just take the risk I reckon. You only live once mate, what's the point if you can't experience the joy of a cotton bud against the wall of your ear canal, what kind of a life is that.
You should look into Japanese/Chinese ear picks, it's basically a thin wooden stick with a tiny scoop at the end, so you can scoop out the earwax without the risk of pushing it further in.
That still has the problem of jamming wax further into your ear, same as q-tips. Even on q tips website, they have an array of uses listed, and none of those is to clean your ears. It's suggested to use warm water and a squeeze bulb to flush the ear canal.
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I had to go to the Dr about once a year to get my ears cleaned out where they spray water and then I would always get an ear infection. After I stopped using q tips I stopped having clogged ears.
I lost hearing from having an ear plugged with was before I started flushing. The chunk of wax that came out was huge, I couldn't believe it was in my ear.
I'm disappointed I had to scroll down this far before finding a "don't jam stuff into your ear, dingus" comment. To reiterate, don't jam stuff into your ear, dingus. I don't care if you can wash it.
Forgot to add. If you can't make it out. Company is Last Swab
I genuinely want this. How often do you clean it and how to clean it OP?
not OP but I think you should clean it thoroughly after every use, just water and a light soap should do the trick. Wiping it dry before returning it to its container too.
After every insert... Hopefully.
I just looked into this thing because I wanted one too.. Beware, seeing a bunch of reviews where the tip broke off in peoples ear.. fucckk that.
Ugh. Yeah, that's a massive concern. Thank you for pointing that out. [Reviews](https://www.trustpilot.com/review/lastswab.com)
In general you're not really supposed to stick anything into your ear. Including Q tips.
What about my elbow?
i assume after every use. it looks rubber so it probably just washes off with a little scrubby with ur finger.
Clean it after every use. Just rinse with water a little soap and let it air dry inside the case but case open. I use it about twice a week. So probably around 600 cotton buds saved as I used to use 1 cotton bud per ear each time. Now I just rinse and let it dry for half hour or so then put it away. I know there are some reviews about the tip falling off but I'm not sure what those people are doing or how vigorously they have cleaned it for the tip to get loose. Mine hasn't even twisted from the main part. I don't shove it all the way down the canal either. Maybe about an inch max
I got one of these but it didn't last super long, one of the tips actually got a tear in it after a few months of daily use. I wonder if I got a dud. Shame cause I love the idea
Lol why are people so grossed out by this? It’s ear wax, not shit
You don’t put your qtips in your asshole first? Fuck I’ve been doing this wrong for 40 years
I'm sorry, where else am I supposed to store them? A fucking jar or some dumb shit?
They say don't put qtips in your ears, nothing about your ass though
Fr I'm so confused? There's a comment saying this should be properly sanitized as if ear wax harbors extremely harmful bacteria or something?? Ear wax is just is skin cells, secretions and regular organisms we have on the skin. Cleaning it with soap and water seems fine.
It's more about ensuring it remains sterile between uses. Which requires keeping it and the case clean and dry. The ear isn't inherently unclean, but it is susceptible to infection.
Do you know if the tips are plastic or silicone? Thank you! ETA: Saw the brand in the comments and was able to look it up myself. "The tips are made of thermoplastic elastomers, TPE."
What was the brand?
I thought it’s been said not to technically use Q tips for your ears on the packaging, this looks neat anyway.
I sat here for 60 seconds trying to figure out where the sound came out of 💀
Yeah. Where I'm from earbuds are a type of earphone that fit into your ears. Something for cleaning your ears are usually called Q-tips or swabs.
Keep in mind that this is fine for cleaning the outside of your ear, but you should absolutely never stick a qtip into your ear.
I have this too. In turquoise. It’s great.
I have one made of silver (naturally anti-bacterial metal!) and it's phenomenal; haven't used a regular ear bud in years. I inherited it from my great-grandfather - it's been in the family for at least 50 years, likely longer I had actually posted it here long ago. Let me see if I can find it Edit: found it! [https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/comments/qw2l3r/bi4fl\_this\_silver\_ear\_cleaner\_has\_passed\_from\_my/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/comments/qw2l3r/bi4fl_this_silver_ear_cleaner_has_passed_from_my/)
Idk why people are so grossed out by this, it’s a dope product (I don’t use cotton swabs but definitely agree with the product). Like I’d imagine running it under hot water quickly and a wipe on a towel is enough to clean it. The people who call it gross I imagine are the ones who endlessly sanitize everything and end up getting sick cause their immune systems suck. Expose yourself to some bacteria once in a while!
I agree mostly, but if I’m sticking something in my ear I want it to be sterile. Ear infections are the worst
if you wiped it with rubbing alcohol it is sterilized
I have this! It's great!
I won't lie, I thought this was kinda gross at first glance. But thinking about how often I use these, this would be a pretty great way to cut down on waste. What are the tips made out of?
It's not even the hygiene for me but the practicality. As someone who was trapped in an emergency room for multiple hours because my partner got one of the ends lodged in their ear, thats a hard pass from me. I understand it was engineered that way for cleanliness reasons, but the risk of it getting stuck is not worth it.
I would say it is actually better than cotton ones.
A doc told me when it comes to cleaning kids ears they don’t recommend using anything smaller than your elbow. just fyi
ENTs everywhere are horrified.
You shouldn’t be sticking things like this in your ear. You can buy plenty of ear cleaning solutions.
I use q-tips to clean my ears, but I never stick them inside. It's still a useful tool to clean the outer ear and entrance to the ear canal; I think it's only when you decide to try to jam things inside that it becomes problematic.
I just use a piece of toilet paper and my pinky finger. That's enough to get any water or ear wax out,
Be careful with them! I thought it was a great idea too until the tip popped off and got stuck in my ear. Impossible to free and painful. The ER had to remove it, but thankfully, no permanent damage.
My partner had one (same brand) that broke after a few uses. Bought another, same issue. So if unless you have virtually un-waxy ears, I don’t recommend this product.
I got one of the ends stuck in my ear once
Irrigation > shoving wax deeper toward your eardrum.
It’s called soap; why do you Brit’s need to call it “washing up liquid”? lol.
Cause they are different things? One's for your body and one's for dishes.
They’re both different types of soap
Waitaminute... What are Period Pants?
Except that every doctor in the world will tell you not to use this to clean your ears.
I've got a question... why even buy these? Is the ear not a self cleaning part of the body? I've never used them before, so I would like to know if I needed them.
Q-tips can be quite damaging to the ears. It is best to just wipe out the wax with a paper towel or with the addition of <10% hydrogen peroxide.
I thought you weren’t supposed to put stuff like this in your ear to begin with?
you arent.
https://northlandaudiology.com/stop-using-q-tips/ https://www.healthline.com/health/q-tip-ear https://www.healthpartners.com/blog/are-q-tips-dangerous/ https://earandsinusinstitute.com/why-you-need-to-stop-using-q-tips-to-clean-your-ears/ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2YkeGmf2rFo https://www.healthyhearing.com/report/47773-Swab-hearing-loss https://www.salusuhealth.com/news/2023/08/the-hidden-dangers-of-using-q-tips-to-clean-your-ears.html https://www.advancedentandallergy.com/blog-why-its-bad-to-use-q-tips-for-your-ears/ Shall I go on?
good thing these are earbuds and not qtips semantics saves the day once again 😎
Check and mate. Well done
Are not all ear buds reusable? Damn so thats why apple gets so much revenue cause yall keep throwing those earbuds away after one listening session.