The first time I heard of ear candles it made me think of a birthday cake on my head. Well, it's not too far off! Ear candles are long hollow tubes that are usually made of muslin and either paraffin wax or beeswax.
These lovely tubes are inserted into the ear on one side and the other side is lit like a candle. As the top burns down, smoke funnels down the tube and into the ear canal. The warmth of the smoke melts ear wax and sucks it up into the funnel of the ear candle. Once the smoke starts to come out the top of the ear candle, past the flame, you blow out the flame and cut off the burnt part into a cup off water. Then you thump the sides of the ear candle so the stuff inside comes out.
I usually blow it out and cut the top off and thump it out about 3 times for each ear candle. I prefer the beeswax ear candles because they pull the wax out better- in my opinion.
It sounds pretty scary, but if you do it right there's nothing to fear. While the flame is going you hear crackling and snapping in your ear. You will feel a warmth in your ear and sometimes a tickling or itching. For further protection, you can buy an aluminum pie pan and cut a hole in the center for the ear candle to slip thru. Now, as the candle burns, if anything falls off it will be caught in the pie pan.
The below video is a demonstration of how to use an ear candle.
Ear candles can help out with ear infections, swimmers ear, and wax build up. There are people out there who say that ear candles don't work, but I'll leave that up to you to find out for yourself!
