Friday, June 6, 2008

Ear Candling

Yesterday Serena and I decided to try ear candling. Ear candling is a process whereby a hollow candle is inserted in the ear and then lit. The heat from the candled combined with the seal between the ear and the candle's base is alleged to create a vacuum that pulls ear wax out of the ear canal. We had heard about it a year ago but after some quick internetting had concluded the whole business was bogus. On the airplane ride back to Oregon from the east coast, however, I met a guy and his wife who swore by them; said it cured his ear infection. I promised him we'd give it a try.

True to form, the local natural food store had candles in stock. We scooped up four--one for each of our ears--and headed home for some good old fashion ear cleaning.

Serena went first:


I went second:


Our candles ended up "removing" exactly the same amount of wax. Everyone knows that Serena has waxier ears that I, so that signaled the first alarm (or second considering The Internet said it was bunk). The third candle was sacrificed in the name of science. We burned it propped on a ceramic plate to see how much, if any, wax it could extract from the plate. Sure enough there was exactly the same amount of wax "removed" from the plate as was "removed" from our ears.

It doesn't even feel good.

Ear candling=fraud.

I feel like a MythBuster.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love how Serena looks absolutely terrified in the picture, but it looks like you are unfazed

John David Penniman said...

I just canceled my candling appointment today because of you. I hope your happy.

;)

DanasGlobalTravel said...

I am an ear candler, and it was my understanding that it doesn't extract wax, but rather loosen stuff up to be removed with a q-tip or whatever else you choose to stick in your ear and get the wax out. It also melts down hard stuff and is supposed to open your ears and help you hear better or something. Sorry you weren't a fan. Enjoyed the photos though.

Serena said...

Mike, I do not look terrified. That is my sexy big-eye look. Ask Niki, she'll tell you about the big-eye scheme.

margot said...

:) i can't do this anyway because my ears are busted... awww nuts.

glad it looks like you have readers now! hurrah!

Oregoncornhusker said...

Dana: Really!?!?! Now that I think about it, though, I shouldn't be surprised. I bet the Germans do it... just gotta follow the cookie crumbs.

It was totally bunk for us. No loosening, no noooothing.