…hoping to (h)ear from you
Are earcandles made from earwax?
Those candles can be purchased at almost any mahor drugstore in the States, to be used at home. I’ve done it a couple times and it’s fantastic. I imagine there must be someplace online to have them shipped if they’re not readily available in stores in Taiwan.
Here’s the link to a popular brand of them made here in the States: wallysnatural.com/ear_candles.html
Hi rob,
I guess in Taiwan they do that already. Have seen it a few times on TV. and I also heared bad things about it. Sometimes they blow an eardrum it seams. Because it works with vacuum or underpressure to get the dirt out of the ear.
BTW, if you like to contact me, please PM. And maybe dutch is your mother tongue?
Ah yes…ear candling.
My post is not to be taken as a personal attack on the OP or on those who choose to engage in the practice of ear candling.
Merely to present some often times overlooked extra info.
In a previous position, as wholesale manager of a very large health product distribution company I sold literally 10’s of thousands of ear candles. All types and sizes. We were the largest single source supplier of these items. We did not manufacture ear candles; we purchased from private individuals who made them. I, and the company, had very strict standards for the ec’s we sold. Our clients were ear candle practioners, alternative health clinics and massage therapists who also offered this service to their clients.
My persoanl opinion about ear candling is this -
If you believe it offers a beneficial experience, go ahead and try it. But please be aware of what the procedure consists of and the cautions involved.
I submit:
quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRel … dling.html
straightdope.com/classics/a5_098.html
rcsullivan.com/www/forum/harris/candle.htm
hc-sc.gc.ca/english/iyh/medi … dling.html
Now for a personal disclaimer:
After selling ec’s for 5+ years I finally decided it was time to actually have my ears candled.
I asked a massage therapist client to stop by my office the next time she came to pick up her order and ‘candle me.’
She was happy to do so and I used what we considered the “Top-of-the-Line” ear candles we sold.
My experience ended up with me having to drive to the local emergency medical clinic for having hot wax removed from my inner ear. Not a pleasant time.
Strangely enough, the Doctor who did the procedure was of Egyptian background. When I explained to him what had happened he began to laugh uproariously. His grandmother had ear candled him when he ws a chid back in Egypt.
Also funny, he became a small scale customer of mine, buying ear candles for his family use and I think a few other friends of his.
Stange, but true.
So be aware and be safe.
In the States, I’ve had several folks tell me that they have used ear candles to remove the wax from their ears. Obviously, one needs to exercise caution - fire is involved.
Bodo
Fourth trip back to the ear doctor now for a middle ear infection that has not gone away and on a plane next week for my daughters 16th birthday so it has to be good by then!
He uses a sucker thing he sticks down your ear canal. Its unpleasant and yesterday it caused a sharp pain and made me jump even though I knew I should not, it went straight from dull to pin prick pain.
He said in his reasonable english that if I did that again I would have EAR TRAUMA.
So, I’m ready for the candle job instead of the ear sucker thing. Seriously, I do not want to go back.
I’ve got my ears sucked in the hospital a few years back. The doctor said that I used the wrong “tools” to clean my ears. instead of getting it out I just pushed it back in. :s
That’s why the doctor got a whole batch of goo out of my ear. it’s infected too, my ears not the goo.
Never had my ears sucked by a candle though, only by my wife lately. 
A doctor once told me never to stick anything into my ear other than my elbow.
Docs and mums tell you that.
My Taiwan doc asked if I stick stuff in my ears. I really thought it was another Bin Wi Goulan. (whatever the pinyin is) But then people must go in with weird things stuck in their ears.
I had a nurse freind once delighted in telling stories of the amazing things people seem to be able to stick into lower orifices without considering getting them back out again.
My mom told me that she had a friend who got her face burned during an unprofessional ear candling. But my mom has a lot of “friends” who only pop up when I’m doing something that my mom considers hazardous to my health. 
I’ve had earcandling done. Not sure about the whole “ancient Hopi therapy” angle, but it felt pretty good.
The first time I had it done I only had time for one ear. For the rest of the day the hearing in that ear was markedly clearer than the other side. So much so that it was bothersome! I got the other one done that evening (my mom was doing it as a side business at one point), and felt much better.
I think, too (without having looked at those links posted) that you have to, uh, take all that gunk they show you with a grain of salt (eewwww!). What I mean is, I don’t believe that all of that gunk is soley from your ear, and that at least some of it is from the candle itself. Nevertheless, I’d do it again, and in fact if you could give me the address of where you did it Maoman I’d be grateful.
Not having seen “all the gunk” presented makes it tricky to comment on, but hell, that’s never stopped me before. . . . A lot of gunk can be held in the ear canal, believe me. Cleaning wax from ears, or infected debris is something I have professional experience with - and it surprises me sometimes - the volume of “gunk” that I’ve removed from some ears.
Bodo
Yeah, but a plug of wax the size of your little finger? Just seems a bit much, in my opinion. I mean, a beeswax candle melts when you burn it, not like paraffin that actually burns.
Therefore at least some of that stuff that they show you should be the wax from the candle itself as most ear candles are made from beeswax.
I am interested in trying this procedure for the first time. Anyone have any thoughts or input? I don’t want any sort of home kit.
quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRel … dling.html
[quote]Dangers Reported
Candling poses several dangers, the most serious of which involve burning caused by the hot wax. Candle manufacturers claim that their candles will drip only down the outside of the ear, but shamefully few direct the user to hold the candle horizontally to prevent this. A 1996 survey of 144 ear, nose, and throat physicians, found that 14 had seen patients who had been harmed by ear candling, including at least 13 cases of external burns, 7 cases of ear canal obstruction with candle wax, and 1 perforated eardrum [3].
Another case was reported by The London Free Press, a Canadian newspaper. A woman who experienced stuffiness in the nose and ear pains while scuba diving went to a local health-food store and was referred to a “qualified” candler. During the “treatment,” she felt an intense burning in her ear. At the emergency room, attempts to remove wax that had dripped from the candle onto her eardrum failed. Surgery was required, and a hole in her eardrum was discovered, which presumably was caused by the procedure. She recovered fully, and luckily her hearing was not affected. The practitioner apologized, compensated the woman, and stopped performing ear coning [4].
Alaska Fire Marshall Gary L. Powell has reported two instances of significant fires associated with ear candling., one of which led to the user’s death. On January 27, 2005 a 59-year-old woman ignited her bedding when she dropped an ear candle that she was attempting to use the ear without any assistance. The candle ignited the bedding and quickly spread to curtains and other combustibles in the room. The woman did escaped but suffered an asthma attack and died in a hospital emergency room [5].[/quote]
some people pay a lot to have buxom young women drop hot candle wax on their naked flesh… is this what you mean?
if not, i shall keep the address to myself 
I love the old woman who set her bed on fire trying to candle her own ears. That should be a shoe-in for the Darwin Awards! I’ve had it done back home in Canada (London actually) and it helps so much. I didn’t get it done before flying, but it supposedly helps your ears a lot for that as well.
If you do find somewhere, let me know, I wouldn’t mind having it done here as well. I’ve never been burned, hurt, deafened or set ablaze yet, so I trust it.
And as for the buxom women with hot wax… do you have a map?
Ear candling is a scam. Don’t waste your money.
http://www.randi.org/jr/02-02-2001.html. Scroll down to near the bottom.
There was a lot of interest in these things on B3ta.com http://www3.barnesy.org/newsletter/issue222/ search on the page for ear candle test.
And one bloke did an experiment http://www.jimmeruk.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=36