0:01

Welcome to you Stuff you should know front

0:03

House Stuff Works dot Com.

0:11

Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh

0:13

Clark, There's Charles w Chuck Bryant, there's

0:15

Jerry Uh.

0:17

Yeah, it's stuff you should know. He

0:20

just shrugged, like, what

0:22

are we gonna do? That's what we are episode

0:26

number seven

0:28

something. Yeah, I have no idea

0:31

either. It's in the seven hundreds of folks. If you

0:33

think there's only three hundred because you're

0:35

on iTunes, you're in for to

0:38

be doubly surprised. Yeah. Well, somebody

0:40

um tweeted recently, I've just found

0:42

the How Stuff Works app and there's way

0:45

more stuff you should notice than there

0:47

is on iTunes. I hate you guys now. Wait,

0:51

I was cool with three one, but that's

0:53

it. I had someone asking it the

0:55

other day if we feel like we're running out of things

0:58

topics, clearly we are because

1:00

we're recording on your way

1:03

exactly. What did you tell him look for boogers

1:05

in the near future? Um

1:08

no, I said no that sometimes it feels

1:10

a little like, oh my gosh, what are we gonna do? But

1:13

there's gazillions of topics in

1:15

the world at least, and gazillions of scientific

1:17

that's right. What is that? How many zeros?

1:20

Is that a real number? I don't know. I don't think

1:23

it is. Let's say nine, it's

1:25

a real number if you're eight years old, but

1:28

watch it probably is a real number. Yeah,

1:30

I think, Um, a jillian is a

1:32

real number. A bazillion

1:36

jillian definitely is. I would

1:38

guess gazillion is by now

1:41

I might actually look that up. I mean, there's just like

1:43

a handful of mathematicians who are in charge

1:45

of naming that kind of stuff, you know. So,

1:47

chuckers, while you're looking that up, do

1:50

you have ear wax? Um?

1:53

Do you have a problem you're wax? None?

1:57

No, I don't either. No, I wouldn't

2:00

say so. Um. It is a

2:02

little distressing, though, even though we will

2:04

find out it is awesome

2:06

and exactly how it's supposed to work. When

2:08

it just sort of falls out of your ear onto your shoulder.

2:11

Yeah, that's that's ideal.

2:13

Actually, yeah, because ear wax in your

2:16

physiology in general doesn't care

2:18

about what social group

2:20

you're a part of. Nope, it's

2:23

just like, here's some ear wax on your shoulder. Deal

2:25

with it. Although and I didn't

2:27

look up why this is true? Apparently in northeastern

2:30

Asian countries like Korea and

2:32

China, um they they're ear wax

2:34

is a little different. They're more likely to have the dry

2:36

ear wax UM, which can be

2:38

hard and red to black in color,

2:41

which sounds gross and flaky

2:44

or pale yellow, whereas here

2:46

we have that um,

2:49

nasty, gooey orange e mess

2:51

wet ear wax. That is what it's called. Yes,

2:53

and the reason why actually is because of the ABC

2:56

living gene. That why, Yeah,

2:58

they isolated the gene that there was a reason

3:00

causes the type

3:02

of ear wax that you get. And it turns

3:04

out that they say the

3:07

w UM mutation

3:10

is um or the D mutation

3:12

dry ear wax is recessive. So

3:15

the only way to get dry

3:17

ear waxes if both of your parents

3:20

have dry ear wax, both carry the D gene

3:22

or D mutation of the ABC levan gene.

3:25

Well, I have both. Most people have

3:27

our w D sea.

3:29

So you have to get to D

3:32

alleles to dry ear wax alleles

3:34

to have dry ear wax yourself. If you have a

3:36

W in a D or two W you're gonna

3:38

have wet And for some reason

3:40

I have both. Can't you like

3:43

one ear is dry and the other's wet. No,

3:46

like sometimes you know, if I get the old cotton

3:48

swab out, which now you're

3:50

introducing something way beyond genetics.

3:53

That's not even apo genetics, that's human intervention.

3:57

The point is, if I get the cotton swab out, that's when

3:59

I'll get out the orange wet stuff. But

4:01

um, I'll also have the dry, flaky stuff that falls out

4:03

sometimes probably, I would guess. And I'm

4:06

no ceremon expert, I'm

4:08

no seaminisd. Now

4:10

what's the what's the word? Uh? Actually

4:13

looked it up for someone who studies this. It

4:16

has to have to do with ceremon m.

4:19

I can't find it now. It's

4:22

so Seamonius doesn't ringing a

4:24

bell. No, it's

4:26

wrong. I can't find

4:28

what it is. Sorry, Okay, Well the person who

4:30

said, I'm not a person who studies ear

4:32

wax. But what I would

4:34

guess is that when

4:36

you're when you're digging in there, you're getting

4:38

to the fresher ear wax, That's what I

4:41

think. And then as it works itself further

4:43

and further out your ear, which

4:46

is the natural process, it's exposed

4:48

to drier air, that

4:50

ambient air, and it drives out and flakes

4:52

off, which is what it's supposed to do. So

4:54

I don't think you have both. I think if you have

4:57

both, the stuff inside your ear would

4:59

be dry, would be dry as well. Yeah, okay,

5:01

all right, well that makes sense. Um,

5:03

So what ear waxes or uh

5:05

ceramon c E R U M E

5:08

N is the scientific name,

5:11

but I'm sure they call it wax. It's the third

5:14

chubby angel. Now,

5:17

that's cerebum um.

5:19

It is made up of secretions

5:22

of a couple of little specialized

5:24

glands uh in the skin on

5:26

the outer third of the ear canal. Yes,

5:30

um, so you have your sebaceous glands and they're gonna

5:32

secrete in these names all sounds so

5:34

growth really, but they're perfect

5:36

for describing what they are. Yeah,

5:38

yeah, um, they secrete sebum

5:41

as E V m uh.

5:44

And then you have um an apocrene

5:46

sweat gland that's modified that

5:48

produces uh

5:51

yeah, it combines, it combines

5:53

with the sebum, and that's where you get your ceremony.

5:56

And so see them in and of itself is fairly

5:58

normal. If you like, take your fingertip

6:00

and rub it alongside where your nose folds

6:03

into your face. That's

6:05

well if if your stuff is at all oily,

6:08

the oil is see them. So

6:10

apparently it mixes in in your ear

6:13

with the the that

6:15

kind of apicrene gland like you said, to form

6:17

ceramon, which is its own thing. It's not

6:20

just see them, but all of it

6:22

is basically fatty,

6:24

oily lipid e um

6:28

compound that's secreted by these

6:30

glands in the skin cells, specialized

6:33

glands. Yeah, about six keratin,

6:36

which is a protein. And then like

6:39

you said, the fatty acids, you've got dead

6:41

skin cells, um, hair

6:43

follicles, dead bugs, little

6:46

bugs. Yeah, lots

6:48

of stuff that comes out in this and

6:51

like you, like you said dust it

6:54

probably dust mites then too. And

6:56

like you said, um, it's produced in the

6:59

inner third of the outer ear

7:01

outer one third of the ear canal um.

7:05

And when it's produced in there, it's migrates

7:08

outward thanks to um

7:11

the motion of the ocean.

7:13

Right and you talking

7:16

and chewing. Yeah,

7:18

I couldn't figure out, like how does your ear wax

7:20

move, But it's just from jaw movement. Normal

7:22

jaw movement moves the old or

7:24

the newer stuff outward and

7:27

as it's coming out, all the gunk and stuff

7:29

that's protected your ear from are moved

7:31

out with it. So the stuff that flakes off and

7:33

falls on your shoulder, Uh, that everybody

7:36

points and laughs at at the at the party,

7:39

Um, that is filled with all

7:41

the stuff that your ear reax caught along the

7:43

way. It's a it's a beautiful, elegant

7:45

process. Probably was beautiful,

7:48

um, aspect of the entire human

7:50

experience. Well, I think you're

7:53

making a joke, but I really

7:55

do think that. Like it's the little things

7:57

like that about Like I'm amazed about the function

7:59

of the brain and of course the organs and all that, but

8:02

just something as simple as that mechanical

8:04

talking and chewing will work

8:07

ear wax out of your ear. It's just so

8:09

basic, and I

8:11

think it's awesome and I think it's really cool. Actually, I

8:13

know. To me, I agree with you. Um. So

8:15

some people produce a lot of

8:17

this. Um. I was gonna say

8:19

gross stuff. But have you seen

8:22

Paddington the movie?

8:24

Yeah? No, I heard it was really good. It's very

8:26

good, super super cute, really well

8:28

done. Why did you see that? Just

8:30

because it's a cute movie? Really yeah? Um,

8:33

solid in theaters and everything. UM,

8:36

please tell me you took you me yeah. And

8:38

as a matter of fact, it was just me and you, me and the whole

8:40

theater. But if it's just you and no kids,

8:44

then it's like somebody you might want to call that they

8:47

did. I'm just a Paddington fan, um,

8:50

but I am now So

8:52

anyway, Um, there is a part where

8:54

there's a part featuring ear wax in Paddington.

8:58

It's it does not celebrate the beau of

9:00

ear wax. It's the exact opposite. And actually

9:02

you mean was like god

9:05

or it was really gross but

9:07

just awesome. So anyway,

9:10

Gussie Gussie Paddington. Is that

9:12

a spoiler? Okay, I

9:14

don't think so, maybe for like

9:16

a five year old you know. Um,

9:19

So, like I said, some people produce a lot of the stuff.

9:22

Um, some people don't produce as

9:24

much, and they don't really know why,

9:27

but they do know that sometimes stress and

9:29

anxiety, um can

9:31

increase production of your

9:33

wax, which makes interesting hormones, hormones

9:36

affected your glands go off. It

9:38

also said that some drugs can increase

9:42

your ear wax production. And I looked all

9:44

over and can you find the drugs? But

9:46

if stress and anxiety does hiahuasca,

9:49

I imagine yeah, or cocaine

9:51

would probably make you produce more ear wax

9:53

or something. Oh yeah, when you put that

9:55

stuff in your ear, yeah, or something that

9:57

makes you like to your jaw lot. Oh

10:00

sure, that could probably get more ear wax

10:02

out. Yeah. Interesting, I

10:04

never thought about that. I couldn't

10:06

find any anything else. Um

10:09

is gross, as you might think ear wax as though

10:11

it actually is a great thing for your

10:13

body. And there's a very good reason,

10:16

uh why you have it, because there are four main

10:18

functions that your ear wax

10:20

is going to serve my friend. Uh.

10:23

One of them is it creates an acidic environment.

10:26

That's great, that kills helps kill bacteria

10:28

and fun Guy. Oh even better, number

10:32

two, Um it is, Well,

10:35

that's that's a big deal too, because your ear, your

10:37

inner ear, like that is really a

10:39

place where fungus and bacteria would thrive because

10:41

it's moist and dark, and

10:44

you know what we always say about moist dark

10:46

places, fun Guy thrives,

10:48

that's right. Um. The thing is is, it

10:51

doesn't seem like that be a big problem to have

10:53

fun Guy in your ear, but it

10:55

would because it would affect things like your

10:57

balance, nausea, ear

11:00

aches. Um, it just wouldn't

11:02

be good so the fact that earwax

11:04

produces in a cidic environment alone

11:07

makes earwax a beautiful thing and to be celebrated.

11:09

So if we did, we could just stop there. We could,

11:11

but you can go on. Like you said, there's four and that was

11:13

just one quarter of these these

11:16

benefits that your ex pistos.

11:19

Secondly, it is a lube. Um.

11:21

It lubricates your ear can

11:24

basically to keep it from drying

11:26

out. And um, you

11:28

know you don't want the inner ear becoming all like itchy

11:32

and dry and craggedy, and you want

11:34

to hear something weird that I've a new

11:37

personal hygiene thing I have to do

11:39

as of yesterday, starting yesterday,

11:42

something I'll probably have to do my whole I

11:44

have to moisturize not ears. Now. I

11:46

thought you gonna say, heir inside the ear. I was like, I

11:48

have been doing that for a while. It's getting

11:51

I got a little fro inside ear

11:53

fro yeah, but no, like

11:55

taking moisturizer and like rubbing on

11:58

my ears because I got a haircat yesterday and

12:00

like my ears were exposed and all of

12:02

a sudden, I'm like, wait, why is like there

12:05

a streak of white on my ear? And they're bright

12:07

red, and I realized, like, my ears

12:09

are chapped, and that is brand

12:11

new or else. I just noticed it. So I'm

12:13

an ear moisturizer. Now, yeah, you had

12:15

that seventies uh ear muff

12:17

hairstyle cut off of your ears so your

12:19

ears were exposed. Yeah, it was pretty seventies, wasn't

12:22

well. I was growing my hair out to to create

12:24

like a blank slate of you

12:26

know that could be worked with. It was kind

12:28

of longish for you. It was really long and it

12:31

it was that seventies like ear muff

12:33

thing wasn't quite It was getting there.

12:35

It looks good, very nice. Thanks.

12:38

Did that make you uncomfortable? No, I was fishing

12:40

for that the whole reason I brought that story.

12:43

You looked either sheepish

12:45

or really uncomfortable with a

12:47

little bit both. Alright, gotcha? Alright. Number

12:49

three on top four things

12:52

that earwax does, Uh is

12:54

your ceremon and your hair just

12:56

like let him exactly. Um,

12:59

it's gonna discover just uh

13:01

everyone's worst nightmare, which is

13:03

spider crawling in there, which

13:06

I covered. Uh, you know that happened to Emily.

13:08

I think I talked about that on one of the shows

13:11

that was genuinely one of the most awesome

13:13

things that I've ever experienced,

13:16

because it did not happen to me. Wasn't

13:18

there a picture? Didn't you post a picture of it or

13:20

something like that? Um No,

13:23

but there I think I

13:25

I posted a picture of a happening to

13:27

some woman in China. I think that was

13:30

frightening, And it was a picture of a spider

13:32

looking out of the woman's ear

13:34

canal right, yeah? Yeah, but Emily's

13:36

if people haven't heard this story, it was I

13:39

think it was in the middle of the night or something. She was like, I

13:41

got this weird fluttering in my ear

13:43

and I don't know what's going on in there. And I was like, well,

13:46

you know, I took in the bathroom and trying to light and

13:48

I was like, holy crap. And

13:50

the spider I think work. Didn't it with

13:52

the flash flight? Remember like, if you look

13:54

at your I don't know, did the did

13:57

They're saying yes, yes, okay, so

13:59

there you go. Well, all I remember thinking

14:01

is only I don't want to have

14:03

to break this to you, but you have a spider in your

14:05

ear? You didn't like chloroformer first?

14:08

I should have. Yeah,

14:10

she was not excited about that. She was

14:12

not pumped, but so, well, what was the process

14:14

for getting it out? Well, I've looked

14:16

on the internet super quickly, um

14:19

to see how and they said to flush it out

14:22

and um, just like a little

14:24

warm. Oh my gosh, you did use tweezers.

14:26

Yeah, And I put the water in there and it kind

14:28

of um loosened it up, and went in

14:30

there and got the tweezers and I was like, look at this. How

14:33

big was it? Oh? I mean it wasn't huge, but

14:35

it was It was enough spider

14:38

for her taste. Yeah, more

14:40

than enough, right, dude, it was. I can't

14:42

imagine that some people like sleep

14:45

with vesseline in their ears to

14:47

keep bugs from crawling in. Yeah,

14:50

like that is a thing. Yeah, I mean

14:52

people don't want bugs in their ears. No,

14:54

but that's taken. I mean that's just parents

14:56

severe paranois. I think if you're sleeping that your muffs

14:58

are vesselly in your ears, you know, your moss.

15:00

I thought about that, you all

15:04

right? And number four finally is um,

15:07

your ear wax is gonna trap some dead skin and

15:09

hair cells and basically all

15:12

of that junk to carry it back out to

15:15

keep it clean. So it sounds sort of counterintuitive

15:17

to trap that stuff, but it's trapping

15:19

it so it can carry it out.

15:22

And if you didn't have your wax, it would just go in there,

15:24

right, And if you chew things like celery

15:26

and you talk, then that

15:29

your wax is going to work its way out in

15:31

a slow process where all this stuff

15:33

is cleaned out and you don't ever have to do

15:35

anything with it under ideal circumstances.

15:38

Not always are circumstances ideal,

15:41

And we'll talk about how things can

15:43

go wrong after this, Okay,

15:59

Chuck's so ideally

16:01

you don't have to ever think about ear wax

16:03

or anything like that to brush it off your shoulder, right.

16:06

But um, for some people, ear

16:09

wax can build up and become impacted,

16:11

a lot of times it's because people mess with

16:13

it, like with cotton swabs

16:16

on a stick. You know, you

16:18

may have seen the advertisement on the Big Game.

16:21

You're just called cotton swabs, right, yeah, okay,

16:23

Um, so when

16:26

uh, if you use that, a

16:28

lot of people use those to clear out their

16:30

ear wax. Right, you're supposed to know it's

16:32

doing the exact opposite, because your

16:35

ear wax is um created

16:37

and moves from the

16:40

outside third of your inner ear

16:43

um. When you rub cotton

16:45

swab on it, you're actually pushing

16:47

it in further than it's supposed

16:49

to be and it it can't

16:51

get out is easily there. So what you're going to

16:53

do eventually is have ear wax build up.

16:56

Yeah, And it's it's so hard to get

16:58

people to not do that because is it's so

17:01

um rewarding when you

17:03

get out of the shower and use that swab and you

17:05

get that orange kunk and you're like, oh man, I'm so glad

17:07

that's out of my body. But it's

17:10

it's got a purpose. Leave it there. You're supposed

17:12

to leave it there. Plus there's I mean, using

17:14

cotton swabs can lead to other kinds of dangers,

17:17

like you can push too hard

17:19

and prefer your ear drums. I

17:22

think it really is true. You're not supposed to put anything

17:24

larger than the end of a football in your ear

17:28

um. You can also clean

17:31

it too much. It

17:33

can result in something called swimmers ear. We're

17:36

basically for people who spend a lot of time in

17:38

pool. Their ears are

17:40

constantly irrigated and

17:43

the canal becomes basically free

17:45

of um of ear wax,

17:47

and as a result, bad things can

17:50

happen. Yeah, And they say, if you do have

17:52

swimmers, ere um, put a few

17:54

drops of an acidic slightly acidic,

17:57

not acid like hydrochloricas.

18:00

Let's put a gallon drome. What

18:03

is a slightly acidic fluid? I wonder, Uh,

18:06

lady, lemon juice, that's what I would guess,

18:09

That's probably what I would do. I hope we're not

18:11

advising something that's really nat. No. As a matter

18:13

of fact, maybe you should go look up what

18:15

you should put in there or go to your doctor.

18:18

Yes, but they advised some slightly acidic fluid

18:20

in the ear after you swim,

18:22

and that established re establishes what should

18:24

be a normal acidic environment.

18:26

Yeah, because you when you strip out that ear wax,

18:29

you lose those big four benefits and all

18:31

of a sudden, your ear is dry and cracky,

18:33

and you've got fungus and bacteria growing

18:35

in there, and you get ear infections and it's

18:37

not fun. The big four um

18:41

you and back to creating

18:43

a build up of ear wax, you get what's called ceramon

18:45

impaction, and that

18:47

is when like you have a bunch of ear wax pressed

18:50

against your ear drum

18:53

and it can result in all sorts

18:55

of stuff like headaches, nausea,

18:58

ear aches, coughing for

19:00

some reason. Um, and that

19:02

can be from using Q tips. People

19:04

who use hearing aids run into this a

19:06

lot. Uh. And when your ceremony

19:09

becomes impacted, you have

19:11

to go to the doctor. That's right.

19:13

Which my sweet wife had to go to the doctor when

19:15

she was a little girl because ear

19:17

wax impaction. Yeah, and

19:20

uh she said it sucked. Well,

19:22

when you go to the doctor if it comes to that, Um,

19:24

they're gonna have quite a few techniques that could

19:26

use. Um, you're syringing

19:29

is one of them. And then comes

19:31

painful. It does. I don't think it is, though.

19:33

I bet it's actually quite a relief.

19:36

Yeah, that's not how I hear it. Really is

19:38

it painful? Yeah? Umi says it really

19:40

is not fun. Well, I didn't know if that was like a

19:42

five year old Umi or well yeah, yeah,

19:45

but even as an adult she remembers it as

19:47

not being very fun. Is Paddington Jumi?

19:50

Maybe that's why she had such a reaction. Maybe,

19:53

Um, they'll use other instruments.

19:55

Sometimes you use a microphone or I'm sorry, a

19:57

microscope. That'd be weird to magn

20:00

to find the ear canal. They shout

20:02

into it to shatter your ear ax. Um,

20:07

and some people have a more narrow

20:09

ear canal, or

20:11

if you have a perforated ear drum or something

20:13

that can be a problem. Um.

20:16

Basically you want to go to a doctor. You could

20:18

try some home methods like peroxide

20:21

or maybe mineral oil. Yeah, apparently

20:23

warm mineral oil kind of breaks it up

20:25

a little bit. Yeah, I used to. That's one of my most

20:27

pleasing memories as a kid when I had ear

20:29

aches, as my mom would like heat up

20:32

mineral oil and put in my arrows. But that

20:34

was nice, felt really nice. It's very warm.

20:36

And when for some

20:38

reason, I like the feeling of

20:40

water closing my ear, like

20:43

when I get into a pool. Oh yeah,

20:45

I'll but probably because of that. Yeah maybe,

20:47

so I didn't think about that. Do

20:49

you like that or what? I just

20:51

you just like crawling into the field. Why

20:55

is Chuck just floating in the pool like a

20:57

baby? Um? I

21:00

no, I've never had much of an affinity for water

21:02

in my ears because some people hate it. I

21:04

don't hate it. I don't like it. Yeah, And

21:06

like you know, I'll bang on the side of my head if

21:08

it feels like there's like a drop of water

21:10

in there. Does that work? Uh?

21:13

It can not always. I think

21:15

normally the water just has to dry. Sometimes

21:18

I get dizzy in my head, hurt. I

21:21

used to see when I lifeguarded. I would see swim team

21:23

members do that though, and I was always like, I

21:25

don't know if that just doesn't seem right. Once

21:27

in a while it does and it just goes and

21:30

all of a sudden you can hear normally. Again. Interesting.

21:34

I didn't see the reason for this though, but they did. Um

21:36

in this one article I saw have caution

21:39

people against ear

21:42

irrigation if you had

21:44

diabetes. What? Yeah?

21:47

Why? I have no idea. I

21:49

meant to follow up on that. So we don't know what drugs

21:52

cause an increase in ear wax build

21:54

up, and we don't know why if you have diabetes

21:57

you shouldn't do ear can irrigation.

22:00

I don't know. They said not to use irrigation

22:03

if you have a perforated ear drum.

22:05

Yeah, I get that tube in the ear drum A

22:07

weekend immune system or diabetes. Huh,

22:12

have no idea. I don't have to follow up

22:14

on social media and let people know. Um,

22:17

But they do say if you do want to clean your ear. It's

22:19

not like you can't clean your ears, but just

22:22

wash your external ear with a cloth.

22:24

But you should never stick something into your

22:26

ear canal right,

22:28

it's just no good. But it's interesting that the cotton

22:31

swab businesses huge.

22:34

I mean, they've made a if you think

22:36

about it, they made I don't want to say

22:38

it's they shouldn't be

22:40

selling these things now, I know what you

22:42

mean, though, you know. Yeah, apparently

22:44

that I couldn't find out how much um

22:47

people spend on cotton swabs every year or how

22:49

many are produced. We couldn't find out that either.

22:52

But for two thousand eleven, apparently

22:55

Americans spent sixty three million dollars

22:57

on ear cleaning stuff, home ear cleaning stuff,

22:59

and I am doing a lot of that

23:01

went to cotton swabs, but also like

23:04

home irrigation kits and stuff like that.

23:06

Yeah, because you can get those at the drug store, right,

23:09

and those are fine? I guess,

23:11

yeah, I don't know. I mean, everything

23:13

is upside down right now. Well, no,

23:16

I think the irrigation is fine if you don't fall

23:19

into one of those categories that I mentioned, because

23:21

you're not sticking an object into your ear. That

23:24

and then if you don't do it too frequently

23:26

to where you're stripping the ear wax out of

23:28

your ear right, because it's not like

23:30

that thing just replenishes overnight. Guys, I

23:33

know, and you know I used the cotton swabs, not a lot,

23:35

but occasionally. But I'm not gonna

23:37

do it anymore. But it is, like

23:39

I said, it's it feels so good to

23:41

get a big hunk of that stuff out. Yeah, I've

23:44

never been into those. Ye, I'm

23:46

not gonna do it anymore. I'm gonna tell the only two. I'm gonna

23:48

burn all that stuff. All I do is I take

23:50

some soap and lather at my hands, do

23:53

the outside of my ears, and then, like I

23:56

guess, I just kind of follow the contours the inside

23:58

of my ears. And I'm trying to remember, like do I go

24:00

into my ear canals? And I think I intuitively

24:03

stop with your fingers, yeah, and about

24:05

the outside, so I don't really go into the ear

24:07

canal and then rinse it out and

24:09

get off and get out of the shower.

24:12

And then now I, um, I

24:15

moisturized my ears afterward,

24:17

is the last step. That's great. Um.

24:20

The other thing too, that they of course you should never

24:23

ever do. Like cotton swabs is one

24:25

thing, but like a car key or

24:27

bobby pin or like a toothpick, what

24:29

is wrong with you? I don't know that you should never

24:32

ever stick something like that in your ear because you're just asking

24:34

for trouble, big trouble. Um.

24:36

All right, Well, after this break we are going to

24:38

talk about you're

24:40

candling.

24:56

All right, So Chuck, you teased

24:58

everybody with ear candling. Why don't you tell everyone

25:00

what that is? It's hokem

25:03

okay, describe the hokem

25:05

well ear candling. And a lot

25:07

of people don't know this, I think. I think a lot of folks say, like,

25:09

oh my gosh, it's the best thing ever. Um.

25:12

It is also known as auricular

25:14

candling or coning, and it

25:16

is a procedure once you put a cone shaped um

25:19

waxy cone shaped device in the ear

25:21

canal um and it's got

25:23

usually a plate underneath it between

25:25

the cone in your ear, and you

25:28

light it on fire. And

25:30

supposedly what it does is that you stick

25:33

the thing in your ear and then light

25:35

it on fire. Yeah, supposedly

25:37

what it does is it creates a vacuum

25:39

to pull out um impurities.

25:42

Right because the flame supposedly

25:46

needs oxygen, while the flame definitely needs

25:48

oxygen to burn, and it's getting

25:50

its oxygen by sucking it out of the ear canal

25:52

through the cone, hence creating

25:54

a vacuum. And as it does, like you said, it sucks

25:57

out impurities and ear wax and supposedly

25:59

also clears your sinuses, um,

26:02

clears the the plaque out

26:04

of your um den drites

26:06

and all sorts of stuff like that. Yeah. This one

26:08

article by Lisa roe uh

26:11

Rosen, m D. Said she

26:13

went to and this was in the nineties, but she went to a Discovery

26:16

expo in Atlanta and said that they had

26:18

ear candle ers there and one of the exhibitions

26:20

and the lady said that ran the booth

26:22

quote it cleans the whole head, brains

26:24

and all they're all connected, you know, Oh

26:29

yeah end quote. UM.

26:31

And of course it was in Atlanta. I'm like, oh great, although

26:34

that doesn't necessarily mean that could be anyway.

26:36

You're right, but um, there is there

26:39

are a lot of people that think, you know, it's um,

26:42

it's a cleanse for your ear, and it does connect

26:45

to your brain and it clears your head, and

26:47

it's a spiritual thing and you know, they don't know

26:49

where exactly it came from, but uh,

26:51

China and ancient Tibet and yeah,

26:55

pre Columbian South America, Atlantis.

26:57

Yeah, they all are cited as places

26:59

where it might have happened. Yeah, no one has any idea

27:02

where this stuff originated. Could have been

27:04

created in the US and the seventies for all

27:06

anybody knows. Should

27:08

we read some of the things that supposedly helps.

27:11

Yeah, we should probably also say if you haven't been

27:14

able to tell by now, um, science is

27:16

thoroughly debunked. Ear candling um.

27:19

And this is from that article. There's something that

27:22

Dr Rosen and some of her colleagues

27:24

got together and kind of step by step

27:26

took down the idea. Yeah, there's

27:28

a list of like forty things. We

27:31

won't go to them all, but release vertigo,

27:34

clears the eyes, purifies the blood, um

27:37

aids sinusitis, relieves ear

27:39

aches, opens and aligns in

27:41

your chakra, releases

27:43

blocked energy, reduces stress, intention stabilizes

27:47

your emotions. Um, it

27:49

does none of that, because it

27:51

is it is just been

27:53

proven to be an outright not

27:56

only fraud but dangerous

27:58

right. So, and here's why so. Um.

28:01

The first one is that you

28:04

can't pass liquids and gases through

28:06

an ear drum that isn't perforated or ruptured

28:09

um. So it's not sucking anything

28:12

out of your inner ear, or

28:15

your um lymph system,

28:17

or your sinuses or your brain.

28:20

That's where your ears pop when you're in a plane.

28:22

Right, If if you could pass air through there, that wouldn't

28:24

happen. There would be no atmospheric pressure going

28:27

on. Right, So that means that

28:29

sticking an ear candle in your outer ears

28:31

not going to suck anything

28:33

out because it can't pass through. That's that's point

28:36

one, right, that's point one. Point

28:38

two is oxygen. Uh,

28:40

well, it will create that vacuum and

28:43

and suck out the impurities. Yeah, and that

28:45

is just not true. Yeah

28:47

apparently and it and Yeah, doing

28:49

trials of ear candles, they weren't able

28:52

to um create a vacuum

28:54

in any of them, So there's no vacuum

28:56

created, that's right. Uh.

28:59

There's also uh the idea

29:01

that if a vacuum were

29:03

created, it would suck impurities out. Apparently

29:06

after ear candling some of these, at

29:10

least one of the same trials studied

29:12

the stuff the residue that was found

29:15

afterwards, like I guess in the stump

29:17

of the ear candle. Well yeah, and that's what people

29:19

point to because there's all this gunk and

29:21

they're like, look at all this stuff that came out of my ear.

29:23

Oh my god. Right, So what it turns

29:25

out to be is ash from the ear candle

29:28

and left over wax from the ear candle,

29:30

but not just ear candle, not ear whax,

29:33

just the candle residue. Yeah, like they tested

29:35

the substance that is not cerebumay

29:37

in any former fashion. Uh, the

29:40

what about the idea that it's safe and effective.

29:43

I think we took care of the effective part, but

29:46

the safe thing, apparently there's

29:48

a lot of injuries you can get from it. Um

29:50

that you can be burned is one

29:52

thing. Um, you can

29:55

perforate your ear drum, you can get infections.

29:58

Um, you can get built up of the

30:00

candle wax to replace

30:03

whatever wax you think you're getting out. Yeah,

30:05

it could have the reverse effect exactly. And

30:07

then um, one woman actually died from

30:09

a fire that was caused in two thousand

30:12

five from ear candling. I looked it up. She

30:14

was doing it, I guess by herself on

30:16

her bed and the ear candle fell

30:18

out of her ear and caught her bed sheets

30:21

on fire. And she made it out of her

30:23

house fine, but she was asthmatic and had

30:25

an asthmatic reaction to the smoke and

30:28

died. How did happen that fast?

30:30

I don't know. I guess she had some bunch

30:32

of bed sheets

30:35

or something of like some

30:37

flammable material. Um,

30:39

there is a company

30:41

I won't name the company, but one company that made

30:44

it. And if you it came with

30:46

a seventy five page manual and a thirty

30:48

minute video tape. I guess

30:50

this is a while ago. It was a video tape

30:53

and candles and plate guards and flame

30:55

retarded cloths and oil and then

30:57

uh otoscope. And if

31:00

you read the flyer with this kit,

31:03

it says, quote it supplies you with everything

31:05

you need for a safe and effective session of entertainment

31:08

right for entertainment purposes only because

31:11

apparently, I think it says that Canada

31:13

regulates those things. Are the US does

31:15

those medical devices? If they make any health

31:17

claims? Yeah, I think they're illegal in Canada

31:19

outright. Um, or at least

31:21

they were. I'm not sure if they still are, but um,

31:24

yeah, the f d A won't

31:27

even I mean, you can't make any

31:29

kind of claim on the box

31:31

if you if you get an ear candle at your little

31:33

health food store, just read it carefully.

31:36

They can't make any claims for entertainment purposes

31:39

because it's a hoot to put

31:41

a candle in your ear and light it on fire. There

31:43

was one other thing I came across

31:45

in the articles you sent me, Um,

31:48

and I don't know if it's true, but it sounds fantastic

31:51

that if if you

31:53

could create a vacuum with an ear candle,

31:56

the negative pressure created by the vacuum

31:58

would rupture your ear drop them right, which

32:01

sounds pretty awesome. Yeah. I don't

32:03

know if it's true. It wasn't backed up with a source or anything

32:05

like that. I couldn't find it anywhere else, but it's

32:07

pretty hilarious. Yeah, So don't ear

32:09

candle people. And if you write in and

32:12

say no, you should see the stuff

32:14

that comes out. It is not your

32:16

ear wax. You should put that

32:18

stuff beneath the gas chromatograph

32:20

and see what you think. I mean, it's proven.

32:23

This is like what was we talked about recently,

32:25

the crop circles. Man,

32:27

we got eat from that to people like no, it's

32:30

not proven. What was it. I

32:33

think it was that Oklowa's crop circles.

32:35

When we're like, no, they've proven that. These

32:37

guys came out and said we made it

32:40

up. No, I know what they were saying though, like it.

32:42

It's just like we were talking about with ESPs.

32:44

Because you can disprove right,

32:46

right, some of it doesn't mean that this proves

32:48

all of it. Except with crop circles. We

32:51

should come up with the stuff. You should have a T shirt. Friends

32:53

don't let friends ear candle. Yeah,

32:56

yeah, I just love your ear wax. Yeah,

32:58

let it fall out on your shoulder and let someone point

33:01

it out and you say that's nature baby,

33:03

Yeah, it's because I eat celery. Uh.

33:07

If you want to know more about your wax,

33:10

you can type the word into the

33:12

search bar at how stuff works dot com. I

33:14

think we have it done as one word maybe uh

33:17

yeah, uh and uh, I said

33:19

search bar, which means it's time for listening to mail. I'm

33:24

gonna call this ice cream follow up. We've got a lot

33:26

of good stuff on ice cream. People

33:28

really liked that episode. Hey guys,

33:30

I'm a student at the University

33:32

of Minnesota Twin Cities. Started

33:35

listening to your podcast just this week, and I'm

33:37

officially hooked. I'm listening to your

33:39

podcast on ice cream. That's really interesting because I've

33:41

worked in an ice cream parlor for the last five summers.

33:44

Wilson's opened in nineteen o six

33:46

and it's still going strong today, one of the most

33:48

famous restaurants in Wisconsin. Uh.

33:50

There are definitely different types of vanilla ice cream.

33:53

We use two types, French or deluxe

33:55

vanilla and purple vanilla. The

33:58

label on this other vanilla is purple. We

34:01

use purple vanilla for shakes and malts because

34:03

it's less rich allows for the flavor of

34:05

the shaker malt to be more distinguished. He saw

34:07

French vanilla and ice cream cone Sundays and floats,

34:10

and you mentioned having root beer floats. Reminded me of an

34:12

interesting thing that I've noticed. People

34:14

often get offended when they order a black cow

34:18

and we have to ask them what it is. That's

34:20

because almost everyone has a different idea

34:22

of what a black cow consists of. Some

34:25

say that it's a root beer float. Some

34:28

say that it's a root beer float with chocolate ice cream.

34:30

Some say it's a coke float, some say it's

34:32

a blended root beer float, etcetera,

34:34

etcetera. Somehow they all got labeled as black

34:37

cow. Thanks for giving them

34:39

me more ice cream knowledge. I'll actually be able to

34:41

answer customers now when they ask

34:43

what the difference between ice cream and frozen yogurt

34:45

is? And that is from Andrea Nelson

34:48

and she says, ps, those nasty,

34:50

cheap cones with the flat bottoms are known as

34:53

cake cones. Yeah, I saw that

34:55

afterwards. Don't order them ever there.

34:58

I mean, if you had Jason's Delhi and that's all they

35:00

got, oh, is

35:02

they have the free ice cream? Right? Huh? Yeah?

35:06

And that's how it was. Like the

35:08

day that we recorded ice Cream

35:10

and I couldn't remember the name of the count I think

35:13

I ended up going that night and there

35:15

was cake cone. I

35:17

was like, yes, cake cone. Somebody else called

35:19

it a wafer cone, but I think that's just wrong. I

35:22

see where that would come from, because it's wafer esk. Yeah,

35:24

I mean it makes sense, but I've never

35:26

seen it called that before, and that's too close to

35:28

waffle cone, right, you know, right?

35:31

It makes people confused. So thanks

35:33

to Andrea Nelson for that one. It Thanks Andrea.

35:36

If you want to get in touch with us to say

35:38

hi or to tell us about ice cream or anything

35:40

like that. You can tweet to us at s y

35:42

s K podcast. You can join us on Facebook

35:44

dot com slash stuff you Should Know. You can send

35:47

us an email the Stuff Podcast at how Stuffworks

35:49

dot com, and as always, you can join us

35:51

at our home on the web. They'll look Curious

35:54

Stuff you Should Know dot com.

36:00

For more on this and thousands of other topics,

36:03

visit how stuff Works dot com.

36:09

M