Proponents of ear candling claim that it cleans out excess wax and other impurities to resolve pain, infection and discomfort. Two simple home tests demonstrate the true and false about this popular holistic therapy.
Ear problems of all kinds seem to run rampant during cold/flu season and from spring allergies. My go-to for these issues has always been homemade garlic ear oil.
Other causes for ear discomfort include clogged sinuses from cold weather, dry heat from furnaces, and sensitivity to pet dander or dust.
Ear candles are a common approach for the holistic treatment of earaches and other ear discomforts at home via a simple process known as “candling”.
These inexpensive devices have become a popular natural remedy sold by the dozens at health food stores to combat seasonal and chronic ear issues. It’s now even a common upscale treatment at day spas!
Ear candling is touted as a way to clean out your ear to help prevent future problems. But, do ear candles really work as advertised?
Let’s put common sense and simple observation into play to determine the truth.
How Do Ear Candles Work?
Use of ear candles, called ear candling or ear coning, is usually performed by using an ear candle about 10′ long which is made of cloth rolled in beeswax or paraffin. The ear candle is pushed through the center of a small hole cut in a pie tin or sturdy paper plate.
The person to be candled then ideally lays comfortably on his/her side. The tapered end of the ear candle is gently placed in the ear canal with the paper plate just above the ear.
Hair should be tied back and a damp cloth placed around the shoulders should any ashes get loose and not be caught by the paper plate. The wide end of the ear candle is then lit and the candle allowed to burn for a few minutes until it is no closer than 4″ from the person being candled.
The ear candle is trimmed every couple of inches as it burns down to keep the flame and ashes low. Extinguishing the candle’s flame should be in a bowl of water rather than blown out to minimize smoke. The entire session for a single ear candle lasts about 15 minutes.
What Are the Benefits?
Proponents of ear candling claim that it removes earwax and toxins. This residue is supposedly drawn out of the ear painlessly via a gentle vacuum caused by the flame burning on the end of the hollow tube of the ear candle. The residue is indeed visible after the ear candling session is complete upon examination of the inside of the remaining part of the ear candle.
Do Candles Remove Wax and Dirt from the Ear?
While all of these claims sound very intriguing, the fact is that none of it is true. If you believe any of these claims to be accurate and want to do a quick test at home, simply take an ear candle and put it in a glass vase. Then, burn it down just like you would if it were used to candle someone’s ear.
When the flame is extinguished, you will find the exact same “residue” inside the candle as you would if it were being used therapeutically on an actual subject. The residue thought be earwax and toxins by candling proponents is actually nothing more than bits of paraffin or beeswax from the candle itself!
Another test you can do is light an ear candle over a sink and put the palm of your hand underneath the end that would go inside the ear canal. Notice there is no suction whatsoever! In fact, you can see a very light stream of smoke blowing OUT that end instead! Mmmm. How is the nonexistent suction from an ear candle supposed to remove anything from the ear canal particularly if it is sticky or gunky?
Is Candling Effective?
Before you come to the conclusion that ear candling is just a health scam and doesn’t provide any therapeutic value, consider this use.
Burning an ear candle with the tapered end inside someone’s ear as described above blows warm smoke into the ear which is indeed very relaxing and soothing for many. No wonder day spas have it on offer.
This warm smoke also has the effect of drying out the ear, so it could potentially be of benefit to those suffering from an ear infection. I actually used ear candling to dry out the fluid in my first child’s ears when he had a double ear infection as a toddler many years ago.
It worked like a charm although it was very much a challenge to accomplish on one so young. No meds required and the fluid in the ear dried up quickly and never returned.
Should You Try It?
I switched over to unprocessed dairy not long after that and eliminated pasteurized organic milk from our home. Turns out this was the cause of the ear problems in the first place.
My son never needed another ear candling session again! That was a long time ago as he is 22 years old today!
My second and third children never needed any ear candling sessions at all. Why? They never have consumed any pasteurized dairy and consequently never had ear infection issues.
In sum, ear candling may be a relaxing and somewhat helpful therapy for those with ear pain and other challenges. It is certainly an enjoyable experience.
However, fixing the diet and eliminating the underlying cause of ear problems in the first place is the best way to go for a long-term solution.
Don’t fall for the notion that ear candles somehow clean out your ears and rid them of excess earwax and toxins. If you perform the simple tests described above, you will realize very quickly that candling does nothing of the sort!
More Information
I was interested in your article bit it has left me with a bit of a conundrum. Briefly? I visited the GP who said i had lots of wax; booked an appointment to have them syringed, went on holiday had the ear candling ? Returned to the gp to be told i had no wax. If what you say is true what happened to the ear wax ??.
As stated in the article, the smoke blown INTO the ear from an ear candle gently dries out the ear and anything in it … like wax! Nothing is “sucked out” of the ear from an ear candle. Anyone with an open mind on the subject can verify this at home! The drying process reduces the volume of the wax considerably and it is easily removed at that point by normal methods, i.e., flushing with water in the ear from showering and or other methods of home cleaning the ears.
Let me give you another example. My son had fluid in his ears from an infection when he was a toddler. This was verified by a doctor who wanted to use conventional methods to eliminate the fluid. Instead, we used ear candles and eliminated the fluid with one candle per ear. Voila! Gone! Did the candle “suck out” the water? Of course not! It simply dried it out gently from the smoke going INTO the ear from the ear candle. Hope that helps.
Me too, Jenna. Thanks for sharing. I just did three candles—first had little residue, and the next two progressively had more and more. After the session I had zero swishing in my ear, which was a constant problem for six months!
Yes, that warm smoke blowing INTO your ears is very soothing and can facilitate healing, but sorry, it doesn’t pull a thing out of your ear! I laugh when people insist on this as it is so false and easily demonstrated to be so using a vase or even just holding the burning candle to very clearly see the smoke going OUT with no suction going into the candle.
I love your articles, thank you so much for doing what you do 🙂 I discovered your work through what you had written on MSG and glutamine, and since then I have been nothing but impressed by your intelligence and wit.
Sarah your article is so full of misinformation that’s i am amazed that they even put you in print.
What “misinformation” is there then??
It’s not baloney, I have the exact same experience as the poster above. I was having a hard time hearing and water would easily get trapped in my ears for DAYS after I had been in our pool. My friend, my husband and I all candled our ears… and I did 2 candles per ear and I cannot even believe the amount of wax that came out. YES there is residue from the candle burning itself, but it does not produce the caramelly, sticky wax like your ear wax does. And for the record, I had a ton (it was alarming) in my candles, and my husband and girlfriend had hardly any in their candles at the end. They also were not having any ear troubles like I was. If the candles pull nothing out, I am unsure why this is the result we would have gotten from three different people.
When I had a hearing test for my new job I failed as my hearing was very poor. I had my ears candled and went back a week later. The person could not believe how much I could hear. I’ve been having my ears done now for over 15 years. My Doctor agreed they obviously worked.
I agree candle do not remove wax. I have found this and finally admit it what they do do is allow your ears to drain it out naturally by opening the Eustachian tube in your ear and allowing the soften wax and fluids to drain as they were meant to be. The build up in the candle is wax particulate, we have to be honest and not blow up smoke up our ears about this.
I have used ear candling on my mom many times and it does WORK. My ego aside when a client tells me it works who am I to tell them no. I have evolved in my belief of what ear candling doesn and doesn’t do. I do not believe it removes any wax, that’s silly, what makes more sense to me is this. The fluids in your ear naturally down though the Eustachian tube in your ear when that gets clogged you get no drainage. The flame, warmth of the candle and smoke all work to unclog that tube allowing drainage and equilibrium. If you choose to believe in the Aura or not I find it interesting that we have 7 layers to our aura that extends to about the same distance as a full unburned candle that flame goes though every layer of the aura burning out and purifying the aura. I use two candles on each ear taking about 15 to 20min per candle, the first candle to warm it up the second to finish. It is important to do both ears otherwise you will feel off balance. I would also advise to use precautions because that is still an open burning flame you are holding over your customers head.
I use a paper plate with a hole cut in the middle for it
a bowl with water in it to put out the ashes as I cut them, a towel over the head to further protect from places and scissors to cut the candle down as you go. Never get complacent with these candles there is fire and it can go very wrong if you’re not careful.
Ear candling does work…the problem is, Dr’s don’t “believe” in it because it is a natural cure, with no benefits of money in their pockets from doing this organic procedure! Face it, it does work, you must not be doing it correctly, however you are using it properly in your home vases! *SMH! Dr’s do not believe in celiac disease either, since there is no cure, just a change of diet! No money in natural cures, the medical industry is a joke and I would try ANYTHING natural before pumping any toxic FDA approved drugs in me!
My wife and I have been using ear candles for decades and they do work, seeing is believing. My wife has small ear canals and tends to have more problems than myself. We usually use 3-4 candles per ear. The first candle or two usually extracts a solid orange tint wax. The third and sometimes fourth will produce a lighter tint and is a loose grainy consistency. When this occurs you know you have gotten most all the wax out. We find if you can find the candles that do not have a plastic insert inside the tip(this resists the flow) they work much better, Beeswax is one brand. In fact not much comes out with the candle with the plastic insert in the tip. Here’s what we find works with the set up: you take a raw biscuit a make a hole in the center and put the tip of the candle through it, then into the ear, this will hold the candle upright while you are laying on your side. Then you take a a piece of aluminum foil ( approx 12 by 12 or 15 by 15 ) and make a small hole in the center just large enough for the large end of the candle to slide over. Turn up all around the sides of the foil to catch any ash. Slide the foil over so it rest on the biscuit that is laying on your ear. Your ready to go. Light the top of the candle. I find that as the candle get closer to the ear the more it draws, so I always let in burn down close to the foil/biscuit before extinguishing with a wet paper towel. After the flame is out unroll the remaining part of the candle to see the results of what you have removed. It is definitely wax as it will stain your fingertips and it smells like wax. Good luck listeners and happy wax removal. Special note: Always have a partner watching and a wet towel to put out flame.
With all due respect, this is such baloney. I have done ear candles too (extensively) as has my husband, and we NEVER gotten a single atom of ear wax out from one. Again, the candle blows smoke INTO the ear, it doesn’t suck anything out! Why don’t you do the tests I list in this article. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the relaxing benefits of having warm smoke blown into the ear by an ear candle, but they do not clean anything out of the ear! It’s ridiculous claims like this that gives alternative medicine a loony reputation.