So long as you don’t have a perforated eardrum, here’s my recommendation for a regimen you can adopt to keep your ears a little more wax-free. This is, by no means, a substitute for meeting with an audiologist, but it’ll work decently enough for the budget-minded folks out there.
What you’ll need:
- Medicine cup - A shot glass will work in a pinch, but any big-box branded tiny cup will do the trick
- Medicine dropper - The one I use came from a small bottle of essential oil that has been thoroughly cleaned with isopropyl alcohol and distilled water
- Hydrogen Peroxide, 3% - Readily available at a drug store near you, this will last you a long while
- Distilled water - Locally, it’s less than a buck per gallon. Will also last you a long time.
- Towel - Should be easy enough to figure out why this one’s necessary, what with all the liquid being used.
Fill your medicine cup about 1/3 of the way with the hydrogen peroxide, then about 2/3 distilled water. Mix it up.
With your medicine dropper, plunge (aliquot, for the chemists out there) a dropper-full into one ear while laying down on your side and just let it sit there for about 15 minutes. For really waxy ears, you’ll hear a lot of snap, crackle, and pops going on…this is the wax being dissolved/softened by the peroxide.
Once 15 minutes has passed, slowly get up and tilt your head over a towel to drain out the solution. Repeat on the other side. If you want to give your ears another good flush, it’s a good idea to follow this up with a shower to rinse out the solution from each ear.
I follow this regimen about once every other week and the amount of wax production has gone down significantly; my foam tips are certainly happier for it. Hope this helps!