Clean ears: 3 home remedies that really work

Many doctors advise against cleaning cotton swabs to clean your ears. Instead, you can resort to home remedies. They are gentle and remove excess wax in a few simple steps.

Clean steam bath as a home remedy for the ears

Ear wax, also called cerumen, keeps the ear canal moist and wicks dirt out of the ear. This will clean the ear itself. If too much has accumulated, you can remove it using home remedies such as the steam bath.

• Fill a bowl with two liters of boiling water. If you want you can add chamomile. Let the water cool down until the steam feels comfortable on the skin.
• Hold your ear over the bowl and cover your head with a towel. Let the ear steam for ten minutes.
• Rinse the ear with lukewarm water.

Clean vegetable oil for ears

Vegetable oil dissolves fat and thus blockages in the ear.

• Warm up some olive oil to body temperature.
• Drip a few drops into your ear.
• Let the oil work for 10 minutes.
• Rinse the ear with lukewarm water.
• Instead of vegetable oil, you can also use warm water or saline.

Remove stubborn cerumen with an ear syringe

This is the easiest way to get rid of ear wax.

• Fill the ear syringe with hot water. The best way to suck it in is by squeezing the ball, immersing it in the liquid and releasing it.
• Wrap a cotton cloth around the ear syringe and place it directly on the ear canal for 15 minutes. This eases constipation.
• Check on the back of your hand whether the water in the ball has cooled to body temperature. If so, inject it directly into the ear canal and wash it off.

You should pay attention to this when cleaning your ears

The ears are very sensitive and react painfully to incorrect treatment. Please consider the following tips:

• Knitting needles, staples or scissors have nothing in the ear canal as cleaning aids!
• Use cotton swabs only to clean the ear cup. Do not insert them into the ear canal.
• If you suffer from persistent ear blockages, please see a doctor.