Missy G, Ear Candle Myth Buster

Yesterday,  my world tilted on it’s axis.  Do you remember that feeling you had when you eventually realised Santa Claus, the tooth fairy AND the easter bunny weren’t real.  Roll that all into one and that’s how I felt yesterday.  I have been a staunch advocate for ear candles for about 10 years and do them regularly.  You should see what comes out!  That is a big part of the attraction I have to say. 

For those that don’t know, they are a cylindrical cone of cotton which is dipped in wax.  This is then gently placed into your ear cavity and lit.  The premise is that the flame creates a vacuum which gently extracts the ear wax from your ear into the cone.  Then you cut it open, exclaim loudly, compare with your friends and get quite excited (well, that’s what I do anyway).

I have converted people to ear candles, all types of people – doubters, nay sayers and those easily led.  I had looked them up on wikipedia and the commentary was very uncomplimentary but I dismissed it as user generated and biased.  Is EVERYTHING on wikipedia right?  I don’t think so, although the speed at which they put updates on there of things that have just happened is totally remarkable.

So Missy G read wikipedia and texted me and I responded as above.  We’re very different people, I’m more general with broad sweeping statements, not really backed up by facts or figures.  Missy G is a little bit more logical however and she wasn’t taking anything at face value.  She decided to undertake a little experiment.  She lit the ear candle and placed it in her ear, ok nothing weird or test like about that… It’s what you’re meant to do.  After the alloted time she removed it and put it to one side.  This is when the test comes in… are you on the edge of your seat with anticipation?She lit another candle and just held it over the sink until it burnt down to the mark.  Lo and behold, both ear candles showed EXACTLY the same results.  She texted me and I was shocked, dismayed and astounded.  She encouraged me to look on Youtube and there are loads of vids on there of people debunking the results.

So I am going to conduct my own experiment, just to check.  It’s like when I was told that Santa wasn’t real and I still wanted to sit on Santa’s knee at the shopping mall (aged 24, I’m a slow learner).  Sometimes you just need to know for yourself.