# Cleaning ears with Q-tips **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 16, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-ears-with-q-tips/352894 "2006-04-16T18:25:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-ears-with-q-tips/352894/41 "2006-04-18T13:37:24Z")
Is it only the Chinese who have specialised ear cleaning shovels? They are tiny metal spoon shaped objects specifically designed for cleaning out ears. Works a hell of a lot better than Q tips. Do these not exist anywhere else? ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-ears-with-q-tips/352894/42 "2006-04-18T13:57:55Z")
I just wish they made Q-tips with more cotton on the ends… it’s like they cheap out. Too much Q and not enough tip. I always have to unravel the ends a bit to puff them up before use. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-ears-with-q-tips/352894/43 "2006-04-18T13:58:17Z")
I Qtip my ears daily after I shower, otherwise the water in there drives me absolutely batty. Just yesterday, I almost shoved a Qtip through my ear, when my sweetie walked in behind me and startled me while I was cleaning. Today, to prevent a recurrence of this incident, I faced the door while I had Qtips in my ears. 😃 I did have a doctor once tell me he knew I used Qtips from the scratches in my ears. He mentioned that “nothing smaller than your elbow” thing. I rarely have much earwax, but Qtips are my usual solution if I do. Sometimes bobby pins, if it seems to have gotten thick before I noticed it. So far, no problems. And I also love the feeling. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-ears-with-q-tips/352894/44 "2006-04-18T14:04:50Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > I just wish they made Q-tips with more cotton on the ends… it’s like they cheap out. Too much Q and not enough tip. > > I always have to unravel the ends a bit to puff them up before use. [These might be what you’re looking for.](http://www.johnsonsbaby.com/products/cotton/safety-swabs) ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-ears-with-q-tips/352894/45 "2006-04-18T15:33:23Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > Am I the only one who derives certain “pleasure” from cleaning her ears? I always feel like I am doing something that the nuns in my catholic school would disapprove of. I used to have a cat that suffered from ear mites. I would put the medicine in his ears and he didn’t like it a whole helluva lot, but he tolerated it. I was Q-tipping my own ears one day and had a brilliant thought concerning the cat. Grabbed a fresh Q-tip, grabbed the cat, started cleaning his ears. The reaction was not exactly what I anticipated. Intense purring, body trembling, tongue running in and out, eyes closed and drooling. When I started on the other ear, I got the same results, plus the cat climaxed on my leg. That cat was a Q-tip addict for the rest of his life. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Evil\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_One)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-ears-with-q-tips/352894/46 "2006-04-18T15:59:55Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Intense purring, body trembling, tongue running in and out, eyes closed and drooling. There is so much that can be done with this, I don’t know where to start. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-ears-with-q-tips/352894/47 "2006-04-18T16:16:52Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > (“_koff koff_ Jeez, honey, watch the vagus [sp?] nerve, willya?” **Qadgop** will know what I mean.) Once, after getting my hair cut, a small piece of hair made it into my ear canal. For several hours it found a place along side of the vagus nerve and caused it to be hyper stimulated. I went to the emergency room (at the Holy Cross, when it was still a hospital). Once the staff stopped laughing they got the hair out of my ear and saved me from more gut renching pain. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-ears-with-q-tips/352894/48 "2006-04-18T17:12:41Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > I used to have a cat that suffered from ear mites. I would put the medicine in his ears and he didn’t like it a whole helluva lot, but he tolerated it. > > I was Q-tipping my own ears one day and had a brilliant thought concerning the cat. Grabbed a fresh Q-tip, grabbed the cat, started cleaning his ears. The reaction was not exactly what I anticipated. Intense purring, body trembling, tongue running in and out, eyes closed and drooling. When I started on the other ear, I got the same results, plus the cat climaxed on my leg. > > That cat was a Q-tip addict for the rest of his life. Was this cat a whole male, or neutered? I’ve heard that vets use a cotton swab to stimulate queens in heat, so they’ll go out of heat. Now we know what cotton swabs are REALLY for…they’re sexual aids for cats! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-ears-with-q-tips/352894.md?page=2)