# Ear wax hardness--indicator?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ear-wax-hardness-indicator/28195>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 5, 2000, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ear-wax-hardness-indicator/28195 "2000-08-05T02:42:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![insider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@insider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/insider)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ear-wax-hardness-indicator/28195/1 "2000-08-05T02:42:28Z")

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Is it true that ear wax hardness is an indicator or immunity level? The harder the ear wax the higher the immune system? Any help appreciated.

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**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ear-wax-hardness-indicator/28195/2 "2000-08-05T02:45:10Z")

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God, this is why I love this place. People will come up with a question after merely poking in their ears 😉

My WAG is that your ear wax is supposed to be soft, not hard, to protect your inner ear from getting dirty and such. That’s why it comes out, and that’s why your ear keeps producing it: it’s a cleaning thing.

I doubt there’s any relationship with the strength of ones immunity system. But hey: IANAD.

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**Author:** ![Surgoshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Surgoshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surgoshan)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ear-wax-hardness-indicator/28195/3 "2000-08-05T02:50:39Z")

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I am not a diva?

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**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ear-wax-hardness-indicator/28195/4 "2000-08-05T02:53:24Z")

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Surely, I am no diva. But I meant “doctor” 😉

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ear-wax-hardness-indicator/28195/5 "2000-08-05T06:46:26Z")

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If your earwax is hard, that’s a bad thing. It’s supposed to be gooey to catch dirt, germs, and other nasties.

So earwax is a protective device, like snot, and not a defensive device, like your immune system. AFAIK, the two are pretty much unrelated.

[Cecil on earwax](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_111.html)