# Earwax, sticky vs dry & crumbly

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earwax-sticky-vs-dry-crumbly/360599>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 13, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earwax-sticky-vs-dry-crumbly/360599 "2006-06-13T18:19:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earwax-sticky-vs-dry-crumbly/360599/1 "2006-06-13T18:19:24Z")

</div>

People seem to have one or the other kind of earwax. Why would it change from the crumbly type to sticky (mine did)?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earwax-sticky-vs-dry-crumbly/360599/2 "2006-06-13T23:51:15Z")

</div>

It’s mainly genetic:

> **[The Opera Blog - News | Opera](https://blogs.opera.com/news/)**
>
> The latest news about Opera web browsers, tech trends, internet tips.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earwax-sticky-vs-dry-crumbly/360599/3 "2006-06-14T03:05:13Z")

</div>

> [@MaryEFoo](#):
>
> People seem to have one or the other kind of earwax. Why would it change from the crumbly type to sticky (mine did)?

Mine changed in the other direction. In our cases, I wonder just how important the genetic contribution is; i.e., does some other cause have a greater influence?