# What is this earlobe butter?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-earlobe-butter/541033>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 28, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-earlobe-butter/541033 "2010-05-28T04:13:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-earlobe-butter/541033/1 "2010-05-28T04:13:44Z")

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I get these little bumps behind my earlobe. I when I squeeze them, an oily, smelly, white substance comes out. I call it “earlobe butter.”

What is it?

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-earlobe-butter/541033/2 "2010-05-28T04:16:36Z")

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[Sebaceous cyst](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebaceous_cyst)?

EDIT: You don’t want to google for videos.  
.

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**Author:** ![Lunchy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Lunchy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunchy)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-earlobe-butter/541033/3 "2010-05-28T04:23:38Z")

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I’ve occasionally got a few on my left ear. Once or twice in my arm pit.  
My old man had one on his left ear and never did anything with it. Fast forward 6 months, it was almost the size of a golf ball, and the skin was tough, so a trip to the doc’s he went.

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**Author:** ![Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicolas_Bourbaki)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-earlobe-butter/541033/4 "2010-05-28T04:31:25Z")

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Eee-_eewww_.

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**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-earlobe-butter/541033/5 "2010-05-28T05:34:35Z")

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Earlobe butter you say? No, that’s actually not butter at all. It’s Marmite. That’s a common source of confusion, so no worries.

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**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-earlobe-butter/541033/6 "2010-05-28T06:01:09Z")

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Yep, sounds like sebum, thanks. 🙂

Wikipedia says it keeps hair soft and moisturized, maybe I should sell it.

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**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-earlobe-butter/541033/7 "2010-05-28T11:52:35Z")

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From the heading, I thought this would have something to do with a new product. Maybe a type of body butter made just for the earlobes of people trying to get larger gauges in…