The air in my kitchen is full of ear wax.

[LaraMN]

This was something I discovered some time ago, but I was thinking about it today when I overheard some people at school remarking about how amazing ear candles are.

My friend tried them and told me I would "not believe" how much "junk" they pull out of your ears. Being compelled by anything that involves weird experiments on my body, I bought a couple. I tried and one and was rather horrified at how much "stuff" ended up in the cone. In the interests of science, I decided to see what would happen if I just stood in the kitchen and let one burn. I ended up with- take a wild guess- a candle full of the same "stuff" that purportedly came from my ear.

Either ear candles are a crock, or the air in my kitchen needs a saline rinse.

:thumbsdown:

[Robb]

1. That would be "A"

:D

[PeaceNikki]

2. Testing By Skeptics....

http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/candling.html

Candling is occasionally offered as a service at health expositions. Rebecca Long, president of the Georgia Council Against Health Fraud, made the following observations at the 1992 Discovery Expo in Atlanta, Georgia:

One exhibition was doing ear candling for $30. The people selling this said that the suction created by the candle "cleared your mind and sinuses." I questioned them enough to establish that they meant this literally and believed the ear was an opening from the brain and sinuses. The woman running the booth stated, "It cleans the whole head, brains and all - they're all connected you know." The candling was performed on a table at the front of the booth, so the curious sight of a person lying there with a burning candle sticking out of his ear drew many spectators. During the procedure, a gray mixture of soot and wax drippings collected on a pie plate under the candle. It did not look like melted candle wax, but was quite foul in appearance. Customers were told that these were the "impurities" of which they had been cleansed, and many went around proudly showing them off, comparing their debris to that of others, and making knowing comments. The vendor also peddled "psychic readings."

After the show, Long bought a package of ear candles at a local health-food store and, with help from a friend, carefully followed the package directions. She found that the candling produced a hissing sound similar to that of a conch shell held against the ear, but much louder. However, the air inside her ear became so hot that she had to stop the experiment.

More recently, two investigators tested candles to see whether the wax accumulated after burning came entirely from the candle or included wax that came from the ear. To do this they burned candles with the tip (a) inside the ear, (b) outside the ear, so the wax dripped into a bowl of water, and (b) inside the ear but with a tube in place that would permit ear wax to move into the tube but would block candle wax from moving downward. They demonstrated that all residue originated from the candle and that no ear wax was removed from the ear.

[nickgutierrez]

3. "They're all connected, you know." Wow.

Nice science, lady. :eyes:

And I'm pretty sure that "cleaning" one's brain is probably a bad idea.

[PeaceNikki]

4. Cleaning one's brain can be accomplished through much more fun methods.

Drugs and alcohol will kill off the weak cells floating around in there. :crazy: