Burning the Candle at Both Ends!

Well, not really, only at one end! We had bought ear candles at the recommendation of our daughter. "Shannon can hear again!" she had said of her husband, on whom she used the candles to remove built-up wax in his ears. We found the "candles" in the ear section of Walmart's health care area, and after watching a tutorial of the process, we finally undertook the experiment.

The tutorial showed the "patient" lying on a table with  his head turned to one side, while his assistant gathered the supplies: a bowl of water, a lighter, and a foil pan in which she made a hole for the candle. Then carefully placing the candle in his ear, she lit the "candle," which was made of a special paper.

The candle was trimmed at inch intervals, when the burnt portion would fall into the water. The pan protected the subject's face. Soon she deemed it time to remove the rest of the candle, peel back the paper at the inserted end, and voila! A yucky deposit of ear wax was on display.

Well, our experience wasn't an exact replica. Howard lay on the sofa, so the pan on his head was unlevel, the burnt inch couldn't fall into the bowl of  water due to the give and take of the sofa cushion, and the burning candle fell into the foil pan, narrowly averting my husband's hair.

After figuring out how to peel back the paper of the candle, we did manage to see a little wax. Then it was my turn. I rested my head on the table, and although it was a little scary with my spouse holding a lit candle in my ear, I survived. I even heard the crackling  noise of melting wax! He removed the candle and everything got louder! I could hear better! No wonder, with the amount of residue that fell out!

Tomorrow we're going to get two more candles for our other ears! It should be a cinch now that we are professionals!