To continue using cotton buds in my ears

[bumblenbean]

.. when the expert view is that it’s a pretty bad idea? I cannot seem to stop this rather unsavoury daily habit. I don’t do it to shift earwax, but simply because the sensation of twirling a cotton bud in the inner ear feels so good! I’ve heard it described as an eargasm (!) - I wouldn’t go that far but it is very satisfying especially if there’s a minor itch in the ear ...

AIBU to carry on regardless, since i’ve never had any untoward incidents? Admittedly I did have a minor crisis once when the cotton came away inside my ear and DH had to perform an extraction with a pair of tweezers... but that was due to a rather too vigorous twirling action which has since been modified

DH thinks I’m mad to keep doing it and appears to think I’ll end up piercing my eardrum or something else rather dramatic. Surely someone else out there indulges in this despite knowing it’s probably a bad idea?! Or do I need to go cold turkey?

And does anyone have any other inadvisable yet oddly compulsive habits they can share?

Did you see that 24 hours in A & E programme last week where the guy got the cotton bud stuck in his ear ? It looked terribly painful as they tried to pull it out !! I still use them though.

I got told off by my GP when he had to examine my ears for something and he said they looked suspiciously clean. I was then told to never put anything in my ear smaller than an elbow
Apparently ears are self cleaning but I do understand what you mean about that lovely feeling. Just be careful

Me too. Re the eargasm. Oddly satisfying, although admittedly a bit yuck. I try not to do it too often though. It's my mother's fault; she started cleaning them when I was a child & I presumed it was normal.

Not unless you want to press the reset button:
waterfordwhispersnews.com/2018/06/06/man-inserts-cotton-bud-too-far-accidentally-resets-himself-to-factory-settings/

I'm with you OP. I bloody love a cotton bud. I get hayfever which makes the inside of my ears itch, I can't be without a cotton bud when it's hayfever season.

I am very careful with DD's ears, I use a soapy wet bath flannel over my fingertip to clean the outer ear only, in the bath. I'm not having her start the bad habit.

Love it for myself but don't use on dc. So satisfying.

We can’t smoke, since having kids I rarely go out, booze is bad for you, fucking sugar tax ... and now we can’t even de wax ears - so few pleasures left..

I used to clean my ears every day and enjoyed it. Then I stopped, which was really strange at first but now I don't like the sensation.
Leave them alone and just use a cloth to wipe the outer ear.

honestly, i have plans for how to source them if they get banned. I once hit too far in, lesson learned and never again in the 30 odd years since it happened.

YADNBU!

No amount of warnings could ever stop me doing this. It’s as addictive as crack.

Glad I am not the only one with this habit!

It's an amazing feeling. Apart from the time I went too far. There was blood

Although, Johnson’s cotton buds are not what they used to, they are still better than any others in my experience. In some other brands the cotton unravels, or the sticks are too bendy.

I don't really clean, but I have to dry the inside of my ears if I wash my hair or go swimming, or I'll be fiddling with them all day

Once when overseas I didn’t get to clean them for a couple of months - when I finally got to the wax it was probably the best day of my life.

In 40 years I haven't yet had a mishap so I'm going to carry on. My ears itch like crazy otherwise.

My GP said a year ago she wished those bloody things were banned. I was there for an ear infection caused my cleaning my ear with them - must have gone too deep. She said she was always getting patients with ear infections caused by the buds!

So, was amazed when govt banned them!

I do too but not really in the hole. It's more for the bit at the top of the ear and the bit around the hole.

My sister knocked one on her once and had to go to a and e so I am very careful. Plus have seen the ear was video where the bud needed to be extracted. Love an ear wax video.

haha lots of planet

So glad I’m not the only one!

Some days are more satisfying than others I find - must be relative degrees of itchiness ...

Having watched 14yr old DS in acute discomfort from shoving a cotton bud in his ear and managing to shove the wax in even further, (unknown to me) I would really advise against it. Because of his age we had to get a referral to a paediatric ENT consultant for microsuction which, if we hadn't been able to go private, we would still be waiting for. As it was, he had to wait for 4 weeks until a private appointment could be made, at a hospital 40 mins drive away. If you're an adult you can walk in to an earwax clinic, pay your £40 and get it done there and then. If you're a child, not so easy.
I know that's not really answering your question OP but I'd hate anyone else's child to go through it.

I'm already stock piling packets of them in the back of the wardrobe...just in case!!

And what cam out of his ear, well I think you could have grown potatoes in it

YADNBU.

I wash my hair daily and I dry my lug 'oles with a bud afterwards. They feel weird and unfinished if I don't. I don't push them in too far though. Too ouchy