Hopi ear candles. Do they work?

[jasper]

Anyone got a view on this?

I would like to know too
[desperate]

Um, dh tried them once, and no, they didn't. But they did provide us both with quite a lot of entertainment (and nearly scorched his ear off)

I gather from my professionally sceptic friend that ear candles have been comprehensively dismissed by the medical profession - although advocates of alternative medicine would doubtless say 'well they would, wouldn't they?' This isn't the article that I was thinking of, but if you Google 'ear candle' and 'debunk' you'll find a lot of articles like this one.

oh they're hilarious aren't they?

commercially available ear candles are quite useless really and after a while I refused to sell or reccommend them anymore in my shop and clinic, but I did bring back from arizona a few years back some 'home made indian ear candles' from a reservation and they worked excellently, but you won't get them here of by mail order, only if you visit the reservation. I have a freind in the US whose dad is half cherokee and he often trawls round reservations in his hols to get back to his roots, am hoping he finds the reservation I went to soon as after my recent ear infection, I could do with some of these candles (TMI? sorry )

commercially available ear candles are quite useless really and after a while I refused to sell or reccommend them anymore in my shop and clinic, but I did bring back from arizona a few years back some 'home made indian ear candles' from a reservation and they worked excellently, but you won't get them here of by mail order, only if you visit the reservation. I have a freind in the US whose dad is half cherokee and he often trawls round reservations in his hols to get back to his roots, am hoping he finds the reservation I went to soon as after my recent ear infection, I could do with some of these candles (TMI? sorry )

commercially available ear candles are quite useless really and after a while I refused to sell or reccommend them anymore in my shop and clinic, but I did bring back from arizona a few years back some 'home made indian ear candles' from a reservation and they worked excellently, but you won't get them here of by mail order, only if you visit the reservation. I have a freind in the US whose dad is half cherokee and he often trawls round reservations in his hols to get back to his roots, am hoping he finds the reservation I went to soon as after my recent ear infection, I could do with some of these candles (TMI? sorry )

ooops, sorry, computer probs tonight

so in what way are the Indian reservation candles allegedly any different?

I am not sure but the shape of the candle is different and they use different oils etc in the making of the candle and you have tp put an oil into your ear first.

I have always had problems with my ears, I can here the same range of frequencies as you but they are shifted higher, so I can not here bass sounds so well but can hear higher pitched sounds that you can't. apparently, my ears procude more wax to compensate as higher pitched sounds are more damaging. when on this reservation, I was talking to the 'medicine man' there asking him about the herbs they use and we somehow got onto ears and he told me about these candles. after having both ears done with these candles, my ears felt like they were on cloud nine I got some more to bring home only 6 though
when they ran out I tried the hopi ear candles you can buy here and was bitterly disappointed.

a good excuse to go back to the US I think

Work for what exactly? They DO help you to relax, your ears are amazingly waxy for a few days afterwards and I have found they help with throat problems too. The theory is that the warm smoke softens earwax, the honey and sage coats the ear canal soothing the skin, the temperature difference between the inner and outer ear canals can help to ease tinnitus, pressure, earache and they are very effective for itchy ears.

As a treatment I like it - it is very soporific.

I thought they were to remove wax - is that wrong?

they are bollocks

I have posted about this before so have a search

complete waste of money ime.

They don't work.

I always say try things and see if YOU like them - we all respond differently to different things some of us like massage some do not, some of us respond to acupuncture - some do not. If you have a problem with ear wax then you could try having a treatment or you could buy some over the counter stuff - it is up to you but perosnally I think it is a lovely treatment. I would say make sure that if you do decide to give it a whirl make sure the therapist is properly tained and insured - do not be afraid to ask to see his/her qulaifications and insurance details and ask about experience etc.

I wasn't being funny

the gunk they show you in the candle is not earwax

if you like warm ears try a hot water bottle not a naked farking flame

I think they are excellent as a relaxation technique but I have my ears syringed once a year as I suffer with blocked ears due to narrow ear canals. I didn't find them helpful for unblocking.

HTH!

Bunch of arse as a treatment for ear problems, but I'm sure they're very relaxing if you're into that kind of thing.

What's relaxing about a naked flame a few inches from your head?

I enjoyed it Sputnik . But then I love having my ears syringed and having my hair pulled through the plastic cap when you have it highlighted.

I don't think it really helped clear my ears of wax at all, but I found it immensely relaxing. I think though that unless you're into things like reiki you might not "get" it.

Well perhaps if I'd been doing it for recreational purposes. As it was I was just annoyed that a whole pack of 'em failed to unblock my ear.

If you do it yourself it is not going to be relaxing! A good therapist would not even contemplate showing you the inside of the candle or telling you that it was ear wax!! Or even claiming that it would remove an ear blockage in the first place.

It does soften ear wax but if you had a blocked ear then it probably would not remove the blockage. I still say it a nice therapeutic treatment.

A friend of mine (a mumsnetter, actually) had problems with buildup of earwax and the treatment recommended to her was to pour warm surgical olive oil into her ears. Possibly a little messy but you are not going to get burnt doing it, at least. She said it worked, lots of earwax came out.

Our doctor recommended (for a family member with the problem) dunking your head in a hot bath low enough to fill your ears once a day, every day. It helped alot! And I do the same now ...