Ear Candling- Pros, Cons and Tips

Ear candling is a very old form of eastern medicine. I first heard about it while working as a massage therapist at a local spa. The owner decided to start offering it as a treatment that could be added on to any spa service. All of the staff got to try it so that we would be able to describe it to the clients. I was pretty amazed at how clear my ears felt after having it done. I liked it so much that I bought some to bring home and use on Paul. He also felt a big difference and was a really big fan. Over the years we have occasionally bought ear candles to use, typically whenever we found ourselves in health food stores. It has always been an enjoyable and helpful experience.

In doing some research to prepare myself to write this blog post, I was overwhelmed to find out that there is an extremely negative view of ear candles by the medical community. It is alleged that there is no benefit and it is basically just a danger because of the open flame. Then you have the positive websites that claim that ear candles not only clean out the ears but also balance the whole body and create overall good health. I've always thought it was somewhere in between. I have never felt that using an ear candle will solve whole body health problems, but I do feel a difference in my ears after using an ear candle. My ears typically produce a lot of wax and it really does seem a lot better every time I've done it.

So... With all that being said, Paul and I had a great time candling our ears the other night :) If you decided to go against all of the anti-ear candling rhetoric I found online, these are tips and instructions on how to do it!


Start by prepping everything you need. Ear candles, a paper plate with an X cut in the middle, matches and a large bowl of water. After you are done, you will want either scissors or something else to help get the schmutz out of the candle.

The brand we used this time is Harmony's Candles, but from my experience they are all pretty much comparable. Put one candle into the X in your paper plate and insert it into your ear. It is very important to have someone helping because you can not do anything but lay there while you are having your ears candled. Have your assistant adjust the candle so that it is pretty much upright then use a match to light it.

These candles were marked with a line to stop burning. If the candles you use don't have that, then just put it out whenever you have about 4-5 inches left. It takes 10-15 minutes for the candle to burn down. To put the candle out, have your assistant slip it out of the paper plate, then douse it in the large bowl of water. We used a piece of wax paper to let the candles rest until we were ready to open them up and see all the yucky stuff inside.

The negative reviews online claim that the stuff that comes out after burning ear candles comes from the candles themselves. I guess that is possible, but mine ALWAYS have more in them than Paul's and it is not always the same consistency. I choose to believe that they really do work, partly because of how great my ears feel afterwards and partly because I just want to :)

If you do decide to try it, BE CAREFUL! Open flames are dangerous.

Good luck!