We all know we shouldn’t do it, but why does shoving a cotton bud in our ear canal feel so damn good? Life is full of simple pleasures: that first sip of coffee in the morning, luring a cat on ...

Many of us grew up thinking that using cotton buds (or Q-tips) was the best way to clean our ears.

We went to the Clear Ear Clinic in Oxford to get our ears cleared ... But sometimes using earplugs, cotton buds, or drops will prevent this system from doing its job, leading to more buildup.

You will probably find a safety warning which will tell you that cotton buds ‘should not be inserted into the ear canal’! When we use cotton buds, what we actually end up doing is pushing ...