Are your ears clogged? No need to run off to the doctor or the pharmacy straight away. Here are three simple home remedies for clogged ears using all-natural household items to help clear out your ears in no time.
So when should you consider using these home remedies for clogged ears? If your ear ever starts to feel weird or itchy, or you have a sudden partial loss of hearing, you probably have a clogged ear. Pressure in the ears, ringing and muffled sounds are also possible symptoms.
Not to worry – a blocked ear is usually no big deal. You’ll have it unclogged in no time. One option is to contact your doctor or buy a special spray at the pharmacy. Looking for an even quicker solution? Try these clogged ear remedies using all-natural household items that gently and thoroughly clean your ear.
Why Your Ears Are Clogged
Your ear gets clogged when too much ear wax accumulates in the ear canal and clumps together forming a blockage. Ear wax, a naturally occurring substance in our bodies also known as cerumen, actually helps to keep our ears healthy. It protects you against bacteria and helps to rid your ear of dirt or other foreign substances. In a way, our ears clean themselves.
However, when too much cerumen builds up in your ear, it can clump together and clog your ear. The risk of getting a clogged ear is greater when foreign objects regularly push ear wax even further into the ear – the most common culprits being in-ear headphones, ear plugs or cotton sticks.
After a swim is a typical time to find yourself with a blocked ear, ear wax partially absorbs water and clumps together easier. With age, the glands responsible for producing ear wax shrink; thus clogged ears may gradually become more frequent.
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3 Easy Home Remedies for Clogged Ears
Unclogging your ear is as easy as scrounging up a couple of common household items that you probably already have at home and putting them to use.
- Since you might be pouring liquid into your ear, things often go smoothest with a helping hand – but it is also doable solo.
- Be sure to warm the liquid to room temperature before pouring it into the ear. The system controlling the sense of balance in your ear is highly sensitive to changes in temperature and can leave you feeling dizzy if the liquid is too cold.
- Make effective use of these home remedies for clogged ears by ensuring you apply them for long enough each time. The longer your chosen remedy remains in your clogged ear, the better it will be able to clean out your ear. Thoroughly cleaning your ears may mean applying the remedy multiple times.
- You can use a pipette from the pharmacy or a small spoon to fill your ear.
These liquids help best:
1. Clogged Ears Home Remedy: Salt Water
Saltwater is so gentle in unclogging ears that you can even use it to treat small children and babies. It does just as good a job on adults, too.
- First, dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt into around half a cup of lukewarm water and squirt some of the salt water mixture into your clogged ear.
- Leave the mixture in your ear for around 15 minutes, then thoroughly rinse out your ear with warm water.
- While the salt water mixture works in your ear, you can seal your ear with a cotton ball.
Here’s a tip: Fill a small spray bottle with this home remedy and apply your clogged ears remedy gradually over the course of a day instead of all at once.
2. How to Unclog Ears: Vegetable Oil
Vegetable oil is an effective clogged ear home remedy because it dissolves fats.
- Warm a small amount of vegetable oil and squirt a couple of drops into your clogged ear.
- Best suited is almond oil due to its particularly strong fat-solving properties. Olive oil can also break up ear wax blockages. It’s also fine to use whatever plant oil you have at home.
- You can let the oil take effect overnight by sealing your ears with cotton swabs and rinsing your ears out in the morning.
Tip: We recommend using high-quality organic vegetable oil. This way you can ensure that no harmful substances make their way into your ears.
3. Blocked Ears Remedy: Inhale Steam
A steam bath is ideal for those looking for a quick and easy home remedy for clogged ears.
- Add one tablespoon of chamomile to 8 ½ cups of hot water. This is the amount of water you should use to keep it at a steaming temperature for a while.
- Hold your ear above the steaming water and cover your head and the pot completely with a kitchen towel.
- When you’re finished, rinse your ear out with lukewarm water.
- The chamomile works to break up the dried ear wax, cleans the ear and protects against bacteria.
Tip: If both of your ears are clogged, treat them one after the other. Hold your first ear over the steaming pot and rinse. Then repeat for your second ear – and rinse. Waiting to rinse after both ears gives the cerumen time to dry and puts you back at square one.
How to Avoid Blocked Ears
Normally, our ears clean themselves naturally. The movement of the jaw when chewing and fine hairs help to expel ear wax or dirt to the outer ear. There you can easily wipe anything away with a tissue.
If you ever feel too much ear wax buildup in your ear, wash it out with warm water in the shower. Never stick foreign objects like cotton sticks or other sharp objects into your ear. Doing this only pushes the ear wax further down into your ear, increases the risk of clogging your ear and even of damaging your sensitive ear canal.
Important Information: Earaches
If you feel pain in either one of your ears accompanied by any form of dizziness, headaches, fever or nausea, please contact a doctor immediately. These are not symptoms of clogged ears, but rather signs of an ear infection. The home remedies for clogged ears featured in this article cannot be used to treat ear infections or symptoms.
Important Information regarding Health-related Topics.
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