Q-Tips (Normal and gun use)

[Guest Keal G Seo]

I go through about 3-4k Q-Tips a year. 2-3 times a day cleaning my ears...okay scratching them. And then many others are used for various things like cleaning firearms or detailing work, paint brushes, using the cotton as a filter, the list goes on and on. I normally buy the 750 or 1000 counts from Wally World, which ever brand is cheaper at the moment. Usually just the "Cotton" company sold by Wal-Mart.

Anyway get to scratching a good itch tonight, was practically orgasmic lol, and then realized I had rolled it a bit too hard and my ear bled just a little bit where I was scratching. Imagine it is just a friction burn. I know they say they aren't for in the ear canal use but I guess an addiction is an addiction. Anyone else had this  So my questions are these: Anyone have an addiction of sticking things in their ears? Any suggestions for the girliest, softest, non-abrasive Q-Tips that don't just fall apart while using to clean other things...before I buy my next box?

[npgunner]

I've never scratched so hard I've bled from my ear; but can sympathize about the inner ear scratch "eargasm." Sometimes it makes you wanna shake your leg like a dog that's gettin' that spot on his belly scratched. Haha.

Personally, I only buy Q-tip brand. It's not so much about the cotton, but the stick part for me. Q-tip has the best strength in the stick. I've used many others that fold, break, tear, or become absolutely useless because the stick is too cheap. Also, the size and density of the Q-tip swab is right for me too. Some of the other brands you get are either too small or the cotton is unraveling in your ear and you aren't able to scrub/scratch hard enough to get anything done. I also prefer the standard white stick of the name brand; I don't need no pastel green pseudo-plastic shaft attached to my perfectly sized cotton head! Anyway, I try to buy from CostCo when on sale.

Back to your question, as far as the bleeding goes, hopefully it stops. You may have just dislodged a scab or something. If it doesn't I'd definitely get it checked out. I assume you're hearing hasn't been effected? Don't want the ear drum to be bleeding. Edited July 28, 2013 by npgunner

[runco]

Actually, I can relate, but I have gone past qtips, to pocket knives to any object that I stick in my ear canal and relieve the itch at that very moment, surprisingly a large size paper clip does a good job.  Even those manual primer removal pins do great!  I have never rubbed it so hard it bled though!   :screwy:

[Guest Keal G Seo]

Okay, guess I should clarify. I wasn't actually BLEEDING bleeding. Just when I pulled it out had a little pink...like I said I think it was just a friction burn that might have pulled the top layer of skin off. As for my hearing, it is fine. I don't go too deep because I do have a little fear my dog might surprise me or something and I might jam it into the drum. That is one of the good sides to the huge tips is that you can just hit the drum with 1 or 2 fibers and know you are as deep as you can be. The downside is the looser the cotton the more it falls apart when using for wet applications.

I don't know if I have ever bought Q-Tip brand. I am a stickler for the sticks as well though. The plastic ones piss me off because of how easy they bend, I want to feel a bit of pressure. I too prefer the rolled white paper sticks.

Confession: I love to use the ones not designed for it at the Dr's office. Like a wooden kabob skewer with a perfect swab on the end.

[Chris]

My doctor has warned me strenuously against overdoing it w/ a qtip. I've actually bruised my eardrums in the past... a lot easier than you think. It would be a short step to a punctured eardrum, especially if you are using something like a paperclip.

[hipower]

As one who has had eardrums rebuilt from nerve tissue while in my teens; I cannot caution you enough to be very, very careful with any Q-tip or similar product.

Yes, I have used them, but very gently and not deeply. I don't want to undergo any more surgeries.

My ENT suggest that if I just had to clean my ears myself; a little warm hydrogen peroxide in the ear canal while lying on my side for a couple of minutes.

Then sit up and let it drain out and VERY Cautioulsy and slowly swab the outer ear with the q-tips for gentle cleanup.

Anyway, it works for me.

[K191145]

I keep an old medicine bottle full of Q-Tips in my gun cleaning box which is a big fishing tackle box. I also keep a pair of tweezers in there to remove all the little cotten strings from my guns after using Q-Tips on them. The top of the tackle box that usually stores lures is a great place to store barrell brushes, patches etc.
As far as cleaning my ears, i think everybody digs in deep with Q-Tips even though warned against. I bet even doctors do it.

[mikegideon]

I use Q tips on guns, but don't stick them in my ears. I buy the big pack of Q-tip brand, and they last a few years.

[TMF]

I have issues with things going in my ear, especially Q-tips, so I use a cleaning fluid I get from Walgreens and one of those plastic ear cleaners (similar to a Q-tip, but plastic with ribbing).  I can't go to town like other folks.  Perhaps it's from having too many ear infections as a kid, but I can't stand the sensation of getting a Q-tip too deep in there.  The solution seems to clean well and the plastic thingy is wide enough that it won't go to deep by accident.

[npgunner]

Has anyone used the candle method to clean their ears? 

[K191145]

I use Q tips on guns, but don't stick them in my ears. I buy the big pack of Q-tip brand, and they last a few years.

 

Clean your ears right after you clean your guns, that Hopps #9 really breaks down ear wax.  :)

[hipower]

I have issues with things going in my ear, especially Q-tips, so I use a cleaning fluid I get from Walgreens and one of those plastic ear cleaners (similar to a Q-tip, but plastic with ribbing).  I can't go to town like other folks.  Perhaps it's from having too many ear infections as a kid, but I can't stand the sensation of getting a Q-tip too deep in there.  The solution seems to clean well and the plastic thingy is wide enough that it won't go to deep by accident.

Exactly my problems as well.

[rugerla1]

These are one the things I will not try to save money on by buying a cheaper brand....for the sake of my ears and guns!

[Guest sL1k]

Has anyone used the candle method to clean their ears?

I have heard the candle method can actually cause infections.

I use the peroxide method.

I use a headset at my job and end up with more of a build up in one ear vs the other. I use qtips but I do not go past the entrance to the canal.

Now I'm really curious if anyone has tried the as seen on tv ear vac they sell at walmart now :p

[TripleDigitRide]

I've Edited July 28, 2013 by TripleDigitRide

[npgunner]

Now I'm really curious if anyone has tried the as seen on tv ear vac they sell at walmart now :p

Yes!! Me as well. Definitely throw up a review if you try it.

... just know I WON'T be making a bid on it when you put it up for sale in the "non firearms classifieds" here.

[Guest sL1k]

Now I'm really curious if anyone has tried the as seen on tv ear vac they sell at walmart now :p

Yes!! Me as well. Definitely throw up a review if you try it.



... just know I WON'T be making a bid on it when you put it up for sale in the "non firearms classifieds" here.

"Slightly used ear vac used once on a liberal, became clogged with what little brain they had left. May work with a thorough cleaning. Free to a good home."

[tartanphantom]

I have heard the candle method can actually cause infections.

I use the peroxide method.

I use a headset at my job and end up with more of a build up in one ear vs the other. I use qtips but I do not go past the entrance to the canal.

Now I'm really curious if anyone has tried the as seen on tv ear vac they sell at walmart now :P

 

I have used a peroxide wash for years. Totally safe. Nothing to stick in the ear, so no damage potential there.

I just lay on one side and fill up the canal with peroxide in a bulb syringe and let it boil for about 5 minutes. The peroxide totally emulsifies impacted ear wax, and kills germs & bacteria too. Flush with warm water in a bulb syringe and repeat for the other side.

I began doing this several years ago after I saw the doctor take a 1/4" plug of impacted ear wax out of one of my ears. No problems since then.

Edited July 28, 2013 by tartanphantom

[Keyless]

lost the cotton off one the other day in my ear but was able to get it out . That has been my only problem.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I use q tips for gun cleaning and lots of other stuff. I wouldnt want to use a wood q tip on an ear and dont like the ones with shafts like tiny plastic soda straws. I like the bendy paper/cardboard shafts the best.

Cleaning the brush bearings on the roomba, if I pull off almost all the cotton from a cardboard shaft q tip, soak in isopropyl it is the perfect size to clean out nasty grime out of those brass bearings. They can be bent to squiggly shapes to fit in odd spaces. Neither wood nor the plastic soda straw shafts can do those tricks.

If the ears get to bothering me I also boil em out 15 minutes each peroxide and possibly very carefully try to wipe out wax with a q tip. Maybe 2 or 3 times a year.

There seems disagreement among doctors. Long ago a doctor told me to boil em out with peroxide but dont use qtips. He said the stiffest thing to poke in there would be a cotton ball poked with a finger or a cleaner made out of rolled up tissue paper.

Then while talking to an ear specialist treating daughters ear infection, I told him I peroxide my ears and he was horrified. According to him the only safe thing to do for itchy ears was to pay him $150 to clean em out with his hi-tech machinery.

A couple years ago coincidentally peroxided and gently wiped out the ears before an office visit to my internist primary care Dr. He looked in the clean ears and said yikes what have you been doing to your ears! He was so grossed out that from then on I make sure to go to his appointments with dirty ears. :) Edited July 28, 2013 by Lester Weevils

[TrickyNicky]

Big proponent of the eargasm here as well. Q-tips, paper clips, just about anything that will scratch the itch and remove the IMO rediculous amount of build up I get. My favorite is to blast out the canal with a jet of warm water in the shower in the morning. Don't aim it directly down there but aim it at the wall of your ear just past the opening.

[BigK]

I'm a big fan of cotton swabs too. Glad to know I'm not the only one.

 

I love to put a drop of oil on one and use it to lube small flat parts, like trigger bars and mag release springs.

 

Oh, and to clean my big ol ears.

Edited July 28, 2013 by BigK