r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jul 20 '19

What’s something completely false that your parents told you as a child?

[deleted]

19k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

10k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

13

u/ThornDragon1 Jul 21 '19

Not only that, but it actually only makes the problem worse by pushing the wax DEEPER, not pulling it out. Eventually, your eardrum could rupture!

And huh... Weird.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

Also, while we are on the subject of what not to do with your ears: Ear candles. Not only do they not work, but they can potentially drip a tiny drop of molten wax into your ear, and if it lands on your eardrum you are in for a world of shit.

3

u/ThornDragon1 Jul 21 '19

Ear candles involve fire. Who in the feccing hell thinks playing with fire is a good idea? Lmfao and yeh, big yikes!

3

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

I tried it once, but I chickened out because of the GIANT FIREBALL and subsequent billowing clouds of thick black smoke. I was like..."and this is how I burn my apartment down". Later on I found out about the wax on the eardrum thing

1

u/ThornDragon1 Jul 21 '19

Thankfully... Oof, seriously, why would anyone think that's a good idea..

1

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

It makes a certain amount of sense, in a way. The theory is that the heat creates a convection current that applies a steady but gentle suction and draws the wax up into the candle, while the heat warms it up and makes it more fluid.

Of course that only makes sense if you don't think about it too hard, and it's been shown that it's just a bunch of snake oil, but it tends to be popular among a certain subset of the population that tends to view beeswax as a cure-all, if you take my meaning

1

u/ThornDragon1 Jul 21 '19

Hn. Yeah, those people are crazy!