Monday, April 13, 2009

Q-Tip Study

So you are going to clean your ears and you grab a Q-tip, are you the type of person that turns on the faucet and wets the Q-tip end with the tap water?

Or are you the type of person that puts the Q-tip into your mouth and rolls it on your tongue to moisten the end before you insert it into your ear?

51 comments:

kimmyk said...

okay call me a rebel, but i just stick it in my ear. (??) i never heard of that whole wet the q-tip thing.

Anonymous said...

With the economy how it is we just re-use them.

Michelle said...

eww. licking it? yuck. like kimmyk, I just stick it in my ear. Wet Q-tip is too much like a wet willy for my taste.

LilSass said...

Uh, seems like you're the weirdo here. I just stick it in. What the hell does it need to be wet for? So I can give myself a wet willy? SICK!

Matt said...

Neither. I only q-tip the ear holes after a shower. No additional moisture required.

mamabrown said...

Hmmm, warm tap water or alcohol depening on how I am feeling at the moment. Always thought that it cleans better when Q-tip is wet.

Melinda said...

No. And NO! I am the kind of person who takes care of people with punctured ear drums and ear infections from Q tips plonker users.

Anonymous said...

Never put anything in your ear that is smaller than your elbow! Got it? Wet or dry! Tap water or spit! What ? You don't listen to your mother? Q-tips cause a lot of problems! More problems than good! Who introduced you to q-tips? Lauren or Big Sister? They are dangerous! Never use them on the kids either!!!! Thought I had this talk with you. OOps! You are one of the MK. Maybe I missed this talk with you. Sorry!!! I love you Guess Who?

Patience said...

Ewwwww! No way am I purposefully gonna stick anything wet into my ear!!!!!

Leenie said...

Neither. I do mine after I get out of the shower, therefore my ear is already wet. My husband on the other hand has this nifty little thing that he got from the hospital-not a Q-tip, but cleans the ear out just the same, for those who can't deal with the cotton in the ear.

Me said...

Ok, I agree with most everyone else--you DON'T wet a q-tip before putting it in your ear--that is just GROSS! Use it after the shower (or bath) and there is plenty of moisture there. Giving myself a wet willy is not on my list of things to do. :)

Peggy said...

Why do you wet it at all? A dry q-tip will gather up more gunk then a wet one.

Kristin said...

who wets a Q-tip? That would totally feel like a wet willy. I hope you're kidding and don't actually wet your Q-tips before using them. That's just weird.

Karen (formerly kcinnova) said...

I'm with Leenie - use them right after a shower and everything is moist already!

But when I first saw your title, I thought you were going to talk about traveling retirees. White hair, white sneakers.... yes, they are called Q-tips! LOL

amelia said...

neither! never heard of wetting it before. and i clean my ears with the q-tip after a shower too.

twirl said...

lick it? who would do such a thing? lol!

add me to the list of those who prefer to do it after a shower with no additional moisture. =)

Unknown said...

I'm with Matt. It feels to weird to do it with dry ears but way weirder to wet the q-tip. BTW...hello, I'm new around here.

SciFi Dad said...

I'm with the majority who think you're a freak. Only dry q-tips here.

OhTheJoys said...

You are CRAZY.

Rima said...

This post has made me supremely jealous, because I'm not even allowed to use Q-Tips anymore, on strict orders from my ENT, who dislodged a sizable hardened wax specimen from my ear some time ago (it was causing my vertigo!) He swears was the result of overzealous Q-Tip use.

BKP said...

WTF? I guess I'm in the minority after reading comments... definitely H2O from the faucet. In your mouth - that's just gross. But I don't feel totally clean w/o the water. Don't know where I learned it, don't know why, but that's the way I like it and since I do it for my kids, we'll see if that gets passed on... crazy, I never would have thought of that as weird. Until now.

Bridget said...

Yikes! Neither! Dry!

Ali said...

I used to have to wet them in warm water. Couldn't do it without warm water - cold wold give me the heebie jeebies. But somewhere along the way - after getting married, I think - I just use them dry. After getting out of the shower, yes, but I have a sick addiction to them and use them more often than that. I'm forever using them in the kids noses, my husband gets so mad at me.

On a side note, have you ever noticed those gigantic ones at the ob/gyn? Obviously not for your ear!

RzDrms said...

Ewwwww! Yuck! Ick. Neither, Friend. DRY.

And Oh, The Joy's comment almost made me pee my pants.

Esther said...

Wet? Um. Yuck. No. Dry, please. I have never heard of using a wet q-tip!

much more than a mom said...

People wet them? Ew.

Anonymous said...

general consensus: boo to the wet q-tip. I clean them after I get out of the shower, so not only does the q-tip clean my ears, but it takes the water out too.

Carmen said...

Oh good god, why on earth would you want the Q-tip to be wet?? Dry is the ONLY way to go.

teri said...

I usually put them in after I get out of the shower, so my inner ear is already wet.

sari said...

A q-tip i supposed to be taking the moisture OUT of your ear. I'm really not sure why you'd get it wet.

Also, I have heard the "nothing smaller than your elbow in your ear" (I punctured my ear drum with a qtip once, never put one in your ear, think "oh, I forgot to X, leave the qtip in your ear, do X, then go back to the qtip, it's completely idiotic) but I hate having wet in side my ears after a shower so I always use them.

Jody said...

Why would you moisten a Q-tip? When I use them it is to get moisture out of my ears...

Jason Roth said...

I've never even thought about wetting a Q-tip. Am I doing it wrong?

The Q said...

I guess I'm a freak too...always wet from the faucet ONLY (that whole licking thing is just plain gross!), but then followed by a dry one. I guess I'm a wasteful freak as I use two. BUT I don't do it daily as I don't have a lot of "potatoes" in there.

Bogart said...

Wow...I knew you were a licker, but this is worse than the time you met that guy in the park behind the bushes!

Charity Donovan said...

Rubbing alcohol...that would be my liquid of choice BUT the hubbie is a lick-it guy. So stinkin' gross...reminds me of my mom licking the kleenex to wipe my face when I was a kid. Some things are JUST WRONG!

DGB said...

Oh man, I read this and thought that all this time I've been using q-tips incorrectly. But thankfully enough of you have also said that you use them dry too.

I know they say that q-tip use is bad, but have you ever looked at your iPod earbuds if you haven't cleaned your ears in a while? Gr-oss.

James (SeattleDad) said...

I just wrap tissue around an ice-pick.

Adam said...

My first thought was, "EW! Use them DRY!" but then I realized that I always use them immediately after a shower, so my method is C) wet ears, not the q-tip.

But seriously... in the mouth? GROSS.

Unknown said...

It appears Q-Tips after a shower is the result of this study! Nicely done!
I feel 'normal'!!!
~AM

Nature Girl said...

Wet Q-tips? That's like purposely giving yourself a Wet Willy! Gross...they go in dry!

LOL..you do think of the darndest things...now everytime I reach for a Q-tip I'm going to think of all the people out there that give themselves Wet Willies and shudder. YICK!

joanna said...

I know I'm slow commenting on this but I do the following: (1) dry Q-tip after a shower to get the moisture out; (2) bobby pin w/ a little faucet water to get the wax out. Seriously. you have to be very careful in the inner ear but I had a doctor put a looped metal thing in each ear once to clean them out (this was the early '90s and I think they irrigate the ears now) so I do the same thing when needed.
...Maybe I should just go see a doctor.

p.s. my word verification is "holed". Pretty coincidental, huh?

Suzy-Q said...

Eww. I don't want a wet Q-tip in my ear. I thought they were for DRYING my freshly showered ears!

dunfordorama said...

I totally moisten it with my mouth... wow - i thought I was the only one and totally do it when I know I wont get caught by the kids or my husband.
I cant stand the sound/feel of a dry Q-tip in my ear, its like nails on a chalkboard to me. *shiver*.

Auntie said...

Okay--I can't believe all the people that go dry! I typically use the Q-Tip after showering, therefore have a wet ear, but, if I haven't just showered, I lick it! Oh, and I also lick the Q-Tips before I stick them in the kid's ears--drives them nuts!

caseyg said...

Wow, they seem so outraged!! When I'm cleaning and I haven't just showered I lick it - not a long, slow lick, just a touch to the side where it's wetter to moisten it. When I've just showered, no moisture needed.

It's not weird! Or dangerous, as long as you're careful. the earwax should come out, and q-tips are the best way widely available and hygenic.

Ryan Blakley said...

Q-tips are Nazi's

ciudad de zaragoza said...

I fully agree with anything you've printed here.

Unknown said...

Exactly how I feel too!

Unknown said...

Exactly how I feel too!

Unknown said...

I lick em

Anonymous said...

I always wet mine