Q-tips were originally invented in 1923 by Leo Gerstenzang, whose wife was wrapping cotton around a toothpick to clean the baby’s ears. I hear on the news that some people still use them for that.

CNN — Every Q-tips box has a warning label: "Do not insert swab into ear canal," and if you're going to use it to clean your ears, gently swab the outer part only. But extracting wax from our ear ...

Wipe with a damp washcloth: This is the safest and best method of all. You can't really get inside your ear canal with your ...

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