An ear in review

Well, it’s unlikely that our ears are suddenly producing more earwax, but it could be that we’re starting to notice more build-up in our ears. But why now?

1. We had to play it by ear

Understandably, most of the professional removal services were either on hold or tied up during the pandemic. So it’s likely that people were putting their earwax issues on the backburner. Government funding changes in 2020 also took free wax removal off the list of services from some NHS local authorities, which led to a 317% increase in searches for ‘NHS earwax removal’ during 2021 compared to 2019

2. We’re plugging in more

There’s been a lot of activity in search when it comes to headphone use. In March 2020, we saw these terms featuring more:

This is right about when the UK and Ireland went into the first lockdown and people started working from home, suggesting that people were after this kind of equipment for their new at-home office set up.

And in 2021, rising searches continued for:

When we asked our customers¹, many said they’d increased their headphone or earphone usage:

Their top reasons included listening to music, using them for phone calls or meetings, listening to podcasts and exercising.

What’s wax got to do with it?

Well, 32% of respondents who said their usage increased a lot also said they’d noticed an increase in their earwax and 21% of respondents who said their usage increased a bit also said they had noticed an increase in their earwax.²

It’s earbud and in-ear style earphones that make a difference here (which were the most-preferred option from our panel) as they create a barrier that stops the ears from self-cleaning and potentially causes impacted earwax. Lots of people spotted this happening, with a rise in searches for ‘do earphones cause earwax’ and ‘how to clean earbuds’. So if you’re spending a lot of your day using them, this could be the reason for your waxy ears.

3. Wired earphones aesthetic

Along with increased earphone usage came an interesting change in search terms on Pinterest, particularly among younger women into late 2021.

This graph shows the UK Pinterest search trends for ‘earphones aesthetic’ between January and December 2021.³

This impressive uptake comes as a number of celebrities and influencers were seen wearing wired earphones as a ‘retro’ fashion style (feel old yet?).

If that’s your style, go for it. We’d just recommend you keep an eye on your earwax.

Comparing pre-pandemic searches to those of 2021, we saw a rise in overall earwax removal searches, with a 97% increase in ‘earwax removal’ and a 24% increase in ‘microsuction’ searches.

Should’ve left it to the professionals

Things started to get back on track in 2021. Understandably, a lot of general healthcare fell into the ‘do it yourself’ bracket in 2020 while services were facing the pandemic. In contrast, 2021 mainly saw a plateau or decline in ‘how to’ and ‘at home’ intent searches with an explosion in ‘near me’ searches instead. It’s clear that in 2021, many people were eager to leave earwax removal to the professionals.

Plus, with the uptake in people watching earwax removal videos, perhaps they were keen to see if they had a gold mine of earwax themselves.

Time for a word in your ear

From what we’ve seen around, people can get quite creative with their earwax removal (often a bit worryingly so). Since many of us had to make do with home remedies while professional services were reduced, we can forgive these. But now’s a good time for a friendly reminder that you should never put anything in your ears that’s smaller than your elbow. Basically, keep things out of there as they could increase your risk of developing an ear infection. And you don’t want one of those.

With a 478% increase in average monthly searches for ‘how to clean ears without q tips’ (2019 // 2021), it looks like more people were after a more eco-conscious option for keeping their ears clean. Especially after the government banned single-use plastic-stemmed cotton buds in October of 2020. Which is good news for the environment and good news for us, as cotton buds are not ideal to have around your ears.

Don’ts and definitely don’ts

Your ears are cleverly designed to sort out ear cleaning all on its own, without you needing to do anything. But when stubborn or impacted earwax needs a little help on its way, there are a few things to be wary of.

In particular, after a TikTok video of a woman using hydrogen peroxide to remove earwax went viral in August 2021, we saw a 105% increase in average monthly searches for ‘hydrogen peroxide earwax’ in 2021 compared to before the pandemic (2019).

This method falls into our ‘definitely don’ts’ category for safe earwax removal. Our audiology expert, Gordon Harrison, explains why:

“It’s not safe to put concentrated hydrogen peroxide solution into your ear because it can cause irritation and discomfort, temporary hearing loss, dizziness and tinnitus. Plus, if you already have an ear injury it may also cause infection or further pain. We’d only typically recommend using olive oil or Earol to soften earwax – hydrogen peroxide should only be used in the correct concentration and frequency, so it’s always best to just leave these things to the professionals.”

You can find all our tips and tricks for safely removing earwax here.

2021 really sent people wacky for wax. Here are a few cultural moments that really caught the nation’s attention on social media.

Why are earwax videos so satisfying?

If you’ve already got a penchant for pimple popping, you’ll probably understand the fascination with watching earwax removal. That can’t-look-away, freakishly satisfying feeling we get from watching gross things. Here’s why that might happen:

1. Keeps emotions in check

For every person that loves a pimple pop or earwax removal video, there’s always someone else who finds it totally disgusting. One study, looking specifically at pimple popping videos, found that the difference between these people can be down to how their brains regulate their disgust reaction.⁴ Disgust helps to protect us from things that could ultimately harm us, like rotting food or bad hygiene. When we watch videos of things like earwax removal or spot popping, some of us can separate that feeling from any potential harm (as we’re watching a video of someone we don’t know), resulting in a more positive experience.

2. A touch of morbid curiosity

Another reason the study found for our enjoyment in these kinds of videos is that it can trigger a response from the brain’s reward system.⁴ Some people are just more intrigued by the outcome of seemingly negative content.

3. Simple pleasures

To take your mind off the stresses of the pandemic, you might have turned to books, films, new hobbies or exercise regimes. But some people turned to the web for their cheer-up fix, with searches for ‘satisfying video’ increasing by 22% and ‘oddly satisfying videos’ going up by 84% between February and April 2020. That included earwax removal videos. In fact, ‘satisfying’ was the 11th-most mentioned word in relation to earwax last year.

Wax on, wax off

So, if you managed to get through all that without shuddering or slipping out a few ‘ewww’s, well done. If you loved it all, welcome to the club.

Over the last couple of years, a lot of you have revealed yourselves as earwax lovers, whether that’s watching removal videos to your heart’s content, or just giving your ears some more attention. Whichever camp you fall into, we’re glad earwax is having its moment – it’s really quite clever stuff.

If you want to know any more about it, we’ve got a whole hub full of earwax information. Or if you think it’s time you got your earwax checked out, you can book an appointment here.