How to Clean Your Ears—and How Not To

Stick with this standard ear-cleaning regimen: Scrub them very gently with a washcloth, soap, and water. Get the exterior clean, but don’t put anything into the canal. Also, it is perfectly safe for water to run into the ears; this is no different from swimming and the water will rush out afterwards. This nightly regimen will prevent grime buildup on the ear, and might spare you those excruciatingly painful pimples that form on the lobes.

But we repeat: Do not stick anything into the ear canal. You can puncture the eardrum and cause severe damage (and pain!). “This will also just push whatever is in there, like the ear wax, down even further,” says Smith.

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