What Is Ear Candling?

Ear candling, also known as ear coning, is a type of natural therapy that helps improve a person's general health and wellbeing by using a specially made hollow candle. Although it's primarily done to remove excess earwax and improve hearing, candling can also stimulate the peripheral blood circulation and immune system.

Ear candles may also be used to help cleanse and harmonise the person's natural energy, prior to meditation or trance work.

What is ear candling?

How Does Ear Candling Work?

The practitioner lights one end of the hollow candle and places the other end in the ear canal of the person as they lie on their side. This process creates a vacuum in the ear which draws old wax out, as well as residues of past infection and fungus. During this process, the burning candle's wax does not drip into the ear, face or hair as a cover is used to prevent hot wax from dripping.

Ear candling is a noninvasive treatment and it's completely painless. Generally, treatments last for about an hour.

What Are the Benefits of Ear Candling?

Earwax buildup in the ear canal can cause partial hearing loss, smelly ear discharge, itchy ears or, worse, pain inside the ear. Ear candling can help address these problems and many other conditions, including the following:

  • Tinnitus
  • Swimmer's ear
  • Excessive earwax build up
  • Sinus irritation
  • Headache
  • Chronic ear infections
  • Airplane ear
  • Fungal problems
  • Clogged ears

What Can You Expect From Ear Candling?

Ear candling helps people restore the natural ability of their ears to remove excess wax. Yes, you read it right. Our ears have a self-cleaning mechanism that weakens over time due to excessive poking with cotton buds or scraping with an ear spoon. 

During a candling session, the client lies on their side on a treatment table while the practitioner fits the tapered end of a narrow candle into their ear canal without going too deep. Before inserting the candle into the client's ear, the practitioner puts it through a tiny hole in a disposable foil plate, or a small piece of cardboard, to prevent the hot wax from dripping onto the client. Once one end of the candle is secured in the client's ear, the other end is lit and left to burn for approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

The procedure can last for one hour as the practitioner has to work on both ears. As a precaution, clients with long hair are advised to tie their hair up into a bun to keep it from potentially getting to the candle flame. Children, on the other hand, should be assisted by their parents or guardians.