SFCC Photo Media Class
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Have you ever considered ear candling? Have you ever heard of ear candling? The other night I got to experience it, by experience I mean watch two people, Tom and Ben, get both of their ears treated to the holistic approach of ear candling. Mike, a tattoo piercer has developed this skill of ear candling. He has been ear candling for three years and has treated hundreds of customers. Ear Candling was created by the Egyptians and has been around over thousands of years. The actual candle is made of cotton or linen and soaked in bees wax then left to harden. This hollow candle is inserted through a hole in a plate specially designed to collect wax, and placed into the external ear canal.
The candle is lit at the opposite end.Some believe that this creates a low-level vacuum that draws ear wax and other debris out the ear and into the hollow candle; some manufacturers claim that smoke from the burning candles dries out the ear canal and stimulates the body's natural excretion of wax and dead cells, pollen, mold, parasites, and other debris. After the procedure a dark waxy substance is left in the stub of the candle. I definitely witnessed this with both Tom and Ben at this point in their treatment. Mike tells me the benefits of ear candling are getting rid of waxy build up in the ear (which I saw earlier), improving hearing, migraines, and relieving ear canal pressure and even pressure in the jaw. According to Ear Candler Sharon, at earcandling.com, ear candling may also help with sinus headaches, dry hacking coughs, Tinnitus, itchy ears caused by Candida in the sinus' or ear canals, and even vertigo. The treatment lasts for 45 minutes and Mike uses two candles per ear. He recommends repeating this procedure once a month to every three months, depending on how your ears feel. Both Mike and Sharon say that you should always have someone perform the procedure for you and not to try and ear candle yourself. Use someone who is familiar with all safety aspects, as well as the proper fitting of the candle.
Mike acts professional while he performs these two ear candlings.Tom is the first person to lay down on his side on the table, in his tattoo shop, while Mike puts the candle through the plate and into Tom's ear canal. He then lights the top end of the candle and the flame soars a couple inches. Tom has a look of "wow this is weird feeling," on his face at first.
As the candle burns further down Mike cuts off the burnt end into a paper cup.
Tom says he can hear crackling and can feel the heat of the flame but it's barely noticeable; although his facial expression leads me to believe something else.
Mike continues to cut the burnt ends of the candle into the paper cup until there is about two inches left on the candle. He then blows out the flame and unrolls the leftover piece that was in Tom's ear canal to show everyone the waxy build up. It looks like it worked just by seeing that, but Tom also tells me he already feels the pressure in his ear canal area loosening up. Mike repeats the process again with another candle in the same ear and this time there is even more wax and debris build up in the leftover candle piece that came out of Tom's ear canal.
Tom rolls over and Mike repeats the process on the other ear. Tom says, "I'm going to hear like a bat when I'm done!"
Ben decided to try ear candling because when he was younger he had many ear infections and even had to have tubes in his ears. These days he can't hear that well out of his left ear and constantly cleans gross amounts of wax out of both his ears. Three months ago it got so bad he had to go to the doctor to have his ears douched out with some sort of spray. It worked for a little while but he had always wanted to try ear candling. When Ben lays down on the rolling tattoo table and Mike begins the process again of sticking the candle through the plate and into Ben's ear canal and lighting the candle, I can't help but notice how Ben has the same unsure, weird feeling, expression on his face just like Tom had in the beginning.
As Mike takes another professional, relaxed approach, you can see how Ben starts to look more at ease and surprisingly relaxing and soothing. I decide to ask him how he feels at that moment and he says, "completely relaxed." Mike tells me that is completely normal and happens to most customers.
Ben also tells me he doesn't feel any heat or burning. The process is the same thing again, twice on each ear, and then a show and tell of the ear wax and debris on the left over candle waxed paper four times. I think Ben's ear wax has beat out Tom's ear wax.While sadly no one wanted to take their trophies home I think the true winner here was Mike, earning $40 per customer for eighty minutes of his time. But in retrospect Ben can already hear better, has less ear wax, and less pressure on his sinuses, ear canal, and jaw. Plus they both said they would for sure do it again. Perhaps I may even give it a try. I think in the end I will outsmart them all and go to Huckleberry's and buy my own ear candles.
