Many people ask us if they can make their own ear candles. Yes you most certainly can. As a matter of fact, we have made some of our own candles ourselves. Don't get me wrong, they didn't turn out great and I ended up getting a couple burns but I'm not exactly the most skilled artisan either.

For those who would like to make their own candles we have included some basic directions for you to use as a guide.

Disclaimer: Just keep in mind that you are taking your safety into your own hands and the risk of injury is greatly increased when using homemade candles due to the thickness of the candles. However it is fun to make them and after making a few you get a real appreciation of the skill that goes into a well crafted ear candle.

To make your own ear candles the first thing you want to do is gather your supplies

What you will need:

• Wooden Dowel
• Sandpaper
• Newspaper
• A small double boiler or saucepan
• Wax (Beeswax, Soy, or Paraffin)
• Sweet almond oil (or something similar)
• Unbleached cotton muslin strips about 1” wide and about 12” to 15” long
• Plastic Wrap
• Scissors
• Pitcher of ice water
• Fire extinguisher (if you are like me, lol)

Directions for setup:

For the wooden dowel you want to make sure it is tapered at one end but not necessarily pointy. The goal is to make the end of the ear candle into a shape that will comfortably fit into the outer ear canal and the candle will take the shape of the dowel. Make sure to use the sandpaper to make the dowel nice and smooth so that you can easily remove the candle when you’re done. I suppose you could use a thick knitting needle as well because they are about the right size. I like my candles to be fairly thin about ¾” inch wide.

Spread the newspaper out on a flat surface to give yourself a good work area and to aid in cleanup later.

If using a double boiler you want to make sure to have the stove on a medium heat but if using a saucepan you want to keep the flame very low so that the wax doesn’t get too hot.

You will not do much with the wax to prepare it other than put it into 3 to 4 ounce pieces (per candle)

Cut the cotton muslin into 1” to 1 ½” strips that are about 12” to 15” long. If you do not have unbleached muslin I have heard of people using strips of cut up pillow sheets or even cheese cloth. Just keep in mind that the cotton is going to be incinerated and you don’t want to have any dyes or chemicals in the fabric that could be harmful when inhaled so be careful in choosing your materials.

Put the sweet almond oil into a small bowl and set aside. You can use olive oil or even vegetable oil if you don’t have access to the almond oil.

Once you have your area set up you are ready to begin.

Directions for ear candle construction:

1. Put the 3 to 4 ounces of wax into the double boiler over a medium heat and stir until melted. To thin out the wax you may add small amounts of the sweet almond oil to the wax. This will allow the wax to be more pliable and absorb into the cotton better. Just don’t use too much oil in the wax.
2. Place a piece of the cotton into the wax and move it around with a stick or utensil until it is evenly coated with the wax.
3. Coat the dowel with some of the almond oil.
4. Take the strip out of the wax but let the excess wax to drip from the strip by holding it over the pan for a few seconds.
5. When the strip is coated with wax, start to wrap it around the dowel. Start at the narrow end of the rod and work your way down. Make sure to overlap the cotton as you wrap it around the dowel. Try to overlap by about 1/3 of an inch with each spiral.
6. Use enough strips to cover the dowel. You will use about 3 strips depending on how much you overlap and how wide the strips are. Wrap the cloth fairly tight to make sure there are no gaps in the candle and to press each layer together.
7. Once you finish covering the dowel you can use a small piece of wax paper or something to smooth the wax into an even coating along the candle. When the wax begins to harden a little, remove it from the rod (should come off easily if you are using the right amount of oil to coat the dowel).
8. Place the finished candle on the plastic wrap to let it continue cooling. Then you can use the scissors to trim the ends and make it a little cleaner.

Congrats! You have just made your own ear candle. If you need a little more guidance we even found this informative video on the web for you as well.

Like I said, I’ve made them myself but I do prefer to leave the manufacturing to the professionals like Wally's. Besides, I’d rather have a candle with a filter anyways.