Got An Ear Full?

Earwax is part of your bodys defense system.

- ​​​​​​​Samantha Rideout

While it may not be one of your body’s most attractive features, earwax (medical term: cerumen) is part of its natural defenses. Secreted by glands in your ear canals, it cleans and protects by trapping invading dirt and dust and preventing the growth of bacteria.

Thanks in part to the motions of chewing and talking, older cerumen makes its way out of the ear, where it falls out or washes away, bringing germs and other foreign particles with it and making room for the fresh wax that’s been created.