I'm Waxing Lyrical About These Waxy Wonders - Boots Muffles Wax Earplugs (Boots Muffles Wax Earplugs)

Member Name: foreveramber

Product:	Boots Muffles Wax Earplugs
Date:	23/11/08 (765 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Blocks out the majority of noise

Disadvantages: Can't be reused too many times

For many years I worked an evening shift, either finishing at midnight or 2am. With three small children to get ready for school in the morning, this played havoc with my sleeping patterns.

I'd been using earplugs for a few years, the soft, squashy kind that they provide you with on planes. However, as anyone who uses these things knows, they're pretty much a waste of time. Well, they do absolutely nothing for me. Unless you jam them into your ears then keep your fingers firmly wedged in your eardrums, these types of earplugs simply 'pop out' and in floods the noise.

For many people, perhaps those living in nice quiet areas, soft earplugs may be sufficient. Living in central London though, a city which pretty much stays awake 24 hours, it's a different kettle of fish. There's always something going on, someone hooting a horn, neighbours arguing out the back, helicopters circling for hours overhead or the nocturnal inhabitants residing above us, who so kindly installed wooden floor boards last year and who never retire to bed before 3am, all serve to keep me from my slumbers.

Earplugs are such a necessity for me to sleep now, that I doubt I'll ever be able to sleep without them for the rest of my life. What a depressing thought. Maybe I'll move to the seaside one day, New Zealand, sorry I'm rambling.

Anyway, a few years ago, I was moaning yet again to a work colleague about my sleep disturbances and she asked me whether I had tried wax ear plugs. She said her sister, who was an air stewardess, swore by them as the best solution for sleeping on long haul flights.

I didn't really like the sound of them. Wax is hard, surely they'd be uncomfortable in your ears. Still, in desperation one day after yet another disrupted night, I headed off to Boots in search of wax earplugs.

I was already using Boots soft earplugs and had always deliberately ignored the wax variety. I picked up a box containing five pairs of earplugs for £2.09.

~~~About Boots Muffles Wax Earplugs~~~

Although these earplugs are designed for a single use, I do reuse mine for 3-4 nights and they still work. They're suitable for adults and children over 12 years of age.

They:

* Effectively reduce levels of unwanted noise;
* Are suitable for use when swimming;
* Are soft and easy to shape;
* Will not disintegrate in use.

~~~Instructions~~~

You must soften the plug by rolling it between your fingers and shaping them into a cone;

You them insert them firmly into each ear canal and off to sleep you go.

~~~Verdict~~~

When first removing the ear plugs from the box, I thought there'd be no way I'd be able to sleep. I held between my fingers, two cylindrical, pale pink pieces of hard wax each measuring slightly over 2cm in length and 1cm in width.

I duly followed the instructions by rolling each earplug between my fingers. After a minute the wax actually softened slightly, allowing me to mould it into the required cone shape. I then inserted each one into my ears and pushed down the protruding pieces of wax so it filled in any gaps left.

Straight away I knew these would be different. I couldn't hear a thing. I just needed to see how they would respond to the various noises that occur during the night to know whether these were a good investment or not.

Well, after over three years of using these earplugs nightly, I can say, yes, they work. I can also say I am addicted to them and cannot sleep without them now. They are surprising comfortable - the heat from your body keeps the wax from hardening and I rarely notice them, certainly not enough to keep me awake. Occasionally if I do wake in the night now, it's because one of the plugs has moved slightly, creating a small gap to let in sound. And the slightest noise wakes me. I can just push it back in again to create the seal and it usually stays that way until I wake in the morning.

Obviously these earplugs don't block all sound completely. I don't think that's legal. We need to be able to hear life saving devices such as a smoke alarm. However, it does muffle the sound of voices - if my husband talks to me when they're in, I can hear him mumbling but cannot make out any words even if he comes right up close. I can't hear people shouting outside, family coming into the room etc. They're a complete revelation for me.

Noises that have been able to wake me up while wearing these earplugs include loud bass from neighbours' music systems and the neighbours upstairs scraping their furniture on their nasty cheap wooden floorboards, which thankfully (after we complained) they don't do so much in the night now.

So all in all, if you're finding that regular soft earplugs don't eliminate enough noise for you, and you've been put off the idea of using wax earplugs, don't. They're fantastic. Whenever I visit Boots, I bulk buy these earplugs as I'm terrified they'll run out or cease making them.

Summary: An effective method for keeping out unwanted noise