I always used to have lots of wax in my ears and had to have my ears syringed once a year for about 20 years, it was so annoying when my ears popped as I knew it was that time of the year to go and have them done again.

Not being able to hear used to drive me insane and my nurse at the surgery told me about these candles and to give them a go in between visits to the surgery and so I went and bought some to try and see if they worked.

I bought them from a health food shop and they were priced at around £6 for a pair and they are a waxy kind of long tube and 1 of the candles can be placed into a small piece of cardboard with a hole in the centre which is then placed over the ear area, and the tube slotted inside and all that is then needed is for you to light the end of the tube with a lighter or matches and leave it to melt down to the bottom, but the head must be kept very still as it can be dangerous if not as the wax can become hot and burn the ear or even the hair and that is why the cardboard is recommended for any bits of wax that may fall off and the card can then catch it if this happens.

It sounds complicated but it is perfectly fine once you have used the candles once and when the wax is burning to the bottom, the inside of the ear feels nice and it has a crackling noise and feels very strange indeed, but once it has finished burning to the bottom, which takes around 10 minutes or so, the inside of the ear has a little wax at the top of the ear and can easily be wiped from the ear with a tissue but the tissue must not be poked into the ear at the bottom as the particles from the tissue can go inside the ear and cause extra problems. It does not burn the inside of the ear, it just makes the noise.

The wax that is on the surface of the ear is very soft and it is amazing how much wax can be seen and brought to the surface.

I used these candles for around 6 years until 18 months ago when my left ear was so bad I could not hear from it at all and thought the wax problem had got worse but when I went to have them syringed in the normal way, my nurse told me I had no wax at all there and to go and see my GP, which I did and I had to see a specialist and I had hearing tests and the result was I was totally deaf in my left ear as I had an infection that left me deaf but when I told him I had been using these candles and if they had contributed to my deaf problem, he told me they had not and they were a good way of reducing wax problems, which was a relief to me as I had thought I had caused the hearing problem and he did tell me I could continue to use them for my other ear and it would be safe to do so and so I still buy them for the other one occasionally.

I do recommend them for a wax problem but to be very careful and read the instructions very carefully as it is extremely important and to be safe from burning the outside of the ears or face and to always use the cardboard as it is very important.

I give these a 5 star.