Ear Facts You Need To Hear

Excerpted from GUY STUFF page 22. Published and copyrighted 2017 by American Girl Publishing. Illustration by Micah Player. All rights reserved.

Ears are pretty easy to take care of. They just need a little help from you to stay clean and healthy and do their job.

• Keeping ‘Em Clean:
  • When you shower, you actually wash your ears when the water and shampoo run down your head. That’s enough.
  • Do shake your head like a dog to get the excess water out, and then wipe the outer part of your ears with a towel.
  • Don’t stick anything into your ears—not even a cotton swab. You could do serious damage to your eardrums or ear canal.

• What’s Wax?
  • That sticky yellowish gunk inside of your ears is supposed to be there—it traps dirt. Some people have too much wax, and sometimes that can make it hard to hear. If your ears feel plugged, talk to your doctor to find a safe way to remove it.
• Pierced Ears:
  • First stop: A parent if you are thinking about ear piercing! You MUST have an official OK.
  • Next stop: A professional who uses clean, sterile equipment.
  • The long haul: It takes two or three months for the holes to heal before you can change an earring. And newly pierced ears need to be cleaned daily. If the area is ever red, crusty, tender, or itchy, it might be infected. Show it to an adult.
• Headphones and Earbuds:
  • Sometimes all you want to do is turn on music and tune out the world. Just be careful how high you turn up the volume. Over time, loud noises can damage hearing. If you are wearing headphones or earbuds and a person standing next to you can hear the music easily, then the volume is too loud. Turn it down!