Hello fellow candler. I've been candling for just a bit over 1 year.

First thing I noticed from your initial posts is that you have some people around you who are trying to convince you that what you observed and felt from first hand experience did not actually happen. Good thing is, you know better. And yes, like the previous reply said, the the light brown powdery stuff usually comes from the candle *, the darker stuff (mine is usually a color of burnt orange) is what the candle drew out of your ear.

* I've only ever gotten my candles from one source. Will be happy to inform you where if you request, for now I don't want to unnecessarily plug the brand, but it is a bees-wax brand.

Before I discovered candling, I'd had increasingly chronic problems with both ears for most of my adult life - now well into my middle years. I'm sure part of the problems are associated with 30-plus years of cigarette smoking, it is next on my list of PJ-ways to give up. I go through phases of ear problems that often starts with itching inside the either ear, not always both at the same time, that within a day or two progresses to squishy sounds, like there may be fluid in the ear. I gave up on mainstream medical approach about 2 years ago, all they ever wanted to do was give me Allegra "for my allergies", except, I don't have allergies, at least not the seasonal type that this drug apparently helps relieve, and I did not at all like the various side effects. Upon discovering candling, I went through the first pack pretty quickly. The instructions are somewhat vague but I attribute this to the providers of ear candles being very cautious in the suggestions/advice/claims they make for fear that 'da man will haul them into court if they mention some of the wrong, magic words. The very first time, I did 3 candles in each ear, all candles were quite productive, and within 24 hours I definitely noticed relief from what at that point had been a recent bout of flare up that sometimes progresses into full blown ear infection with ugly drainage on the pillow at night and sharp pain.

So, back to your situation. It seems you noticed some brief relief but now some more symptoms have come back.... yes? It could be that you, like me, have a significant back log of gunk to clean out of your ear canals and eustachian tubes. It took me a good 3 packs at 10 candles per pack to get to a point where the candles started burning "clean" (very little dark orange gunk inside after the candle had been used). Now I'm sort of on maintenance mode, only doing candling whenever the slightest hint of problems begin to appear. Of recent, I've now gone the longest, several weeks, without needing to candle. It's kinda like flushing, like Liver Flushing or other cleanses, if you've never done anything like this before and you are more than a few years old, you've likely got some work to do until you thoroughly clean out all the built up gunk.

I've have found many people are very cautious when they first start candling, to the extent that they only do one candle, or sometimes less than one candle per ear per treatment. I am not familiar with the brand you are using, but I am confident that the brand I use does not cause hot wax to drip into my ear canal; I've now done over 200 candles and this has yet to happen. There was one time where as an experiment, I soaked my candles in a combination of Tea Tree Oil and Aloe, and this caused the candles to burn quite a bit hotter to the touch, but I was expecting this to happen so I didn't suffer any burns or other negative consequences.

So, if you feel safe with the brand you are using, you may want to be a bit more aggressive. I've found that after about 5 to 6 candles in a row per ear, the canal starts to get a bit irritated just from the light rubbing/scraping that occurs from holding a candle in it for this long, so this is the guide I use to know when enough is enough. Now that I've gotten past the beginning, the norm for me is, one or two candles per ear every couple weeks. After I've done a given ear, I allow at least 48 hours before doing again, but, I seldom do it this frequently. The only exception is, if my ears are really bothering me, like they were in the beginning, I may do sessions 2 days apart, but the good news is, since I started candling, I find that I do not have problems nearly as often so I therefore do not need to candle nearly as often as in the beginning. This is just one example that shows me I am doing something beneficial for myself. It hasn't been a cure, but a definite relief, and like I said, once I manage to give up the smokes, I believe this will seriously reduce these problems in general.

Good luck to you!

PS - I also frequently put some drops of H202 in each ear to let it "boil" for about 10 to 15 minutes before sopping up with a Q-tip. H202 used to be my #1 method for stopping a flare up of ear problem from turning into full blown infection. It is now just part of my arsenol, along with candling, that I use to fight these problems. Sometimes I opt to use drops of Colloidal/Ionic Silver instead. Whichever fluid I use, I do this about 1 to 2 days after I last candled. After you've candled, you want to try to avoid getting a lot of water / moisture in your ear. There is a certain small amount of wax that is useful for helping to protect the insides of your ear. Candling does not distinguish bad wax from good wax, it removes any and all gunk / particles / dust / etc from the ear, but, it only takes a day of so for the normal / useful amount of wax to redevelop after a candling session.

I order from http://www.hemp-ear-candles.com i buy the economy beeswax for $0.90 a peice. i use them a lot professionally and these are the best ones i have ever used. they do not drip and are well priced. i have burned candles on their own and that dark stuff is not in them. just the powdery candle residue. also, i have done repeated candlings on people's ears and the dark wax stuff diminishes in amount the more candles used. there will always be skeptics.
http://kyw.com/health/local_story_135231545.html
THis is a link to my interivew on CBS about ear candling.

Meredith