Do you use Q-Tips in ways they are not intended to be used?
 

You know. For the removal of earwax.




NOTHING ELSE. I SWEAR. YOU FILTHY PIG-MINDS OUT OF GUTTER.


Just curious, because the package is all like "NEVAR DO THIS" but I don't personally know anyone who doesn't.

I'm recovering from a lifetime of q-tip abuse. Been clean for nearly a year now.

I also use it to remove navel lint. Hope it's medically safe!

I hear they're great for cats in heat.

I thought removal of ear wax was the sole reason for a q-tip's existence? I thought people would be all "aww hell naw I use a bent paperclip to clean my ears."

I use them to swab rubbing alcohol when I'm cleaning my old NES cartridges.

I find that Q-tips do a shitty job of cleaning out earwax, actually.

No, Radez, there's a warning on the box telling you not to insert them in your ears. It's probably because too many idiots jabbed them all the way in and punctured their eardrums, but that's what everyone uses them for.

What do you use for that, then, Crash? If I go more than a day without q-tips, I get really uncomfortable.

I saw that warning the other month and was actually surprised as that's pretty much what I use qtips for 80% of the time :/

I use them for all of the above. Well, except for cats in heat. Cleaning ears, naval lint, SNES cartridges, and swabbing alcohol on cat bites.

The better question here is, has anyone found a generic brand of Q-tips that actually works? All the store brands I've tried either bend too easily, have almost no cotton on the tip, or the sticks shed and break at the slightest amount of force. It's like Q-tips have some secret ingredient that no other manufacturers know.

I still use the Q-tips. I just think they do a poor job.

Once, I used the stem of a Bic pen cap. That thing worked great! Scraped the wax right out of there. But I know that's probably a hazardous route, so I did it just the once. But if they ever released a similar product for earwax removal, I'd buy it.

I find it works better if you do it right after you shower, just sticks right to the q-tip with minimum effort, though I'm sure that's common knowledge, but I'm a strong believer of the q-tip =)

I know a few women who use them to apply and remove makeup.

If a piercing gets infected, I use them to put hydrogen peroxide on it, and clean the earring a little better. Otherwise, I just used them to clean my ears.

I once used a box of cotton swabs to topple the regime of a dictator in a third-world country.

See, I had a really bad ear infection once and I used an unbent paperclip to pry out the demon slime which was oozing around in there. Similarly hazardous but as long as you're mindful of how far in you've got it stuck, and no one jostles your elbow, you're golden!

Ear pick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

?

There are different kinds of ear wax? This I did not know.

This seems like Red Chinese propaganda to me...

I bet I could hear valiant battle cries of our Chinese benefactors better if it weren't for my inferior, wet, earwax.

I use Q-tips doused in rubbing alcohol to clean processors and heatsinks before I thermal paste them together. That's pretty much it.

It's very true. Work your dry ear with a q-tip and you get nothing. Work it with a q-tip after showering, you can remove any excess build-up of wax. Since my ears easily get irritated when not cleaned, I do this all the time.

Still gotta say if there was a better solution, I'd use that.

Holy shit, how much is in there for you to need a scoop?
But yeah, they're great for cleaning gadgets and tech.

I also recommend using them right after showering (on a daily basis).

I use them to feel real good. Seriously, jammin' a q-tip in the ear, God damn. Shit's amazing. Removing wax is just an added bonus.

I use them to clean earwax and to disinfect small cuts.

Guns? Nobody uses them on their guns? You are all so un-American.