<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> As a Speech Professor, I must warn you NEVER PUT ANYTHING IN YOUR EAR SMALLER THAN YOUR ELBOW. The suggestions given in the summary recommending you use Q-tips in your ears are dangerous. I had a student LOOSE HER HEARING in one ear by using a Q-tip. It went in a tad too deeply and she lost 80/% of her hearing. A sidebar...itchy ears and deep brown sticky wax is an inidication of food allergies...usually cow's milk products. *Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the CELIAC List*