8 Safe Ways To Unclog Your Plugged Up Ears

Written by Shivani K  • 

What’s that one thing that you face as soon as your flight takes off? Your ears get clogged, right? While some of us act all cool and not affected with clogged ears, there are many out there who experience severe pain when their ears get clogged after bathing, swimming or even flying on an airplane (1). However, lucky us, we have quite a good number of ways through which we can relieve us from the pain of clogged ears and open them up. And most of these tricks or hacks involve using things which are easily available in our house. In fact, these tricks also help in relieving pressure in our ears without using anything much at all.

So we dug up a bunch of safe ways to unclog our ears. They are all designed in a way to help suit how badly your ears are clogged and how bad it’s hurting you. Read on to know more.

1. Vinegar And Alcohol

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You’ll Need:

  • Vinegar
  • Rubbing alcohol
  • Cotton balls

How To Use It:

At times, ears tend to clog as a result of bacterial infections. In such cases, all you need to do is mix vinegar and alcohol in equal parts and a dropper to help put the mixture in your ear. After you’ve added this solution inside your ear, put the cotton ball inside your ear and keep your head still for some time. Slowly you’ll realize that the ears have unclogged and you can remove the cotton ball after that.

Note: Remember this solution can be used only to unclog ears. Those whose eardrums are ruptured or is bleeding, they shouldn’t use this hack and should consult a doctor immediately.

2. Olive Oil

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You’ll Need:

  • Ear dropper
  • Olive oil

How To Use It:

When we haven’t cleaned our ears well, the ears get clogged because of the accumulation of the earwax. In such situations, heat olive oil and place the oil inside your ears with the help of the dropper. After around ten minutes, the ear wax would have softened enough. And you can clean that up with some earbuds.

3. Sunflower Oil

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You’ll Need:

  • Water
  • Sunflower oil

How To Use It:

Sunflower oil does the work of a lubricant when it is mixed with warm water. You can gargle with this solution regularly. This act will help you relieve your ears and open them up. This also helps in soothing a scratchy throat.

4. Saline Solution

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You’ll Need:

  • Baking soda
  • Dropper
  • Salt
  • Saline spray

How To Use It:

A clogged ear can also be caused because of allergic inflammation. A saline nasal spray, well, of course, is used to soothe a blocked nose. It does one more magic trick of unclogging ears as well. Take the saline solution and heat it. Later on, mix it with salt and baking soda. Now with the help of a dropper, place this solution in your nose.

Note: Make sure that you’ve blown your nose before doing this.

5. Jaw Movement

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You’ll Need:

  • Just your jaws (haha)

How To Use It:

All you need to do is open your mouth. And just do the jiggles with your jaw side to side. Continue to do this until you’ve heard a popping noise. The noise signals that the pressure from your ears has released and the ears will unclog in few minutes.

6. Salt And Mint Leaves

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You’ll Need:

  • Water
  • Salt
  • Mint leaves
  • Towel

How To Use It:

Before hitting the bed in the night, boil few mint leaves along with salt. And then cover the pot. Now, cover yourself using a towel and inhale this steam. Do this at an interval of every 15 minutes.

You need to stop when you feel your skin has become tender.

Note: Make sure you don’t bring your face in contact with the hot pot. And make it a point to wash your face regularly after each treatment.

7. Witch Hazel

Image: Shutterstock

You’ll Need:

  • Comfrey leaves (dried)
  • Witch hazel
  • Ear dropper

How To Use It:

Boil both, the comfrey leaves as well as the witch leaves. Once the water has cooled down with the help of a syringe or an ear dropper to pour this solution into ears. Do this at least four times a day to say goodbye to clogged ears.

8. Chewing Gum Or Sucking A Candy

Image: Shutterstock

You’ll Need:

  • Chewing gum
  • Candy

How To Use It:

If you have a thing for all things sweet, then there’s no better hack than this for you. Just by sucking on a candy hard or chewing a gum will help you unclog your ears. The chewing gum trick is very popular with those who face clogged ear problem while flying on a plane.

Please note that the above-mentioned tricks are only meant to unclog a healthy ear only. If you are facing any hearing problem or have serious pain in your ears, then we suggest that you consult your doctor first. Do you know of any other tricks to unclog ear? Let us know in the comments below.

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