Jessica Simpson’s ear candling video: you’re doing it wrong


Jessica Simpson posted a bizarre video to Twitter yesterday that featured her getting one of her ears candled while being videotaped and mildly taunted by her best friend, hairdresser Ken Paves. Ear candling involves sticking a conical wax tube in your ear, available at many health food stores, and lighting it on fire. People claim that the heat and smoke suck the wax out of the ear, but the practice has never been proven effective and can be dangerous. As you can see from the video above, there’s a high chance of the rapidly burning candle falling on a bed or your hair.

You’re supposed to have a friend watching you at all times to trim the candle tip down periodically. You’re also supposed to use a disposable pie tin so that if the tip falls it’s onto a non-flammable surface. A pie tin also offers a little more coverage with sides and a deeper base. Simpson used a pizza box cut in a circle which can probably catch on fire and would just send the burning candle bits off to her neck or the top of her head. It seems to have worked out ok for her or she would have Tweeted that her hair caught on fire. Don’t try this at home, though!

I tried ear candling in college. I used a pie tin underneath as the ear candling package recommended, and my friend Mona was watching me. The burning candle tip still fell on my head and burned out a large chunk of the side of my hair. I was mortified! My hairdresser, also named Ken, was upset by the damage and had to do some creative work to cover it up. I wish my Ken could have been there to make sure the damage never happened in the first place. He wouldn’t have stood by and laughed while my hair was in peril!

simpsoncandle

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27 Responses to “Jessica Simpson’s ear candling video: you’re doing it wrong”

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  1. CandyKay says:

    Why can’t she just use a Q-tip?

  2. lucy2 says:

    Why why why would she post something like this online??? Not every moment of her life needs to be documented and shared with the world, and this is just opening her up to all kinds of jokes, like about how the candle should have gone all the way through since there’s no brain in there to stop it. 😉

    On a side note, I’ve always heard this doesn’t work and is dangerous, but I do know one woman who said it worked great for her and helped with sinus problems. ???

  3. Dorothy says:

    My husband did it and our dr told him NEVER to do it again.

    She is such an ass!

  4. dude says:

    I’ve used it numerous times. It does work, its much better than a Q-tip. All a Q-Tip does is pack in wax & dirt! Ask any doctor. The instructions i was given was to use a paper plate & cut a X in the middle. Then just stick the candle inside. I think everyone is just giving her a hard time. Big deal!

  5. Birdie says:

    Wow Ken Paves is incredibly irritating… Now we know why Jessica’s boyfriends never stay around for too long, they can’t handle her main gay.

  6. EMV says:

    Um..she is dumber than I thought,and I thought she was pretty dumb already. How about she just wash her ears in the shower every once and a while. A Qtip is bad for your ears and any medical professional will tell you to NEVER use Qtips in your ear. Why post this online…she needs attention since her voice is ruined(her last record was horrific,hearing her live was a BAD idea,even on TV) and she has no reason to be famous.

  7. Spooge says:

    What the hell are you people doing to get that much crap in your ears?
    Just stick your ear up to the shower nozzle and rinse it out. Problem solved.

  8. Cat says:

    I guess she can wear wigs anyway, it doesn’t matter if her hair gets burned off 🙂

  9. Bob says:

    These candles are dangerous and they don’t do anything.

    http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/candling.html

  10. Leek says:

    She is very odd.

  11. Kevin says:

    Good link Bob! I always wondered about that.

  12. Karen says:

    Thank you Bob! At least someone here has their head on straight!

  13. BitteBetty says:

    Attention whore much?

  14. wow says:

    Who the hell comes up with this stuff? I already see who’s dumb enough to try it.

  15. SammyHammy says:

    My dad used to do this. It really helped him a lot. Those of you who say it doesn’t do anything don’t know what you are talking about. Done properly it can be beneficial.

  16. Ana says:

    My husband tried it…didn’t do anything. Won’t try it again either.

    I tried to watch the video but omgosh it was so annoying. A bunch of little girls giggling.

  17. Erin says:

    sounds like a fetish…ewww

  18. Miss Thang says:

    She looks like shes in a lot of pain or very uncomfortable. Is it painful?

  19. hatsumomo says:

    My grandmother used to use a piece of newspaper rolled and put the tip in our ear and light the other end of it with a lighter for when we had ear infections as a child. We were never burned, but if we got sick, we pretty much kept it to ourselves in case grandma had more home remedies!

  20. Kathie says:

    Lol at all the funny postings! I have tried it, it was kinda “meh” couldn’t tell it did harm and my ears were clear but I don’t have ear problems anyway. Jessica poor child doesn’t have enough to keep her occupied these days since she has been dating Mr. Indy Mcstreetcred, he must be boring as…mmm…ear candleing!

  21. t says:

    Jessica’s thoughts leading up to this video…”So what if Tiger Woods has 17 mistresses, and Brittany Murphy has died tragically, and Carrie Underwood is engaged. Look what I can do…I can stick a lit candle in my ear!!”

  22. gg says:

    This is BS. Science does not support it and there is NO proof that it works. There is not enough suction from a flaming bit of paper to suck up earwax or anything else up into the paper. Often people are fooled by assuming when they unroll it – ah look! there’s all the stuff that was in my ear! It’s an old carny trick and was caused by the coating on the paper melting, not by any suction. And a very risky practice as well.

    Anyone who assumes it’s perfectly safe is not informed and has not done their research.

    There are plenty of safe ways to ease ear wax out; if you need help, ask your doctor, don’t be poking unsanitary newspaper, or what have you, inside your ear of all places.

  23. Paul says:

    I know a guy who works at Wally’s Natural Products. He’s always having to explain to people that ear candles don’t suck out wax. They’ve even published stuff on their website explaining what ear candles do. I’ve personally used ear candles and found them to be quite relaxing. Check out Wally’s Ear Candles

  24. max nicks says:

    So if she’s full of it… maybe an ass candle would work better…

  25. gg says:

    Paul, somebody who works at a natural foods store is going to support them no matter what because he wants a sale. Not an unbiased consumer.

    And if the wound up bits of paper don’t extract anything, nothing but vague nonsense about what they will do.

    If you know something that proves me wrong, by all means please enlighten us. But don’t just go on a seller’s recommendation.

  26. I really love the layout of your blog. Where did you have it designed?

  27. Jessica Simpson when she was married to Nick had an innocent aura. Post Nick I just don’t know anymore