We are going to get real today.
Everyone has ear wax.
It’s an issue that is common to everyone that you know, and the fact of the matter is that mitigating the problem is not as easy as it should be.
If done with the wrong equipment cleaning your ears can be uncomfortable, tedious, and even very dangerous.
You can literally puncture an ear drum if you don’t clean your ears the right way.
You don’t want that, I don’t want that, and neither does anyone else.
So what can be done?
Well, today we will be taking a look at a product that might just be the answer to that problem.
The SmartSwab promises to make cleaning your ears easy and safe.
Can it live up to that promise?
Read on to find out.
Table of Contents
SmartSwab Review
Product: Smart Swab
Price: $19.99
What’s in the Box: SmartSwab, Sixteen Tips
Where to buy: Click here for best deals
Rating: 3/5 stars
Who This Product is For
Well in theory this product is for anyone with ears (so hopefully most people).
Remember that the idea behind the SmartSwab is to make cleaning out your ear wax as safe and easy as possible.
It sounds great on paper right?
But when you really think about it, it might not be quite as universally useful as one would first assume.
After all, the SmartSwab is a relatively new product but people have been cleaning their ears for as long as people have had ears.
Was it ever really difficult enough to require new technology to simplify the process?
For some people it actually is, as a lot of people have sensitive ears that just aren’t very well suited for the standard cue tip (myself included).
So this takes us back to our initial question.
Who is the SmartSwab for?
And the answer?
Anyone that isn’t completely satisfied with the typical methods of ear hygiene.
If you have been frustrated or even wounded by conventional Q-tips before, you may want to consider taking a close look at this product.
How it Works
So you know how the standard Q-tip works, right?
You shove this little stick into your ear and hope very dearly that the cotton ball at the end doesn’t make you deaf for all of eternity.
Maybe that isn’t most people’s thought process when they clean their ears, but you get the idea.
Basically, the SmartSwab works the same way as any other Q-tip, but with one crucial difference: this unit ensures that the swab will go only the ideal length into the ear.
This component of its design ensures that you won’t injure yourself through proper use.
The design of the swab itself is also optimized to latch onto wax in the ear canal and remove as much of it as possible in one simple and easy pass through.
Once the wax has been simply and safely removed you can dump and replace the swab with ease.
Does it accomplish all of this? All indications point to yes. The technology that is at work in this unit does well remove ear wax at an impressive and effective rate, though the difference between this method and a Q-tip is pretty minimal in terms of actual extraction.
Now, all of this said it should be mentioned that doctors don’t exactly recommend this product. Why? Well because doctors actually don’t recommend any method of ear cleaning. Technically speaking ear wax removal is not explicitly necessary.
Your body has its own means of removing earwax, and the idea at least is that it should be able to accomplish this task without any extra help.
While you might not technically need to remove extra earwax virtually everyone does, and this product does actually make the process a little bit safer.
In other words, if you intend to continue cleaning your ears, this is a good product to use.
Is this Product Built to Last
While you have probably never had to think about the durability of your ear cleaning devices before, it is actually something that is worth speculating on in this case.
Why? Well, for one thing the SmartSwab is designed to be reusable, so you definitely want to make sure it lives up to that promise.
It’s also pretty expensive. You don’t want to waste your money on junk, do you?
The good news is that the SmartSwab does seem to hold up for a while, so if you do plan on buying it, durability is not an issue.
The Price
The price is where this product starts to become problematic. For something that is basically a reusable Q-tip, it is very expensive.
Currently, the SmartSwab goes for $19.99 and since they are now selling it on Amazon.com, you can actually get it for the As Seen on TV Price.
Not only that, but you are also going to need to buy tip refills. While the handle is reusable, the tips themselves are a one and done affair, which certainly adds to the overall cost of the unit.
You can buy a whole lot of regular Q-tips for twenty bucks.
Before you Buy
Before you buy, keep in mind that this definitely is not a flawless product.
The improvements that it brings to the process of ear hygiene are at best minimal, the refills themselves are fairly difficult to get (you can currently really only buy them directly from the supplier) and frankly it is hard not to be shocked by the sticker price of this unit.
Are these disqualifying factors?
That is going to be exclusively up to you.
While it is hard not to see these factors as big red flags that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should not buy one.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Safe
- Easy
- Convenient
Cons:
- Pricy
- Not substantially more effective than Q-tip
Conclusion
So should you buy the SmartSwab?
That’s up to you.
While it is a little bit pricy, at the end of the day it is also going to keep your ears a little bit safer.
If you want to stay as protected from ear drum damage at possible, investing in the SmartSwab is definitely the way to go.
I personally recommend you still use regular old Q-tips and use the Smart Swab every two weeks or something just to maximize its use.
Other than that, I hope this review has helped you in one way or another.
Please do share if you’ve had any experience with this product as I’m sure we all have a different view on any and every product that comes from the as Seen on TV world.
Smart Swabs
Summary
Not the best product but I still think it’s worth trying. Price might not be right but if you use it sparingly, you can do the biweekly thing and look at it as a major cleaning. I have ear wax problems and that’s my approach to a less waxier ear, lol.