It helps maintain the ear canal's acid balance. Fresh ear wax is soft and yellow. Older ear wax may be brown or black, even resembling blood. It may also be dry, appearing white and flaky. Ear wax can be cleaned safely from the outer ear with a washcloth or fingertip.
Some people produce an excessive amount of ear wax.
Others have a poor self-cleaning mechanism. Hearing aid users must be alert to a build-up of ear wax, because the earmold of a hearing aid acts like a dam, preventing the wax from moving out of the ear canal. A major cause of hearing aid problems is ear wax plugging the hearing aid. This can also occur if a Q-tip or similar instrument is used to clean the ear canal. The instrument may push ear wax deeper into the ear canal.