Earwax
Yes, this post is about earwax. Because it’s the end of the month, and we’ve covered everything else from eyelids to the Jets, from Bi to Malcolm X.
So yes, this post is about earwax.
A couple of months ago, I took my daughter in to the doctor for a check up. When he looked in her ear, he told me that she had lots and lots of wax built up in there. But that it was something that was common for Asians.
I was like, huh? Why would Asians have more ear wax in their ears? What kind of racist generalization is that?
And so I sat and stewed. But then recently, another parent blogged about her daughter’s ear wax, and linked to an article in the NYT about ear wax.
Earwax comes in two types, wet and dry. The wet form predominates in Africa and Europe, where 97 percent or more of the people have it, and the dry form among East Asians, while populations of Southern and Central Asia are roughly half and half.
Ok. Well, firstly, I had no idea that there were two kinds of ear wax. I mean, I really only have experience with one kind of ear wax, and that is my own. But, apparently, the wet ear wax is easier to clean with a cotton swab, and the dry ear wax is easier to clean with a little tiny teeny spoon thing. I never saw those spoon things until I went to college.
But anyway, apparently, some scientists have found a gene that controls the kind of ear wax you have, and have linked it to genes that cause sweat (dry ear wax = low odor sweat). I think it’s pretty crazy.
I guess this is one of those times when we truly to have to celebrate our dry ear wax heritage. Because even if we are Asian Americans living in America, a lot of us still have that dry ear wax that links us back to our heritage. And those funny little spoons.
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Tags: ear wax.
I didn’t know that wet ear wax existed. I guess I’m happy to have dry ear wax because that means I have low odor sweat. Score!