Michael Godin, an ear, nose and throat doctor at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, strongly agrees with Wong and adamantly opposes ear candling. “It’s a gimmick,” he says. “It’s a therapeutic procedure that is done with no scientific or clinical basis—there’s no basic way to check to see if the treatment even does what it claims.”

Dr. Godin believes undertaking this treatment is unwise, citing reports of burns to the ear, skin and hair, obstruction of the ear canal due to dripping wax and the possibility of perforated eardrums, to name three risks. “If you feel like your ears are clogged, then it’s a good time to have a doctor check them out,” he adds. “It could potentially be something more serious than earwax buildup—ear candling can only worsen the situation.”

Unless you’re part of the 5 percent of the population that suffers from cerumen (earwax) impaction—which happens when the ear’s self-cleaning system breaks down in those already prone to excessive wax buildup—you will never need a professional cleaning. “It primarily occurs with people living in nursing homes and in people with mental illness,” Wong says. In fact, we need our cerumen. “It plays a defensive role: Earwax cleans and lubricates the ear and can shield the ear canal from bacteria and fungus,” she explains.

So why is ear candling so popular? Not only are spas offering pricey treatments, but there are a plethora of at-home ear candling products. Scott Boyson, the marketing manager for White Egret, a wholesale manufacturer of professional and at-home ear candling products, is confident in his product, judging from the testimonials of thousands of customers who have shown positive results throughout the 30 years White Egret has been in business.

Boyson admits that the FDA does not approve ear candles, and he makes it clear that White Egret makes no medical claims to the validity of the treatment. He goes even further to admit that his ear candles do not remove earwax from the ear, despite what other companies claim. “There’s no vacuum that sucks the wax out. That’s not what our candles are designed to do,” Boyson adds. “The powder residue that you see after is burn-off from the candle, not residue from the ear.”

So what are they supposed to do? “Don’t base the effectiveness of candling on what is in the candle after the treatment, but rather on how you feel,” he says. Since clients claim to feel better and hear better posttreatment, that’s argument enough for Boyson. Just don’t light your head on fire.

In spa:
Since Chelsea’s Skintology is described as a medi-spa (they also offer Botox), I figured this might be my best bet for a legitimate treatment. After being led into what appeared to be a doctor’s examining room, Diana, my smiley technician from Kazakhstan, told me to lie down on the bed as she covered a side of my face with burn-free paper, just in case my ears gave way to a bonfire. She placed a 12-inch beeswax stick in my ear, which she then lit on fire. I could feel the sizzle and crackle from the burning candle as though I had an amplified sense of hearing. The subtle heat emanating from my ear proved to be rather relaxing, or maybe it was the gentle temple massage. Once I could actually see the blazing light in my peripheral vision, it was time to put out the fire and move to the other ear.

Regardless of whether ear candles “work,” I can understand why addicts of this ancient practice keep coming back for more. The earwax show-and-tell was awesome: Diana cut open the morsels of wax residue to reveal a powdery orange substance. And, after the 45-minute treatment, my head does feel lighter. Organic ear candling, $75, at Skintology, 181 Seventh Ave between 21st and 20th Sts (212-989-6333). —Shauna Miller

Brave enough to take the heat? We rounded up spas that offer ear candling.

Photograph: Roxana Marroquin

At home:
• Coning Company handmade rose-oil cones, $8 a pair, at coningcompany.com

• Wholistic Health Solutions beeswax earcones, $2 for a four-pack, at wholistichealthsolutions.com

• White Egret Ear Paraffin Candles, $10 for a four-pack, at vitaminshoppe.com