…Wait! What?
Let me stop you right there in your tracks! Quick question for you, when was the last time you cleaned your earbuds and headphones?
I know that look on your face – you never did! I wouldn’t crave your indulgence to scold you a bit on this.
From our basic elementary school lessons – germs are everywhere! And a safe haven for them to breed and apparently multiply are on the surfaces of things – gadgets especially.
So, imagine your most used gadgets like phones, earbuds, headphones etc carrying those creepy little creatures called germs all around; ew!
And guess what? The most vulnerable part of the body affected by these creatures is your face and hands. How? Follow closely while I explain.
Your gadgets for example house thousands of germs and bacteria on its screen – welcome to the global world where every action is carried out at the swipe of your fingers.
That way, germs are being transferred from the surface of your phone to your hands. Before you know it, those hands are caressing your face already and boom! The germs have successfully been conveyed to your face.
Another scenario is seen in the case of our precious travel buddies – earbuds and earphones.Whether you're rocking the classic AirPods (1, 2, or 3), the newer AirPods 4, or the AirPods Pro (1, 2, or 3), those things are basically living in your ears. Even if you're using the AirPods Max (even that new USB-C one), they're all magnets for gross stuff.
Believe it or not, there is this mini dialogue that happens between the ear wax in our ears and our earbuds when we strung our earbuds to our ears.
Can dirty headphones cause ear infection?
And to confirm this dialogue, take out your earbuds and earphones, check the soft ear tip covering, you would notice a tiny film of dirt on the inside – haha, just as stated.
Also, the wires from the earphones pick up different germs flying in the air and when they finally settle on the wires, thereby making the colors appear dirty.
Oblivious of this, we pick them up from where it's been kept and insert them straight into our ears – germs transfer successfully! Unfortunately, we do not get this notification. I could go on and on sighting scenarios but that won’t take us anywhere.
End result of all of these are infections and mild sickness that takes us to the hospital or end up gulping down medications of all sorts.
To avoid this, you need to start paying attention to cleaning your gadgets and other everyday items.
Moving forward, you want to help yourself by learning how to clean your earbuds and headphones. So, why not get in the know-how below.
How to Clean Your Earbuds
Thinking of ways to clean your earbuds and headphones? It’s right here;
Use a small cushioned brush to take off dregs residing on the inner layer of earbuds
Are you starting to miss out on musical lyrics or spoken words? or perhaps the sounds and rhythms coming from your earbuds and headphones are beginning to fizzle out? Think no further! We’ve got a culprit! It’s traceable to the wax debris on the inner layer of your earphones and earbuds.
To help out on this, you can purchase any of the cleaning tools that helps in cleaning off the wax.
How to use is quite simple. Follow the steps below;
- Detach the ear tips from the earbuds
- Use the metal loop of the cleaning tool to scrape off the ear wax in it
- With the help of the small brush, clean off any stubborn wax left
- Use a soapy wet cloth to wipe the ear tips and airdry intensively before clutching back to the earbuds.
Nb: be gentle with the procedure and try not to force the loop to the tip when it’s still on the earbud else, the wax may find its way into the earbud and in turn damage the driver.
Clean headphones and earbuds after Exercise and allow to air dry completely before charging
During work out sessions, we all love to listen to music – it makes our sessions fun and enjoyable, after all. However, we perspire a whole lot.
Although some of these headphones are water & sweat resistant, it doesn’t mean we should have them on for several hours without taking them off.
The downside of it is that continuous flow of sweat or water into the earbuds and headphones can leak into the battery section thereby causing damage to the driver.
One solution is to prevent moisture from getting into the earcup of both the in-ear and over-ear headphones.
If you are in a hurry or can’t afford to listen to music on your morning run despite your headphone or earbud being wet, you can clean out residual moisture, turn them off and keep them in an airy bag.
Storing them in your pockets or kit bag is a no-no as they may not get the necessary air needed to get dry.
Keep earbuds and headphones in a case when not in use
This is in no way a big deal moreover, they are fancy. You want to keep them from accruing dirt and protect them from impacts from hard surfaces.
Some come in their own protective case or the third-party Earbud Cases and if the ones you own don’t come with any, please purchase one asap.
Most of the time, people end up throwing a protective case over their original earbuds case too. It’s a smart move—you get that double layer of protection to keep the original case from getting beat up, and it keeps the whole thing from getting all gross and dirty.
Beware of storing earbuds and headphones in extreme (high/low) environmental conditions
Most times, headphones come with a battery, you do not want to store them in an extremely hot or cold environment so the battery doesn’t get worse.
So, a neutral environment condition is just a perfect pick for their storage.
Beware of leaving the charging port or battery section opened on storage and when powered on
Leaving the battery compartment of your headphone opened can allow dirt to store up or worse, water to seeps in.
Frequently, clean out the port and shake off moisture before plug-ins.
Avoid wrapping cables around your headphones while being plugged in
By all means, avoid wrapping your headphone cables around your phone as they could distort the cables and also damage the plug.
Instead, wrap the cord around your four fingers in a circular form securing firmly with your thumb – just as seen on purchase.
Hold plugs or cable heads to unplug headphones
Avoid unplugging or taking out headphones from your phones by pulling out the cable – you may damage the cable itself. The same applies to the earbuds too.
Instead, hold the earbud and give it a light twist while you pull out.
There you have it, a detailed guide specially prepared for you on how to clean earbuds and headphones. Hopefully, you make judicious use of this information.
Give a cleaning trial today!
