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Our bodies produce all kinds of substances, and people have different tolerance levels for them. One that can be really bothersome is earwax. But believe it or not, this substance actually serves a purpose ― and you need to be careful when it comes to removing it. Below, experts break down what you need to know about dealing with earwax and cleaning out your ears.

First of all, you probably don’t need to clean out your ears

“Most people do not need to remove their ear wax,” said Dr. Erich P. Voigt, an associate professor in Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “It is a protective coating of the ear canal. It is a waterproofing agent and has anti-microbial properties. It helps prevent outer ear infections.”

In addition to protecting your ears from water damage and infection, earwax also lubricates the ears, preventing the area from feeling dry and itchy. And like other parts of the body, ears are “self-cleaning,” so you don’t really need to wash the inside area.

“Think from an evolutionary standpoint,” said Dr. Lawrence R. Lustig, chair of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. “If Mother Nature designed an ear that had to be cleaned, that would be a poor design. We didn’t have ear cleaners 500,000 years ago.”

He described the system as a “conveyer belt of skin.”

“Earwax is a combination of skin and oil,” Lustig said. “Skin migrates out from the eardrum to the outside of the ear canal, and as those migrating dead skin cells mix with the oil glands of the ear canal on the way out, that’s where you get earwax.”

Some people have a migration problem, produce too much wax or wax of an abnormal consistency. They might be prone to wax infections and require medical intervention to remove their earwax, which can block the ear and impair hearing. But for most of us, the wax clears out naturally as we go about our daily lives.

“The body has a system for creating wax and pushing it out,” said Dr. Bradley B. Block, an otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeon and host of the “Physician’s Guide to Doctoring” podcast. “As you chew and talk, the ear canal skin moves, and this pushes the wax out. Interfering with this system can lead to wax getting pushed in and accumulating, clogging the ear canal, so cleaning the ears can have the paradoxical effect of clogging the ear.”

But if you insist on doing it, don’t use Q-tips

When you ask people what Q-tips are meant for, their answers will likely include cleaning out earwax. This practice has become so commonplace that Kevin James’ character in “Hitch” has a dance move that mimics cleaning out the ears with a Q-tip.

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