redWOOD: Your ears do drain naturally, so don't rub the q-tip over the inside of them like crazy. Wait until there's a lot of stuff built up to the point of it being noticable (be it visaully, or the fact that you can't hear as well), then do it. The gunk on top is what you want to get rid of. Getting rid of ALL ear wax, even a small coat of it right on top of the skin, isn't usually a good idea. Your ears are supposed to, after all, have some (but not much) wax. Taking a q-tip deeper into the ear is like rubbing your skin on sandpaper. It's not a very good idea because it irritates your skin, which can and will lead to dryness and discomfort, possibly an ear infection.
Also, even though you will take a lot of wax out with q-tips, you are (without noticing or feeling) pushing some fluids and stuff further back into your ear when you put one in there. So don't do it very often, and when you do, be very quick and precise. I had two ear infections in early 2005. If your ears are feeling dry/irritated, the worst thing to do is use a q-tip. In that case, what you want to do is keep water out of the ear for at least a week. Meaning, buy cotton balls, rip them into smaller pieces and safely place them in your ears before bathing.
But as far as wax goes, only use q-tips when there's some serious wax buildup. And if your skin is sensitive (e.g. always needing hand moisturizer when the weather gets cold) that's a good sign that the skin inside of your ear is also very sensitive to irritation, so you definitely don't want to be rubbing q-tips against that skin every week, especially with cold weather.
Just don't be obsessive about getting every little bit of wax out; it's very rough on the ears.
