Photo: LiiPo Ching/Mercury News
Forget luxurious shampoos, relaxing shaves, and facial treatments at spas. These beauty treatments don't come close to the Vietnamese art of ear picking:
"It brings a lot of happiness," said Silicon Valley resident Nguyen Tuong Tam, who always heads to a hot toc upon arriving in this city, also known as Saigon. He likens a good ear picking to good sex. Indeed, fans of ear picking gleefully talk about "ear-gasms."
There is a spot near the ear drum that, when touched the right way, "tingles," said 26-year-old ear picker Nguyen Thi Le Hang. "For one person, it may just be a tickle. For another person, it's a mind-blowing experience."
In fact, the ear has a G-spot, said Dr. Todd Dray, an ear, nose and throat surgeon at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center-Santa Clara. "The skin in your ear is super thin -- it's paper thin," he said. "It's very sensitive. And there are a lot of nerves that converge in the ear."
Do they have a lot of punctured ear drums over there?
I was trying to decide whether or not I should make a mad dash for the q-tips and get serious... when I burst out laughing.
On the other hand- it seems most dogs know all about it- they love to have their ears totally mauled.
Ear picking does pose a slight risk, but it is a wonderful experience.
it tickles A LOT indeed, and it's kinda scary what they take out our ear.
I would recommend only with professional as the inner ear is really fragile.
I'm definitely more afraid of the barber's straight razor than the ear picking (which is delightful), well, the shave is nice too but I can't help but think, "This dude could totally slit my throat right now".