Last Updated on June 21, 2024 by Nirav Patel
Do you remember the look and sound quality of your headphones when you first bought them? They were fresh, shiny, and completely new, right? So in how many months have they lost their charm? It solely depends on person to person and their usage, but we all have seen our earphones and headphones getting all dirty and dull over the time. Because we are so busy taking care of our phones, gadgets, and other accessories that we hardly think about one of our favorite music accessory- headphones. Just like ourselves and our gadgets they also need some cleaning every now and then to not only protect their charm but to avoid many serious issues.
They have sensitive engineering and critical elements that is why it is a bit difficult to clean them, but it is essential to clean them for the same reason. Here, we are discussing why it is important to clean your headphones and earphones and how to clean them. So let’s get started.
Why Is It Important To Clean Your Earphones & Headphones?
If you closely take a look at your earphones, you can notice the clogged dirt and earwax on the driver unit’s mesh. You can see dirt on the corners and sides, and In some cases, you can notice the color change of the wire as well. And these wires and earbuds are always in touch with your hands and ears. So your clogged earbuds can and headphones can damage your ear canal and skin through constant touch. It can also cause infection on a serious note.
Hygiene is a highly important subject of a disciplined lifestyle, and earphones with dirt, earwax, sweat, and pollutants are definitely not going to let you have that. You may want to purchase a new pair after some months or years, but to keep your favorite earphones and headphones healthy and long-living, you can simply clean them with an easy method. You can avoid expenses, infections, embarrassment, and gross earphones by following the basic cleaning process.
Things You Require To Clean your Headphones:
So before starting the cleaning process, we have listed down few necessary things that you will require to follow the method. Cleaning your headphones is a sensitive process, and you don’t want to take any chance by damaging any parts. So make sure you are focused, patient and gentle during the whole process.
To clean your headphones, you require some basic stuff like,
- Small cloth or paper towel
- Toothbrush
- Q tips
- Rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer
- Water
- Soap
- Tweezers
How To Clean Your Headphones:
Step 1:
Headphones are a bit easy to clean than earphones and earbuds. First, you need to remove the earpads and stretch the headband as much as possible. You have to make sure you do not touch any internal part through the whole cleaning process, which shouldn’t get disturbed.
Step 2:
Hold your headphones comfortably and start cleaning roughly with a toothbrush. It can remove the easy and large particles of debris.
Step 3:
To remove the stubborn dirt, you need to soak your cloth or paper towel into rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer and gently wipe all the parts. To go further, you can use the q tips or tweezers while keeping secured movements
Step 4:
For a headband, you can use soap water in a cloth but make sure you do not use an excess of water because that can easily damage your headphones.
Step 5:
Headphones tend to absorb more sweat and dirt in their earpads, so to get rid of that stinky smell, you can clean them with the help of alcohol and, if possible, soap water and then let it completely dry. After that, you can keep it with silica gel packets each time you use them to remove the moisture and keep it fresh. You have to understand that liquid is not a very good friend of headphones so, areas that are close to the internal parts are supposed to get clean through cotton, brush, and q-tips only
How To Clean Your Earphones And Earbuds?
Step 1:
- Earbuds and earphones are smaller in size than your over-ear headphones. And for that reason, they are a bit critical to clean. You will require the same items, and the procedure is also almost similar. But with wireless earbuds and earphones, you have to be more steady, patient, focused, and gentle. It has small parts which are not easy to even look at, so you better not touch any internal part to avoid damages.
First, take out the ear tips from your earphones and clean them with q-tips, brush, and cotton. They are made of silicone, so they are entirely safe to wash in water. Take soap water in a bowl and wash your ear tips thoroughly with that water. And You have to keep it aside to get completely dry. Wireless earbuds do not have ear tips, so you just have to clean them with q-tips and brush with steady hands
Step 2:
The next thing is the mesh of your earphones. Again a similar process, you have to clean it with dry tools, and then you can remove the stains, intense specks of dirt, and bacteria through cotton with alcohol. Be gentle in this so that you do not break the mesh.
Step 3:
Wireless earbuds have a different element called their charging case. So once you are done with your earbuds, you can clean your charging case with the same items while taking all the precautions. But do not put your earbuds directly in your charging case after cleaning. Make sure you give both of them enough rest to get completely dry.
Some Complimentary Tips:
Your headphones are going to absorb a lot of sweat, bacteria, skin products, and dirt from your skin and hair. So you should try to dry them after every time you use them.
Your earbuds, ear tips, and earphone mesh are always in direct touch with your ear canal, so make sure you clean the clogged debris from these parts to maintain your earphones’ sound quality and overall life.
Try using silica gel packets to keep your earphones and headphones moist free. And also use sunlight once in while to make them completely dry.
Lastly, it is always better to keep your ears and skin clean so that you can avoid infections and keep your earphones and headphones clean.
