How to ease an earache

Illustrations: Audrey Malo

1. Pour a cup of coarse salt into a clean white cotton sports sock. (As table salt can easily seep out of the sock, it doesn’t work as well.)

2. Tie a knot at the end of the sock and place it in a clean skillet over medium-low heat for about five minutes, shaking the sock and flipping it over at the halfway point.

3. After testing the temperature on your inner arm, apply the sock to the affected ear and hold in place for up to 10 minutes.

A version of this article appeared in our March 2016 issue with the headline “How to ease an earache,” p. 36.

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