How often do you clean them, and how? Any cautionary tales?
I put them in their case and don’t think about them again until I go to put them in my ear
I look at them before putting them in my ear, think about how I need to clean them, then forget as soon as I put them in 😹
The buds forget how dirty they are by the next time they come out
Wait…there are people that clean their earbuds?
I use a q-tip with a little bit of alcohol on it. Rub very carefully over the speaker part. I remove the flexible earpiece part and just rinse that out in the sink. I usually do it once a week because my ears get kind of waxy.
I use a tissue to clean my ears before I use them and take off the little silicon plug thingy every long once in a while and wash them in my hand with some dish soap
I tap them and blow on them before I put them back into their case. In case there are any little ear wax flakes. I don’t tend to have much in the way out of ear wax.
You are lucky. I have wax on tap.
I replace the foams every 10,000 kms.
For that reason, I have headphones instead.
I got an airpod cleaning multi tool from Amazon and it actually works really well.
Also if you have the Sony xm1004, they have little foam bits in them and over the years they get soaked up with sweat and earwax, it’s really gross. So if you think your sound is super quiet and have earbuds with foam inserts, first use some tweezers and something to gently squeeze out the foam and clean with isopropyl alcohol.
I bought one of those earbud cleaning kits from Temu and use it every so often. It comes in a case similar to AirPods with a brush and other cleaning tools and works pretty well.
I only got it on Temu as one of my first purchases testing the site and trying dirt cheap Chinese junk. My expectations were low lol
It needs to be done carefully. If earwax has gotten onto the grill, it’s easy to squish it into the grill and your earbuds will sound extremely muddy and quiet. I usually try to prevent this by removing any visible wax collecting on the rubber ear bud. If it’s on the grill anyways, remove the rubber earbuds, add a drop of hydrogen peroxide onto the wax and let it sit for a minute. Afterwards use a toothbrush at an angle to “scrape” the wax off. This is to prevent mushing the earwax into the grill mentioned previously.
If the earbuds are muddy you can attempt to use a finer brush and scrub vigorously. It’s a little gross but you can blow on the grill to clear it sometimes. God forbid don’t suck.
I wash them up then I put them inside me
When I see earwax on them, I brush it out with an old toothbrush, then clean the toothbrush with soap and water.
Several times a week, i put them in the dryer with my hearing aids. No, not the clothes dryer, one of these; it uses UV light to disinfect, and also dehumidifies the contents to prevent moisture damage.