The cotton stem is a stick furnished at each end with a small cotton ball. One can use the common noun padded stick .

In English: Knitting machine swabs or knitting machine buds. The inventor of the " knitting machine swab" is supposed to be Leo Gerstenzang, in 1923.

Whereas Léo Gerstenzang sees his wife sticking cotton on a toothpick to clean the ears of their baby, it had the idea to create the cotton plug (" Gays" baby;) then its own company: the " Infant Novelty Company". In 1926 it changed the name for Q-Tip Baby Gay and ends of it up naming it " Q-tip".

These sticks are used to remove the Oreille from excess as Cérumen that it secret. They must however be used only in the house and not in the auditory canal, because the cerumen plays a big role and, especially, the stick introduced into the conduit could cause a external otitis, and its inopportune use causes inflammatory reactions of irritation, and sometimes even, in an accidental way, perforations Tympan ic.

External bonds

• Unilever NV
• Q-tips official site (Macromedia Flash requires)
• The origin off Q-tips