It sounds almost too simple—and pleasantly natural—to be true. Olive oil, the golden nectar of the Mediterranean diet, has been used for centuries not just for cooking, but as a medicinal balm for skin, hair, and yes, even ears.
Olive oil softens wax. That’s all. It does not dissolve wax entirely, nor does it propel wax out of the ear. For wax to be removed, your jaw’s natural motion (chewing, talking) needs to migrate the softened wax outward. If you have a complete impaction, softening a boulder of wax inside a narrow canal often makes it swell into a tighter plug.
Pouring olive oil on a cork stuck in a bottle neck doesn’t remove the cork. It just makes the cork softer and slicker, sometimes wedging it in tighter.