How to Clean Headphones

We don’t usually consider cleaning our headphones, it’s just not in our nature. But we should, not only because we keep ourselves from getting nasty ear infections but in order to extend the life of your headphones, thorough cleaning should be done once in a while. Read this guide to find out how to clean headphones.

Thanks to our daily use, headphones accumulate earwax, dead skin cells, sebum and what not? Over time they turn into invisible colonies of bacteria.

Stickier headphones collect dirt when you lay them down random places after use (It’s exactly why they provide pouches with headphones so your headphones don’t collect dust from the surrounding environment).

You should consider wiping your headphones before you put them in your ears. You should absolutely consider a good cleaning after you’ve borrowed a pair of earbuds from your buddy.

Thoroughly clean headphones are not only going to give you a fresh new look but will also provide you with better sound.

So, since you’re here already, congratulations on taking the first leap. Deciding to do it is half the battle won. So without further ado, let’s get going.

Things we need

Corded Earphones

Cleaning up the cords

You should consider wiping the cords of your earphones using a lightly damped cloth. Use soap water to do that. This should be done as soon as they start to look darty. Keep them unplugged while cleaning.

Cleaning up the body

Get another fresh cloth and some hand sanitizer or alcohol solutions. Dampen the cloth and thoroughly wipe the body of the earphones.

Cleaning the eartips

If your earphones come with silicon tips, take them off and soak the silicon ear tips in soap water for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes take out the ear tips and give them a good wipe. Once done search for any left debris. Clean up if you find any.

Note: Thoroughly dry them before putting them on the earphones.

Check out the parts of the earphones that deliver the sound in your ears, you’re going to find a mesh grill there. Check for any debris like earwax, dirt, sebum anything you think shouldn’t belong there.

Use a hearing aid vacuum cleaner to suck the foreign particles out of the mesh grill. Wipe the mesh grill with alcohol-damp cloth.

Once the earphones look clean, put the ear tips back on and keep them in the pouch for future use.

Wireless Earbuds

Cleaning the eartips

Wireless earbuds are easier to clean. Take out the eartips first. Soak the eartips in soap water for 5 minutes. Once done, take them out and look for any foreign debris left. Wipe and dry them

Yeap! I didn’t have a clue it was that dirty!

Cleaning the body

Get some alcohol solution and a clean cloth. Soak it with alcohol and thoroughly clean the body. The whole job shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes.

Use the hearing aid vacuum cleaner to suck the debris, foreign particles, earwax out of the mesh grill. Wipe the mesh grill with a cloth damped with alcohol.

Wireless earphones have power connectors underneath. Make sure you clean them properly using alcohol as well.

Awesome! Good as new!

Remember to thoroughly clean the charging case as well. A dirty charging case is up to no good.

Note: Thoroughly dry the eartips before putting them on the earbuds.

Wireless headphones

Wireless headphones are a bit harder to clean, they tend to have complex connections and more hidden sections that are hard to reach.

What you should watch out for

The most sensitive parts of wireless headphones are the earpads and the padded headband. Most of the high end headphones come with removable earpads. If your headphones come with removable earpads, consider yourself lucky. Clean the earpads and the mesh grill with damp cloth.

If not, you should consider thoroughly cleaning the earpads as well as the mesh grill.

So let’s start.

Remove the earpads from the body. Take a fresh cloth and some hand sanitizer or alcohol solution. Damp the cloth and thoroughly clean the earpads.

Try removing the soft headband, if it looks like it’s not going to come off, don’t push it or you may end up breaking it.

If it comes off easily, clean it thoroughly, if not, clean it and the whole metal headband. Extend the headband to it’s higher limit so you can get to the deepest part of the headband.

Clean the plastic section that connects the headphones with the headband. They usually have a swiveling section. Swivel them and clean the hidden parts as well.