Okay, hear me out. Yes, it’s a reusable cotton swab replacement. Yes, I know that’s kind of a strange concept. Yes, I was skeptical when I purchased it. Even so—I had to do it. It’s just too gorgeous and well-designed for me to ignore it. And you can’t tell me that the idea of never having to buy another box of 1000 cotton swabs ever again isn’t attractive.
But, let it be heard: The skeptics are right. As much as the LastSwab is a good idea, and beautiful in its execution, it does not make for a particularly functional cotton swab. I can only speak for the Basic model (as opposed to the Makeup one), but it does not do a great job of cleaning out ears.
Since the tips are made out of a soft plastic and not cotton, they lack the necessary texture required to actually attract and lock-in ear wax. LastObject isn’t completely unaware of that though, so they added this nodular design as a sort of replacement. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really help—the LastSwab still does not do a good job of grabbing onto ear wax. And heaven forbid if you need to wash one of the ends before re-using it; once the end is wet, it’s not useful for anything else but scratching the inside of your ear.
Still, I appreciate the concept. Indeed, I would like to stop throwing away so many cotton swabs. Perhaps the Makeup one is more useful, but I just can’t bring myself to recommend the Basic model. I hope in the future that LastObject can create a better replacement than what they currently have, so keep your eyes peeled for that.