Leo Gerstenzang, a Polish-American, created the first cotton swab in 1923 after seeing his wife wipe their infant’s ears with cotton wads attached to toothpicks.

Before being dubbed “Q-tips Baby Gays,” with the “Q” standing for “quality,” his product was previously known as “Baby Gays” in acknowledgment of its intended use for newborns.

The final brand name for the product was “Q-tips,” which went on to become the most popular cotton swab brand in North America. In the United States and Canada, the word “Q-tip” is often used as a generic trademark for a cotton swab.

Unilever, which owns the Q-tips brand, reported US sales of more than $200 million in 2014. Johnson & Johnson is the manufacturer of “Johnson’s buds.”

Frequently, cotton swabs or Q-tips are used to quickly remove wax from the ear. Although they are handy and simple to use, they may really do more damage than good. Q-tips have the potential to push wax further into the ear canal, which might result in impaction, pain, or an eardrum rupture.