Since I was forty, my ears have tended to block up with wax. I found myself visiting the practice nurse at my GP about every seven months to have one of them syringed alternately. Talking to the nurses over time, I grasped that the ear produces an increased amount of wax as self-protection from dusty environments. Farmers dealing with straw, and builders surrounded by dust and debris tend to be at risk. Once the ears have started to create wax in this way, they tend to go on doing so. This made sense to me; I have been using an electric drill for DIY tasks round the home all my adult life, much of it drilling into masonry, producing dust.
I have finally found a solution, which is to put a drop or two of olive oil into the ears at the beginning of the month. This keeps things moist enough for the little hairs we have inside our ears to be able to push out the wax. Since I adopted this scheme in September 2009, my ears have stayed clear.
In February 2012 I had to have the right ear syringed out, and the left ear has some surplus wax in it, so I am increasing the frequency to every three weeks.
There are preparations that you can buy from chemists, but the universal advice I have had from all the nurses who have cared for my ears was that oilive oil is best. I keep an old bottle of it in the drawer by my bed with just a trace in it for ease of use.