I use cotton buds (yea I know I shouldn't) to clean my ears and recently one of my my ears got so blocked, I couldn't hear out of it .... no doubt caused by me repeatedly using the cotton buds and pushing the wax further into my ear.
I bought this kit from my local chemist. I only used the ear drops for a couple of days and then used the syringe bulb to flush the wax out. I syringed about 5 or 6 times and on the last attempt, I knew it had worked, as my hearing came back. I looked in the sink and saw the result of my last syringe ... about 4 blobs of wax.
Highly recommended:
Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation