The science of nose hair.

Have you ever been annoyed or grossed out by nose hair? It tickles. It collects snot and gets all dry and crusty. If you don’t take care of it, it can ruin an otherwise great date.

Who needs it? Why do we even have nose hair?

Well, it turns out that science has a lot to say about nose hair. So let’s take a scientific look at the things in your nostrils and we’ll learn why you have the hair, why it behaves the way it does, and what you can do about it.

Why do we have nose hair?

If you want the quick version, here it is. Nose hair helps to keep dirt, debris, and other things out of your sinuses.

If you want the detailed, science-filled version, strap in. This is going to get a little intense.

First off, basically everyone has hair in their nose. Having zero hair up there would constitute an abnormal medical condition. But even though everyone has at least some hair, it’s not always the same. For the most part, guys tend to have longer and thicker hairs in their nostrils and those hairs tend to get thicker and longer with age. We’ll get into why in the next section.

With that covered, the hairs in your nose range across the entire nostril. You have 360-degree coverage up there. And those hairs are typically covered in a thin layer of mucus. Yeah, we’re getting to the gross part.

It turns out that a nose hair with some mucus is actually really good at catching particles and stuff in the air. The hairs trap dirt, elements of smoke, allergens, and irritants. Anything captured by a snotty nose hair is something that doesn’t make it into your sinuses or your lungs.

In other words, your nose hair works together with mucus to create a natural air filter. This can help reduce sneezing, itchiness, asthma, and any other breathing issue that's caused or exacerbated by irritants. Nose hair works pretty hard for you.

Why does it grow more as we age?

That covers the essential function of nose hair, but there’s more science to learn. For instance, most guys find that the hair in the nose gets longer and thicker with age. Why?

This mostly boils down to hormones. 

In general, kids don’t have dense nose hair. They have small little follicles up there and the hairs still filter the air. After puberty, nose hairs tend to come in thicker and such (mostly for guys), but the process takes a while. As age progresses, nose hairs continually get to be more annoying.

Clearly, puberty triggers hormonal changes (in most guys) that ultimately lead to bushier nose hair. But those hormones don't have a rapid effect. Nose hairs don’t respond like a voice drop or a growth spurt. They take a long time.

But the hormonal change is more or less permanent. The key hormones that impact nose hair growth continue to be produced by your system over a period of decades. Slowly, the impact of those hormones increases, and you steadily get more intense hair in your nostrils.

That’s really the gist of it, and it’s why you see more extreme nose hair in older dudes.

Is it okay to trim nose hair? 

These facts leave us with a quandary. Your nose hair is going to get longer, grosser, and more annoying with age. On the other hand, it serves an important physiological role. Is it okay to trim the hairs?

In short, yes. Trimming is fine, but it’s important to note that total hair removal is not fine. You  don’t want to pluck the hairs, wax them, or even have a dermatologist remove them with lasers.

For starters, we’ve already established that your nose hairs are good for you. If you trim them, you can prevent them from being overgrown and nasty, but you’re still leaving hair behind. That hair can still collect mucus and work as a filter. It’s fine.

If you pluck or otherwise remove the hair, then nothing is left behind and you have no natural filtration. That can lead to a lot of irritation in your sinuses and lungs, and that’s not good.

But hair removal can be even worse. One way or another, hair removal attacks hair at the root. Whether you’re plucking or waxing, you’re ripping hair out of your nose, and that adds a ton of extra irritation and inflammation to your sensitive nose. It can make you stuffy, bloody, sneezy, and uncomfortable in a lot of ways.

If you want to manage nose hair, you can use specialized blunt-tipped scissors or you can do the easy thing and get an electric trimmer.

How to pick a nose hair trimmer.  

That brings us to the crux of the conversation. If you need to get your nose hair under control, then you want a top-quality trimmer. A good trimmer makes short work of grooming, keeps you safe, and is easy to manage. In fact, here are a few features that you should probably look for in your nose hair trimmer:

• Waterproofing
• Cordless design
• Long-lasting battery
• Rotating blade head
• Easy maintenance

 We have a trimmer that provides all of this and more. The Weed Whacker® 2.0 really is all you need for managing nose hair. It's waterproof and cordless, making it easy and safe to use in the bathroom. The long-lasting battery also means that you can trim on your terms so you won’t always be waiting for that next charge.

It’s also designed with a rotating blade head that's angled to match the natural contours of the nose. This means you can easily get it into your nostrils in a safe way and the rotating head trims all of the hair right away. It makes trimming that much faster and simpler.

Best of all, the trimmer is easy to take care of. The blade head pops off so you  can easily rinse everything. It’s also simple to replace the blade head when things eventually get a little dull. All in all, you won’t find a trimmer that strikes a better balance between performance, ease of use, and comfort.