# Alternative to nose-picking **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 11, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternative-to-nose-picking/201054 "2003-09-11T21:54:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DeepField](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@DeepField](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeepField)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternative-to-nose-picking/201054/1 "2003-09-11T21:54:14Z")
After reading the column on [nose-picking](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_270b.html) I wonder what is the recommended practice for cleaning your nose. I am not admitting anything here, but sometimes the _snot_ gets so hard and sticky and abundant, that picking it out is the only way to get your airways available again. I thing some people never does it, because their nostrils just don’t seem wide enough, but I have always wondered… ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternative-to-nose-picking/201054/2 "2003-09-12T05:52:15Z")
Blow it more often before it congeals. ---
**Author:** ![karomon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@karomon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/karomon)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternative-to-nose-picking/201054/3 "2003-09-12T06:02:48Z")
Ok, finally an OP in my area of expertise. There’s a product you can buy in some Asian markets. It looks like a tiny metal or wooden spoon, and you’re supposed to use it to pick wax out of your ears. If one were so inclined, one could _theoretically_ use it in such a way as to remove clumps of hardened snot from one’s nose. I have a plastic one that lights up. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![st1d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@st1d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/st1d)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternative-to-nose-picking/201054/4 "2003-09-13T06:45:54Z")
Try working in a place that makes/uses vinyl chloride. In half a day, your nose will be filled with crusty, hard, amber-looking stuff. BLowing it out doesn’t work, because your nose hairs are entwined in it. I quit that job because it seemed a little too suicidal. Well, that, and the fact that some of the long-term workers seemed to be brain-dead…wonder why. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![OnesNZeros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac91a4/32.png) [@OnesNZeros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OnesNZeros)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternative-to-nose-picking/201054/5 "2003-09-13T13:57:31Z")
As dried mucus is extremely water-soluble, simply draw a little water into one or both nostrils to moisten it. In 5-10 seconds blow your nose. Do it again. (For stubborn nuggets–you know, the ones seemingly spot-welded to the nostril wall–more than two “rinse” would be needed of course.) The upside is it really cleans your nose well. And it keeps your fingers out of your nose. The downside is the unavoidable fact that mucus dries quickly: One rinse lasts maybe an hour or two. And getting up to go to the bathroom to clean your nose gets old. So you go back to tissues, and then back to fingers!