# Plucking nose hairs. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 8, 2001, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656 "2001-02-08T17:41:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![messiah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3e96dc/32.png) [@messiah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/messiah)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2001, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/21 "2001-02-11T14:25:49Z")
Another technique I use is to burn the little bastards. Take a lit safety match, place up to nostril and quickly remove, there’s a quick crackling sound, a charcoaly(sp) type smell, and voila no nasal hairs. If done quickly enough you shouldn’t burn your nose. I discovered this by accident, when I happened to buy a fire-liqueur in Austria. Instead of blowing out the lit drink before quaffing, I tried it still lit and lost my nasal hairs, eyelashes and eyebrows in one sudden whoosh (this is not recommended, as you look like an alien for a week or two). This I believe is one of the two great uses of matches for non smokers/candle-fanciers; the other of course is the crowded house/only 1 toilet/bad gut scenario. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2001, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/22 "2001-02-11T22:27:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zyada \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Cartooniverse \* > > \*\*Oye, it’s hard to be a man. 😃 😃 😃 > > \*\* > > Who said this is restricted to men? [tmi]I have one hair in my nose that has decided to grow wild. This hair is not only thicker than the rest, it is growing longer AND it is growing at an odd angle so it curls around inside my nostril and TICKLES MY NOSE. :mad: You bet I pluck this sucker when I find it. [/tmi] > > If you’re worried about infection, rub the inside of the nostril with alcohol, not the pliers. \*\* I pluck corrected, Zyada. My apologies. Didn’t mean to exclude the other half of the hair-bearing populus. 😃 Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2001, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/23 "2001-02-12T01:34:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cartooniverse \* > \*\*Sure. Needlenose pliers. Hemostats. > \*\* Well, hemostats for me too, and I have been a plucker for 15 plus years. Seems like we have a veritable forest up our nostrils, because there are always more to pluck. One must also remember they serve a purpose: trapping dust and other fine particles which then turn into snot and said snot is then held in place (one hopes) by said hair. (😛 Oh, you were eating?) I usually do many at once because it does make me sneeze for up to an hour afterwards, which I suppose is our body’s way of punishing us. Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2001, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/24 "2001-02-12T10:58:04Z")
Back in 1983 I was at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, to wait for a friend who would be between planes. While there I observed an older couple(man and wife?) , dressed in ordinary clothes, not weird or exotic in any way. Well, she gets out a pair of clippers and proceeds to trim his earhairs, right there in public! And when she was done with THAT he tilted his head back and she plucked his NOSEHAIRS! EEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!!! ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2001, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/25 "2001-02-12T19:56:09Z")
**AWB** : > [@](#): > > I pull the ones that extend out my nostril. Pictures? I have hair in my nose and my ears now, but my fingers are fine and delicate enough that I can achieve salvation with them directly, instead of seeking intercession through pliers or tweezers. But the hairs always grow back. **Lumpy** , even plucked hairs will grow back. I want a permanent solution, which leads me to this question: Aside from the pain, is there any good reason why one shouldn’t have electrolysis for excess nose/ear hair? Whoa, _deja vu_. Have I asked this question before? ---
**Author:** ![messiah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3e96dc/32.png) [@messiah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/messiah)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2001, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/26 "2001-02-12T23:38:00Z")
But it is a pleasing sort of pain, a bit like cramp or an electric shock, there is something untangibly attractive about it. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2001, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/27 "2001-02-13T02:50:06Z")
Pliers? Gerber Tool? Tweezers? Wimps. I’ve gotten pretty good at pulling them out with my forefinger and thumbnail. Trap it between your forefinger and your thumbnail, give it a quick yank, and viola! although I hate it when one slips loose. yeeeouch. ---
**Author:** ![andyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@andyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andyman)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/28 "2001-02-13T03:11:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by messiah \* > \*\*But it is a pleasing sort of pain, a bit like cramp or an electric shock, there is something untangibly attractive about it. \*\* Yeah, kinda like popping a big ole zit. _splat_ ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2001, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/29 "2001-02-13T04:31:43Z")
**Enright3** : > [@](#): > > Trap it between your forefinger and your thumbnail, give it a quick yank, and viola! Give it a quick yank, and it’s an orchestral string instrument? ---
**Author:** ![bugme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc79bd/32.png) [@bugme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bugme)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/30 "2010-07-24T07:48:13Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I pluck my nose hairs on a periodic basis. I use a pair of needle-nosed pliers I bought just for doing this (I disinfect them with alcohol before use). > > Someone recently told me that “It’s dangerous to pluck nose hairs.” She said it could cause an infection, it could destroy the hair follicles, blaa, blaa, blaa. > > I’ve been doing it for over 8 years and haven’t gotten an infection. And so what if it damages the hair follicles? I don’t want them to grow anyway. > > So am I doing any irreversible harm to myself? Has anyone actually gotten an infection from plucking their nose hairs? I’ve been doing this for years as well. Haven’t gotten an infection yet, but there’s supposed to be a lot more bacteria inside the nose, so I guess the chances of you getting an infection are theoretically higher than if you yank hairs from other parts of the body. And trimming nose hairs won’t help, for me at least, I have to yank them. Sometimes they have a really thick root, which causes discomfort in my nose, and trimming it won’t get rid of the root, so I have to yank it. And I’ve heard yanking is supposed to damage the follicle, but they seem to grow back in the same place over and over… ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/31 "2010-07-24T09:54:42Z")
If I can get a good grip on one, I find twisting it continuously in one direction will cause it to pull out with virtually none of the plucking pain. Good for those days when you think you’re good, then blow your nose in a restroom and discover there was a really long one just _waiting_ to be blown out and be seen. Go to the nearest tall, shut the door, grab, and spin until you’ve got a liberated hair in your grasp. It’s the rare hair that’s long enough for that, though, and now that I’m in my late 30s and the hair has gotten bushier, if not longer, I’ve just resorted to using a small pair of scissors as needed when I’m doing my other hair-trimming activities (shaving, sideburn trimming, snipping off wild eyebrow hairs that grow an inch in length overnight, trimming the mutant white hair that curls out of my left ear canal, whatever). Make it part of one’s daily ablutions and it becomes no big deal, though perhaps it’s still a big deal to have to add another body part to the hair-removal plan once in a while. I do wonder if electrolysis would be worthwhile. Or even doable. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/32 "2010-07-24T14:19:58Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Back in 1983 I was at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, to wait for a friend who would be between planes. While there I observed an older couple(man and wife?) , dressed in ordinary clothes, not weird or exotic in any way. Well, she gets out a pair of clippers and proceeds to trim his earhairs, right there in public! And when she was done with THAT he tilted his head back and she plucked his NOSEHAIRS! EEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!!! O’, what airport was that again? ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/33 "2010-07-24T15:22:50Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > Pliers? Gerber Tool? Tweezers? > > Wimps. I’ve gotten pretty good at pulling them out with my forefinger and thumbnail. Trap it between your forefinger and your thumbnail, give it a quick yank, and viola! > > although I hate it when one slips loose. yeeeouch. another vote for the forefinger and thumb. Contrary to the rest of the posters, mine are not painful. I mean there’s a little 10 second sting, not as bad as a shot in the arm, and that’s about it. No crying, weeping, screaming like a little girl action. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/34 "2010-07-24T15:25:55Z")
Years ago I stopped to get a haircut at a barber shop I had never visted before. The barber was an older Asian gentleman and he did a fine job cutting my hair. After he finished he told me to tilt my head back so I did. He lit a wooden match, let it burn a few seconds, blew it out then stuck it up my left nostril and twirled it around. He then did the same to the right. Other than the smell of burning hair that lasted for a second or two, it worked great. Since then I keep a box of wooden matches in my bathroom. No hair plucking or hairs getting yanked out by nose hair trimmers. ---
**Author:** ![Dave.B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9f8e36/32.png) [@Dave.B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave.B)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/35 "2010-07-24T16:30:50Z")
One of my cousins had the insides of his nostrils waxed. Now, I’m not sure whether this is a commercially available procedure in the UK, or whether he just decided to do it on a whim one day, or indeed if he did it for a bet, but I do know that he posted a photo of the immediate aftermath on Facebook. The result looked for all the world like two baby hedgehogs sleeping on a tissue. And yeah, I regularly just yank them out using the thumb and index fingernail method. Now and again one will hurt like hell and cause about 15 minutes of sneezing and eye-watering. Keeps the day interesting. ---
**Author:** ![poker\_in\_the\_rear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dc4da7/32.png) [@poker\_in\_the\_rear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/poker_in_the_rear)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/36 "2010-07-24T18:21:44Z")
So what exactly is the zombie method of nose hair removal?? ---
**Author:** ![bugme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc79bd/32.png) [@bugme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bugme)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/37 "2010-07-24T19:48:46Z")
Yeah, thumb and forefinger can be used, but sometimes they’re too deep or too short for that. And I rarely feel any pain, but that’s probably because I’ve done it so much that my nose is now desensitized to any pain. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/38 "2010-07-24T19:55:04Z")
> [@JCThunder](#): > > The old nose trimmer works great for me. Same thing here. I’ve got a $15 Philips nose hair trimmer, and it works great. You have to work it around a bit, but it’s getter than scissors, tweezers, or what I occasionally resorted to – needlenose pliers. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/39 "2010-07-24T20:25:53Z")
It can cause infection by ingrowing. I’ve had it happen to me. Better to trim them back because they do serve as dust collectors. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656/40 "2010-07-24T20:49:03Z")
been plucking for years. Tried a trimmer once, hate it; the stubble is itchy. About once every three months I spend a few minutes plucking. My weapon of choice is a pair of tweezers from the drug store - tweezers designed for plucking hairs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plucking-nose-hairs/53656.md?page=3)