I’d like to point out that Cecil’s column, here, seems to have missed some of the low-hanging fruit here.
As someone who has hairy ears I can assure Cecil that the hair did not simply start growing when I reached maturity or senilty (Which for me seems to have occured simultaneously), but started growing with the onset of puberty. I’d always thought that ear hair was a secondary sexual characteristic because of that. (If Cecil says it’s been proven not to be, that’s fine - I’m not going to argue with him on that topic.)
But what it does imply to me is that the preponderance of excessive and noticeble ear hair is not so much a factor of age, itself, but other considerations that come on with age.
When I go to get my hair cut, the barber or hairdresser will always, and usually without comment, trim my ear hair as well. Given that another secondary sexual characteristic for men that grows more prevalent with age is male-pattern baldness, I suspect that the apparant increase in ear hair in older men is simply a reflection of how long it’s been since that particular man has had his hair cut.
Let’s face it, if one is not growing hair into one’s eyes, it’s often a lot less of a priority to have regular hair cuts. Which will give the ear hair more time to grow between trimmings.