# Why do I have hair in my nose? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 24, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773 "2010-11-24T14:06:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/1 "2010-11-24T14:06:49Z")
Why do I have hair in my nose? Do they have a biological purpose? Is hair in my nose an evolutionary benefit my genes been selected for? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/2 "2010-11-24T14:20:56Z")
They act as a pre-filter for coarse particles. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/3 "2010-11-24T14:34:55Z")
To keep dust and gnats and bits of food out of your very delicate lungs. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/4 "2010-11-24T14:37:23Z")
Also, to prevent uncontrolled avalanche of boogers from rolling down your upper lip into your mouth or onto your lap. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/5 "2010-11-24T15:04:50Z")
So, do I get punched in the nose hairs if I say they have no _purpose_? šŸ™‚ They have a c_onsequence_ or two: They act as very basic, first-stage air filters for the lungs. I donā€™t know how selective processes have affected their presence in humans, because itā€™s not (hehehe, itā€™s snot) possible to ensure you that some hairless wonders have been slightly less successful at passing down their hairless nose characteristics, because I donā€™t know if hairless nose people ever really got a crack at the whole survival thing. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/6 "2010-11-24T15:11:52Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > So, do I get punched in the nose hairs if I say they have no _purpose_? šŸ™‚ > > They have a c_onsequence_ or two: They act as very basic, first-stage air filters for the lungs. I donā€™t know how selective processes have affected their presence in humans, because itā€™s not (hehehe, itā€™s snot) possible to ensure you that some hairless wonders have been slightly less successful at passing down their hairless nose characteristics, because I donā€™t know if hairless nose people ever really got a crack at the whole survival thing. I supposed, but donā€™t know for sure since I have never looked closely for it and value my too much to ask, that women are less hairy than men - also in the nose department. They seem to be surviving alright though. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/7 "2010-11-24T15:54:51Z")
We women may have less nose hair, but we still have nose hair, and itā€™s still coarse and spiky and stuff and so would still serve a filtering function, if thatā€™s what itā€™s there for. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/8 "2010-11-24T15:57:01Z")
One of Mike Roweā€™s Dirty Jobs recently was at a spa, and one of his de-hairing jobs on the hapless Barsky was removing Barskyā€™s nose hairs with a big Q-tip coated with wax. Ouch! I assume this is done for aesthetic purposes, and the spa owner said there are hairs higher up that are necessary for respiratory health. Thatā€™s all I got. I think yanking out nose hairs is a bad idea, theyā€™re there for a purpose. They can be trimmed with tiny scissors if theyā€™re hanging out of the nostrils. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/9 "2010-11-24T16:02:05Z")
Yanking can lead to an infected follicle that hurts like heck. Anyway, like everything else from eyes to ears, they have no purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/10 "2010-11-24T16:02:06Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > One of Mike Roweā€™s Dirty Jobs recently was at a spa, and one of his de-hairing jobs on the hapless Barsky was removing Barskyā€™s nose hairs with a big Q-tip coated with wax. Ouch! Nose hair waxing? :eek::eek: Thatā€™s just wrong. Iā€™d also worry about the increased risk of infection, given how often the nares are colonized with Staph Aureus. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/11 "2010-11-24T16:04:10Z")
Iā€™ll note that actors typically have it all shaved/cut/waxed out-would look gross on all those closeups. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/12 "2010-11-24T16:30:03Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > Yanking can lead to an infected follicle that hurts like heck. > > Anyway, like everything else from eyes to ears, they have no purpose. Only for extremely pedantic definitions of ā€œpurposeā€. What, itā€™s not sentient, so it doesnā€™t have a purpose? My chair has a purpose. My car has a purpose. My nose hairs have a purpose- to keep me healthy. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/13 "2010-11-24T17:21:51Z")
My wife says itā€™s because Iā€™m really a bear. Or a werewolf. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/14 "2010-11-24T18:22:49Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Is hair in my nose an evolutionary benefit my genes been selected for? I think itā€™s the other way around, the _loss_ of nose hair was selected _against_ when we were shedding the bulk of our body hair. It would probably take a lot less actual benefit to retain nose than it would have to acquire it in a previously hairless place. Which makes me wonder just how widespread is nose hair in the animal kingdom? ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/15 "2010-11-24T19:13:45Z")
When waxing my nose, I like to keep a small strip of hair stretching all along my meatus. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/16 "2010-11-24T19:30:42Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Only for extremely pedantic definitions of ā€œpurposeā€. What, itā€™s not sentient, so it doesnā€™t have a purpose? My chair has a purpose. My car has a purpose. My nose hairs have a purpose- to keep me healthy. No, for fighting ignorance, if one accepts evolution, then what you are left with is things that have consequences. Itā€™s just a way of fending off issues over design and/or intention. What is the purpose of fingers? Answering that means answering what might be a loaded question. I accept that fingers were not designed. They donā€™t have a purpose, but they have consequences. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/17 "2010-11-24T23:06:47Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Only for extremely pedantic definitions of ā€œpurposeā€. What, itā€™s not sentient, so it doesnā€™t have a purpose? My chair has a purpose. My car has a purpose. My nose hairs have a purpose- to keep me healthy. Purpose requires an intelligent mind behind it. Pick up a rock and use it for a paperweight, it now has purpose. Since you probably didnā€™t install them there, your nose hairs donā€™t have a purpose as such. > [@Philster](#): > > No, for fighting ignorance, if one accepts evolution, then what you are left with is things that have consequences. I prefer function. A rock falling on you is a consequence of gravity. Claws shredding you is them performing their function. The products of evolution may not be designed in the human sense, but they arenā€™t random globs of material either. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/18 "2010-11-25T02:13:05Z")
To keep out dandelion seed fluff. Anything smaller gets through. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/19 "2010-11-25T02:20:03Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Purpose requires an intelligent mind behind it. And it has one: us. It neednā€™t be the person who created something to give it purpose. Though I do agree that function is a better word, since we donā€™t consciously use the hairs. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-hair-in-my-nose/561773/20 "2010-11-25T03:36:27Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > My wife says itā€™s because Iā€™m really a bear. Or a werewolf. A bearwolf?