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Ear and nose hairs have a purpose as part of the body’s natural defense system.
They keep debris out of the body, preventing allergic reactions and infections. Nasal hair is also responsible for holding and retaining moisture in the air that you breathe. Your ears need these hairs to filter out debris.
For many, these hairs become thicker and more prevalent as we age.
It’s not because your ears and nose keep growing forever, which is a myth. Instead, this could be due to a long-term exposure to testosterone which causes hair follicles in the ears and nose to lengthen their growth period.
These hairs are also able to grow dense and thick because of the dense network of blood vessels in the face and head that bring them a rich supply of oxygen.
Nose and ear hairs can be an annoyance for appearance, comfort, and personal grooming reasons. They can be distracting, and like something out of place, they can take a person’s focus off of your positive features so that a thicket of nose hair is all they see.
Trimming your ears and nose can be a quick exercise in the morning, and when practiced as a regular maintenance it shouldn’t take you long at all.
Your hair removal practice should take into consideration that you do not want to remove all the hair. Instead, only remove what’s visible and distracting.
How to Get Rid of Ear and Nose Hair
Trimming is the recommended method of maintaining ear and nose hair. It’s the least painful and the safest, since it decreases the risk of ingrown hairs and infection.
Nose hair trimmers generally refer to very small scissor, manual circular trimmers, or electric nose hair trimmers.
Another method is plucking and waxing, although we would seriously advise against this.
Whenever you’re maintaining your ear and nose hair, the goal is to remove or shorten the nose hairs that are most visible. Trying to remove any more than that may risks damaging the delicate skin inside your nose. Removing too much hair also decreases their ability to protect you from debris and infection.
Using Scissors or Trimmers
Trimming Nose Hairs with Scissors or Trimmers
Trimming scissors are well-shaped for safely trimming the outside and inner rim of the nostrils.
It’s best to use a shallow approach with scissors, since trimming any deeper many cause bleeding and damage to the nose’s many blood vessels, and may end up being much worse than a simple shaving cut.
This method can also be done using manual or electric trimmers.
- Make sure that you have good lighting.
- Blow and clean out your nose.
- The easiest angle is to tip the head slightly back and make a pig nose by using your non-dominant hand to push the tip of your nose upward. Then, draw your upper lip downward over your teeth. This will push outward the hair that needs trimming.
- Trim the hair down to the skin (but not too close) focusing on the areas that you can see, particularly the outer area of the nostrils and the inner rim.
- Blow your nose after trimming to remove any stray hairs.
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Trimming Ear Hairs with Scissors or Trimmers
Using scissors and trimmers on your ear hair requires more care, since you have less visibility around that area. It’s best to use a second mirror in addition to your bathroom or shaving mirror. Angle the reflections until you can see your ear clearly. This will help you trim what you need without getting dangerously close to your eardrum.
Plucking or Waxing Your Ear or Nose Hair
Plucking or Waxing Nose Hair
Plucking is more likely to lead to ingrown hairs and subsequent infection than trimming. It is also considered more painful than trimming. Plucking can work as a quick spot treatment in cases where there is only one hair visible, such as a hair on the tip of the nose.
Despite there being nasal waxing products on the market, waxing isn’t generally recommended for this process. This is due to the sensitive and delicate nature of the nose skin, as well as the risk of ingrown hairs as the hair grows back in. It could also interfere with your mustache if you have one.
Nasal waxing sticks are intended to remove the hair growing on the inside edge of the nose. As with other parts of the body, this is a longer-term solution, since hair takes a longer time growing back from waxing than from trimming. This is because waxing, like plucking, removes the hair from beneath the skin.
For those who do pluck their nasal hairs, take note of any irritation you may feel, such as bumps from ingrown hair follicles. If you have an ingrown hair in the nose, remove the ingrown hair, and stop your nasal hair removal methods until it is healed. If plucking causes bleeding clean with warm water, and then apply cold water or an ice cube to constrict the blood vessels and stave off the bleeding, as you would with a shaving cut .
Plucking or Waxing Ear Hair
When it comes to your ears, there is less risk involved with waxing, since the skin on your ears is thicker than inside your nose. Waxing sessions will be less frequent than trimming. However, they are more involved.
Waxing requires you to apply the wax to the parts of the ear where you want to remove the hair. Once the wax hardens, you can pull it off. This method tends to be quick, but painful, so have some cold water ready to rinse and soothe the skin.
How Not to Remove Your Ear and Nose Hair
Risks associated with removing ear and nose hair include:
- Pain and bleeding
- Ingrown hairs and infection
- Damage to the very important mucous membranes inside the nose
- Risk of debris and allergens reaching the nose from over-trimming
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Laser hair removal isn’t recommended for the nasal area, due to its potential to cause long-term harm to the mucous membranes.
Hair removal creams are not recommended for the nasal area either, since using them in this area makes it likely to inhale toxic chemicals. Furthermore, harsh formulas will irritate the sensitive skin.
Best Tools for Trimming
Add these to your facial hair grooming kit:
- Nose Hair Trimming Scissors – Scissors with rounded tips that prevent poking and have gauging to help you safely trim the hair while remaining just outside of your nostrils. These are also useful for trimming other facial hair, including ear hair, mustache, beard , or eyebrows.
- Manual Nose and Ear Hair Trimmer – This works by catching your ear or nose hair between a rotating clipper and the safety casing. Since you rotate the dial yourself, there’s no need for batteries or charging. Be careful not to move a manual trimmer as you’re trimming, or it will yank out your hair, rather than cutting it.
- Electric Nose and Ear Trimmer – Made with a circular clipper, these make nose and ear hair trimming a quick part of the morning routine. Many of these are battery powered or rechargeable, and they can allow for a lot more comfort, with reduced yanking and plucking.
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The older you get, the more likely you’ll need to groom your nose and ear hair as you do your beard, whether with scissors or an electric nose and ear trimmer. It is a fairly easy task, and depending on which tool you choose, it is certainly less painful than you think.
Every office has its clown, and for us, that’s Lyndon. As a fun-loving guy who likes to take the pressure out of tense situations, we rely on him for comedic support to get us through our hardest days. You’ll find him working on a lot of our food-related posts, from drinks to recipe tips, right on down to kitchen fixtures and kitchen gadgets. If there’s one thing we can say about him, it’s that he makes a mean chicken milanese, and he can’t sing (don’t ask him to, we beg of you). Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndon-seitz-bbb09471/
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