Nostril hair can be annoying, especially if it’s particularly long and sticks out below your nose. But nostril hair waxing is one of many style trends currently sweeping social media that aren’t necessarily good for your health.
Doctors and experts have warned the nostril hair removal – whether it be through waxing, shaving or plucking – could actually be detrimental to your physical well-being and could leave you susceptible to contracting infections.
That’s because the little hairs inside our nostrils are vital when it comes to keeping the harmful particles we breathe in through our nose out of our bodies and maintaining moisture in the air that we inhale.
There are of course ways to keep nostril hair neat and tidy without removing them completely, using trimming and thinning techniques.
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Electric trimmers and special scissors may be the best way to keep nostril hairs from protruding from your nose, according to experts atHealthline.
Healthline states: “In most cases, waxing or plucking nasal hair is not recommended. Pulling out individual hairs can lead to ingrown hairs and infection. Waxing, especially, could hurt the skin deep inside your nose.”
They also warn against using hair removal cream, saying: “Depilatory or hair removal cream is not recommended for use in the nasal cavity. Depilatories are very strong, and you risk inhaling toxic fumes and burning the mucous membranes inside your nose.”
While Healthline gives the green light on certain types of wax products or laser treatments that target only the hairs immediately on the inside of the nostrils, some doctors, however, still urge caution.
Posting on Instagram, NHS doctor Karan Raj said: "You have two types of nose hairs. You have microscopic cilia, these filter mucus and send it to the back of the throat where it ends up in the stomach.
"And vibrissae (whiskers), the big ones you want to yank out. These keep out large particles from making it to the back of the nose. "If you pluck these big boys, germs around the follicle can get inside causing infection."
Dr Raj, who has over 370,000 followers on Instagram, added: "The same veins which carry blood out of the nose meet up with the veins that carry blood out of the brain.
"If the germs end up back there in the brain, it can cause inflammation of the brain, sometimes resulting in brain abscesses."
According to theNHSdefinition, brain abscesses are a “pus-filled swelling in the brain” that usually occur when “bacteria or fungi enter the brain tissue after an infection or severe head injury.”
The NHS says that while the risk of developing a brain abscess is “extremely low”, it is a “life-threatening condition and should be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible.”
Other complications from brain abscesses include mild to moderate brain damage, epilepsy and meningitis.
In summary, it’s probably best to avoid the wax and stick to your electric trimmer.
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