Each Nostril Holds About 120 Hairs, and That Odd Cadaver Count Matters for People Losing Their Nose Hair

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Different Workouts Suited Different MarkersA pooled analysis of 53 trials found that different exercise types helped different metabolic markers. Most of the evidence was low certainty. Editorial Illustration via AI Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on Pocket How many hairs are in a human nose? Until a few years ago, nobody had published a solid answer. So a team at the University of California, Irvine, counted them one by one in each nostril of 20 donated bodies.

The tally came out remarkably even, about 120 hairs per nostril, and earned the 2023 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine. The nose has stayed in the Ig Nobel spotlight. In September, the 2026 Ig Nobel Medicine Prize, awarded in Zurich, went posthumously to Japanese physician Tokuji Unno for a 1977 aerodynamic study of how to blow the nose. But the nose-hair count had a serious purpose. It was meant to help people with an autoimmune condition that can strip away the nose’s first line of defense.

The researchers, from UC Irvine’s departments of dermatology and anatomy and led by dermatologist Natasha Atanaskova Mesinkovska, examined 10 male and 10 female cadavers from the university’s medical school. They counted every hair in each nostril and used a measuring tape to record how far the hairs grew at the upper, lateral, and lower portions of the nostril.

According to a summary of the work published by UC Irvine’s Beckman Laser Institute, the average count was 120 to 122 hairs per nostril, and the hairs typically reached lengths between 0.81 and 1.035 centimeters. The left and right sides were close, which is what the Ig Nobel citation singled out.

The findings were first presented as an abstract in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology in 2020 and later published as a research letter in the International Journal of Dermatology. The sample was small and limited to cadavers, so the numbers may not capture differences by age, ethnicity or living tissue.

The team’s motivation came from patients with alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks hair follicles. In its most extensive form, called alopecia universalis, people can lose all body hair, including the hair inside the nose.

Patients with the condition often report more upper respiratory infections, allergies, and nasal dryness, the researchers noted. Without nasal hair, they reasoned, those patients may be more exposed to allergens and infectious particles in the air.

Before anyone could measure what is lost, though, someone had to establish what a typical nose contains. The team noted that no one had previously published an average count of human nose hairs. That baseline is what the cadaver study provides.

Nasal hairs, known medically as vibrissae, trap larger airborne particles before they travel deeper into the airway. Research suggests their density may matter.

A 2011 study of 233 people with seasonal allergies, published in the International Archives of Allergy and Immunology, found asthma was more common among those with sparse nasal hair. About 44.7% of patients with little or no nasal hair had asthma, compared with 16.7% of those with dense nasal hair. That study showed an association, not proof that nose hair prevents asthma. Other factors, such as genetics or the severity of a person’s allergies, could also help explain the difference.

For people without hair loss, the practical takeaway is modest. Ear, nose and throat specialists generally say trimming visible hairs is fine, while plucking or waxing can lead to infected follicles or ingrown hairs, as an otolaryngologist at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center has explained.

Treatment options for severe alopecia areata have expanded in recent years with a class of drugs called JAK inhibitors. In July 2024, the FDA approved deuruxolitinib, sold as Leqselvi, for adults with severe alopecia areata. Mesinkovska was a co-author of the THRIVE-AA1 phase 3 trial of the drug, which enrolled 706 adults with at least 50% scalp hair loss at 72 sites in the United States, Canada, and Europe between 2020 and 2022. Results appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology in 2024.

Nose hair has found its way into that research. A statistical analysis plan for a separate deuruxolitinib study, filed on ClinicalTrials.gov, directed examiners to record the presence or absence of nasal hair at full physical exams and to summarize those results at several points in the study. Scalp hair regrowth remains the main measure of success, but the inclusion shows that clinicians are paying attention to hair beyond the head.

What remains unknown is whether regrown nasal hair restores protection against allergens and infections. Answering that will require studies of living patients, using the kind of baseline the UC Irvine cadaver count supplied.

People with alopecia areata who notice frequent sinus infections, nasal dryness, or allergy flares should mention it to their dermatologist or primary care clinician.

The UC Irvine cadaver study found an average of roughly 120 hairs per nostril, with the left and right sides nearly equal.

They wanted a baseline to understand what people with alopecia areata lose when the disease destroys nasal hair.

Does nose hair protect against allergies?

It helps trap airborne particles. A 2011 study linked sparse nasal hair to higher asthma rates in allergy patients, but it did not prove cause and effect.

Trimming visible hairs is generally considered safe. Plucking or waxing may cause ingrown hairs or infections of the hair follicle.

Can alopecia treatments regrow nose hair?

Some trials of JAK inhibitors track nasal hair, but it is not yet clear how often it returns or whether regrowth restores protection.