Mucus is no respecter of particle size. It'll trap anything it contacts.
Thus, despite what SWMBO says, keep the hair in your nose long to create the
turbulent flow which maximizes catch.

Might want to do some reading on what really hurts - inorganic particles and
organic poisons. Not to mention that the data which shows a modest increase
in emphysema is based on particulate environments where the air was opaque
with suspended cotton/saw dust.

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...

The trouble is that the stuff that your nose fills with, while it is
annoying, doesn't really hurt you--it gets caught by your nose, which is
there for that purpose, and you get rid of it with a few good blows. The
stuff that _hurts_ you is the fine stuff that gets past your nose and into
your lungs and stays there. What your clean nose is telling is that
there
isn't anything in the air that it can capture--that's all. It's not
telling you the air is _clean_.