Do Albinos have a stronger or lesser sense of smell because of their white nose hairs?

Question

Because our ability to retaine scents is based upon how many particles are attched to our nose hairs for a particular odour would the pigmentation of those hairs affect our sense of smell at all!?

Answer 1

Actually, our sense of smell is not dependent on the nose hairs, let alone what colors they may be. Hair only serves as a physical filter to keep large particles out of our airways.

Smell is triggered when molecules of whatever chemical happen to land on G-protein receptors in our nose. These G-proteins are not located on the hairs, but rather on the cilia of olfactory receptor neurons (nerve cells in the nose).

Answer 2

The hairs have nothing to do with our sense of smell. They are there to help filter particles so that they do not make it down to our lungs. If you cleaned up a really dusty closet, you might find later that when you blow your nose, the resulting snot is darker because of that dust caught in your nose and not going down to your lungs.

Your sense of smell relies on a patch of tissue about the overall size of a postage stamp that has olfactory nerves directly exposed to the air we breathe. Particles land on these, triggering a nerve impulse that our brain interprets into a particular odor.

Answer 3

I doubt it. I haven't heard anything about an improved or worsened sense of smell due to pigmentation of hairs. Perhaps nose size.

Answer 4

I don't think pigmentation would affect how nose hairs or any other parts of the nose would work.