“Olfactory cilia” is a fancy way of saying “nose hairs,” but is important to distinguish between the macroscopic nose hairs near the opening of the nostrils, and the microscopic hairs in the olfactory epithelium, the part of the nose which traps smells and communicates them to the brain.d. The olfactory cilia inside the nose line the mucus membranes of the nose, and unlike most other cilia in the body, they are non-motile, remaining stationary in the nose rather than wiggling around in the mucus like the cilia which line the trachea and intestines do.