The seemingly useful and innocuous face hairs are iconic to cats and are incredibly useful. Those whiskers actually help them out a lot.
Whiskers are the hair-like structures on all mammals that are used to feel and explore the environment.
Whiskers are extremely sensitive organs that are used to feel their surroundings.
Whiskers do grow back in cats. When a cat is a kitten, they grow whiskers and as they get older and larger, they begin to shed them.