Scientists dig into the mysteries … of bellybutton lint

Scientists dig into the mysteries … of bellybutton lint


If you were ever involved in a little navel-gazing — heck, even if you weren’t — you might have found yourself a little curious about bellybutton lint.

Specifically, you might have wondered, ‘What the heck is this and what’s it doing here?”

Scientists have pondered these things, too, if it makes you feel any better.

One researcher in Austria collected his bellybutton lint and that of his friends and family so he could study it, coming up with more than 500 samples.

Another, from Australia, surveyed about 4,800 people to learn that being male, being older and having an “innie” bellybutton rather than an “outie” are all associated with accumulating more fluff in there.

According to scientists, bellybutton lint, or fluff, can contain sweat, dirt, teeny-tiny clothing fibers, abdominal hair, skin cells, skin oils and dust.

A researcher from India tackled the problem of how all that stuff gets into our bellybuttons using physics and math.

After some study, he came up with an equation to quantify the process of body hair extracting lint fibers from clothing as we inhale and exhale, how it falls downward and how it travels deep into the crevice of one’s bellybutton. Fibers mingle with sweat and skin cells, and it accumulates, he contends, with mathematical accuracy.

The rest of us probably don’t need to understand the workings of bellybuttons in such fine detail.

But here’s what you should know: You should definitely wash your bellybutton on occasion. If it ever hurts, see a doctor, because it shouldn’t.

Otherwise, unless you’re a baby who’s discovered that weird body part for the first time, it’s OK not to give it a second thought.

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