In what must be the ultimate exercise in omphaloskepsis [Thanks to Eve, I know this word means: navel-gazing], an Austrian scientist has solved the mystery of belly button lint. After three years of research, Georg Steinhauser, a British chemist, has discovered a type of body hair that traps stray pieces of lint and draws them into the navel.
Dr Steinhauser made his discovery after studying 503 pieces of lint from his own belly button. Chemical analysis revealed the pieces of fluff were not made up of only cotton from clothing. Wrapped up in the lint were also flecks of dead skin, fat, sweat and dust.
Dr Steinhauser's observations showed that 'small pieces of fluff first form in the hair and then end up in the navel at the end of the day'.
(Not my belly button; I found this pic on flicker.)Writing in the journal Medical Hypotheses, he said the scaly structure of the hair enhances the 'abrasion of minuscule fibers from the shirt' and directs the lint towards the belly button. "The hair's scales act like a kind of barbed hooks," he said. "Abdominal hair often seems to grow in concentric circles around the navel."
The researcher, from Vienna University of Technology also asked friends, family and workmates about their own belly button fluff. Dr Steinhauser established that shaving one's belly will result in a lint-free navel - but only until the hairs grow back.
Other suggestions for keeping the navel lint-free include wearing old clothes, as they tend to shed less lint than newer garments, which can lose up to one thousandth of their weight to the belly button over the course of a year. A body piercing can also be used, with belly button rings particularly effective at sweeping away fibers before they lodge.
(Source)
I suppose the logical conclusion from this would be that girls, because they have (in general) less hairy stomachs also collect less belly button lint. Go us. Naturally cleaner belly buttons. Take that you hairy lint factories!
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting about the lint collection. Here's the real question, how do you get colored lint in there if you wear a white under shirt every day?
ReplyDeleteIt's not a problem if you have an outie. Or if your innie is an outie while pregnant. Then you have to put a bandaid on it so the sensitive part which isn't used to contact isn't rubbed raw by your clothes.
ReplyDeleteWe are not speaking from experience, are we? Btw, did everyone know that Alfred Hitchcock was said to have NO belly button?
ReplyDelete