Jason EganWhere does ‘belly button fluff’ come from?
August 31st 2006 13:10
‘Belly button fluff’ (BBF) or ‘belly button lint’ is often found inside the navel when we wake up, or when we retire in the evening. It is almost always blue in appearance, and has been a mystery to the human mind as to its origin and make-up.
Experiments have shown that BBF is mostly made up of fibres from clothing. There are some dead skin cells present as well, but the fluff is mostly made up of clothes materials. The research that led to these claims was conducted by an Australian, Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki, who is a research fellow at Sydney University (Australia). He conducted a survey of nearly 4000 people worldwide – who all collected their own BBF – and came to many conclusions from them.
He found that hairs on the belly collect the fluff that is coming from the waist underwear, and direct them towards the navel, forming a ball of lint. BBF was most commonly found in overweight men, and hairier bellies produced more fluff.
But slim, hairless women were also finding BBF. Dr Kruszelnicki reported that “…some sort of body movement…channels the fluff into their belly buttons[from the underwear].”
Subjects who had their navels pierced were producing less fluff. This was attributed to the fact that pierced navels were often exposed and hairless. The most disturbing aspect from the study involved one woman who used her brother’s electric toothbrush to clean her exposed belly button, which in turn caused a fungal infection to develop inside his mouth!
The other mystery surrounding BBF was its characteristic blue colour tint. Sometimes it is purple or grey – but it is generally a pale blue colour. This is due to most clothing materials being made with colours of blue and white. Even black clothing dye is not entirely black, but a very dark blue. A good place to check this out is the lint collected within the filter of clothes dryers – those are also blue in colour.
Some other strange facts about BBF is that they make great kindling for fires, and are as unique as fingerprints – due to the dead skin cells that accumulate within them. But this method of identification would be unrealistic.
The world record holder for the largest collection of BBF belongs to Graham Barker – a hospital worker from Perth, Western Australia. He has been continuously collecting BBF for 18 years. Strangely, he reports that his fluff is almost always red in colour, which changes to a yellow-blue after many years. He swears that he never wears red clothing.
Here are some extreme close-up pictures taken by an electron microscope (at Sydney University) of BBF.
Experiments have shown that BBF is mostly made up of fibres from clothing. There are some dead skin cells present as well, but the fluff is mostly made up of clothes materials. The research that led to these claims was conducted by an Australian, Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki, who is a research fellow at Sydney University (Australia). He conducted a survey of nearly 4000 people worldwide – who all collected their own BBF – and came to many conclusions from them.
He found that hairs on the belly collect the fluff that is coming from the waist underwear, and direct them towards the navel, forming a ball of lint. BBF was most commonly found in overweight men, and hairier bellies produced more fluff.
But slim, hairless women were also finding BBF. Dr Kruszelnicki reported that “…some sort of body movement…channels the fluff into their belly buttons[from the underwear].”
Subjects who had their navels pierced were producing less fluff. This was attributed to the fact that pierced navels were often exposed and hairless. The most disturbing aspect from the study involved one woman who used her brother’s electric toothbrush to clean her exposed belly button, which in turn caused a fungal infection to develop inside his mouth!
The other mystery surrounding BBF was its characteristic blue colour tint. Sometimes it is purple or grey – but it is generally a pale blue colour. This is due to most clothing materials being made with colours of blue and white. Even black clothing dye is not entirely black, but a very dark blue. A good place to check this out is the lint collected within the filter of clothes dryers – those are also blue in colour.
Some other strange facts about BBF is that they make great kindling for fires, and are as unique as fingerprints – due to the dead skin cells that accumulate within them. But this method of identification would be unrealistic.
The world record holder for the largest collection of BBF belongs to Graham Barker – a hospital worker from Perth, Western Australia. He has been continuously collecting BBF for 18 years. Strangely, he reports that his fluff is almost always red in colour, which changes to a yellow-blue after many years. He swears that he never wears red clothing.
Here are some extreme close-up pictures taken by an electron microscope (at Sydney University) of BBF.
Can you see the clothing fibres?
Notice the dead skin cells.
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Comment by jon
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Comment by Ruth
NSW
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I would have thought it was fibres coming from my shirt more than travelling underwear fibres. Does that me that freeballers don't get BBF?
Comment by m*STAR
To Ruth: Although it may be hard to notice in some bodies (esp. hairless ones), there is a distinct channel of hair from the pubic area that goes like a pathway to the bellybutton. BBF surfs up this avenue until it nestles safely in the bellybutton. Some BBF may come from the shirt, but it's minimal.
Freeballers do get BBF! It will just come from the next layer of clothing, such as trousers, skirts etc.
As for all you nudists out there, please let me know!
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Comment by charles
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I didn't even know such a terminology (BBF) existed!! I guess you learn something new everyday..
Great first post to your blog!
Charles.
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