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Chemist reveals belly fluff mystery

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-02 11:43

A chemist who has researched belly button fluff for three years believes that it collects because of tiny hairs which have "barbed hooks".

Georg Steinhauser claimed that the body hair traps stray pieces of lint and draws them into the navel, along with flecks of dead skin, fat, sweat and dust. He made his discovery after studying 503 pieces of fluff from his own belly button, reports The Daily Telegraph.

"The hair's scales act like a kind of barbed hooks," he wrote in the journal Medical Hypotheses. "Abdominal hair often seems to grow in concentric circles around the navel."

Dr Steinhauser established that shaving the belly will result in a fluff-free navel - but only until the hairs grow back. Earlier research carried out in Australia found that belly button fluff is normally blue as most people wear either blue or grey trousers.