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The Incredible World of Navel Fluff
by Graham Barker

Featuring the world's biggest and longest-term collection of one person's navel fluff. (subject to verification - please e-mail me if you know of anyone who's been collecting for longer)

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Some people gaze into their navel for inspiration: I look into mine and see navel fluff. Also known as navel lint, it is that fascinating fluffy substance that forms mysteriously in the belly buttons of special people.

I've been collecting navel fluff (just my own) since 1984, and upon learning of this, people usually ask "Why?". To this I answer "Why not?". In my mind, the worth of any collection depends on the following factors (in which my collection rates well):

• Uniqueness - millions of people collect stamps and coins, but as far as I know nobody else collects navel fluff. That makes my collection unique!
• Rarity - the navel fluff of Graham Barker is produced in very limited quantities by only one person and is not easily obtainable by others (not that anyone would want to).
• Completeness of collection - I've been collecting my navel fluff consistently for over 15 years and have seldom missed a day's harvest. This makes my collection almost complete, a bit like having the full set of a country's currency.
• Good condition of items - like uncirculated banknotes or stamps, my navel fluff is in mint condition. When harvested, I remove any body hair from the fluff then store it immediately in a jar, where it remains uncontaminated.

As you can see, when judged by the standards applied to other collections, my navel fluff collection is of great worth, even priceless. Now cast your eyes upon the photo below and behold the unique sight of my priceless collection (unfortunately the colours didn't reproduce accurately). The background image for this page also shows a close view of some bits of fluff, though its been faded and the contrast reduced to make the text more readable.

In the beginning
It was on the 17th of January 1984 that I found myself under-occupied in a youth hostel in Brisbane. The night was steamy and stormy - too wet outside and too hot inside to do very much, and my attention drifted to my belly button. There it was ... fluff! I must have seen it before that night, but this occasion was the first time I ever picked it out and wondered about it. I thought if I started collecting it, I'd eventually have enough to stuff a cushion, and so I stored my first piece of navel fluff in an empty film canister. The collection had begun.

They say if you do something every day for three weeks it becomes an ingrained habit, and thats what happened with collecting navel fluff. The ritual of removing fluff from my navel and putting it in a jar prior to my daily shower soon became a habit, and now that I've been doing it so long it would be a shame to stop. As the photo shows, the volume collected is disappointingly small, and I doubt I'll ever have enough to stuff a cushion, but it may be handy for something one day.

Where does navel fluff come from?
Michael Biesecker wrote an interesting article on navel fluff in the 19/4/95 edition of Technician, accessed via North Carolina State University library. In it he discusses the widely held belief that navel fluff forms when very tiny pieces of fibre break off the inside of clothing. These tiny fibres gather in the belly button and amalgamate into balls of lint.

He observes that the colour of navel fluff varies amongst different people, and that those who habitually wear clothes of a similar colour tend to produce fluff related to that colour. However, those who wear a variety of colours usually end up with fluff of a grayish blue colour similar to the lint found in the lint filters of clothes driers. This colour is most likely an average of all clothing colours worn.

Those with hairy stomachs tend to generate more fluff, as abdominal hair is alleged to assist with dislodging fibres from clothes then collecting and channelling them into the navel. Also those with larger bellies often experience greater volumes of fluff - possibly due the tendency of large stomachs to possess deeper navels, thus a larger space for the lint to lodge in.

But how does it accumulate in the navel? Dr Donald E. Smith remarks that navels may possess a moist and sticky secretion that catches whatever lands nearby. On the other hand, Dr Bhupendar S. Gupta, whose doctorate is in the study of textile fibres, attributes the accumulation of navel fluff to the stomach's "microclimate" - where the flow of air between clothing and the abdomen carries small lint particles that get lodged in the navel.

My belly button, however, casts doubt on accepted theories. If navel fluff originates from clothing, then the colour of the fluff should relate to the colour of clothing worn that day. The fluff I collect is always the same colour - a particular shade of red which alters to a yellow-blue after many years. I almost never wear red clothing, so where does the red fluff come from? Regardless of what colours I wear, the fluff stays red. The looseness of my clothing, the fabric, and the portion of the day my belly is unclothed all vary from day to day, yet the quantity of fluff generated remains virtually constant. Also, the depth of my navel has increased over the years without any corresponding change in the fluff quantity. If navel fluff doesn't rub off of clothes, where does it come from? More research needs to be done to solve this perplexing mystery.

This is a pile of my 1998-99 fluff displayed as a stereo pair, and can be enjoyed in 3D if viewed using the cross-eye method. See the 3D Photography page for details.

Does every navel generate fluff?
No. My informal enquiries amongst friends and acquaintances suggest that only a minority of people experience fluff in their belly button. Typically, men claim to have navel fluff more than women. This may be partly due to the role of stomach hair in the process of fluff accumulation, but its more likely due to the greater readiness of men to talk about and admit to such phenomena. For no logical reason most women find such matters distasteful and deny all knowledge and experience of navel fluff, as well as some other gastro-intestinal functions.

How much navel fluff is normal?
Over the last 15 years my navel has accumulated an average of 3.03 milligrams of fluff each day, with little variation between one day and the next. Weighing such small quantities with any accuracy requires a large sample collected over a long period, and I doubt that many people have done this, so its not known whether the volume of fluff generated by my navel is any indication of what is normal.

Why collect navel fluff?
Its certainly an unusual and different commodity to collect, but then its people's differences that make life in this world interesting. Collecting navel fluff consumes negligible time and space, and costs nothing, so I see it as harmless. There are many other people collecting unusual things, such as air sickness bags, false teeth, parking meters, postage-paid envelopes, sugar packets - you name it, there is probably someone collecting it. I think G K Chesterton summed it up well when he said "There are no uninteresting things, there are only uninterested people". May you be encouraged to collect unusual things!

You can help!
In the absence of formal research amongst large samples of people, I invite you to take part in the world's first internet survey of navel fluff by completing the form below (even if you don't get fluff in your own navel). Its not exactly in-depth research, but if enough people take part we'll know a lot more about the occurrence of navel fluff than we do now.

Simply click on the send button after you've answered the questions; any personal details (optional) will remain confidential. When I've collected enough data I'll draw my conclusions and post the results here, but it may take a while to get a decent sample size. Many thanks to those who've responded so far!

This page is part of the Unusual Museums of the Internet Web Ring. Links to other collections of unusual things are found on my Links and Webrings page.

This page is included in Sturge's list of the insane and unusual, which is limited to only 100 of the most unusual sites on the web. Entry to this list is highly sought-after, but hard to attain. On 21/10/99 this page was Pick of the Day on Vistar's Weird of the Web. I shall try to remain humble in spite of these great honours and distinctions!

P.S. Why not impress someone by sending them an internet greeting card ... featuring a labelled photo of my fluff collection, and the navel fluff background used on this page. You can do it from my Cow Cards page.

Internet Survey of Navel Fluff
Name:
E-mail address:
Gender:	Male   Female
Age group:	select from list 0 to 9 10 to 19 20 to 29 31 to 39 40 to 49 50 to 59 60 to 69 70 to 79 80 to 89 90 to 99 100 +
What part of the world do you live in:
How hairy is your stomach?	select from list very hairy moderately hairy slightly hairy hairless, or nearly hairless
How would you describe your navel?	select from list a very deep hole moderately deep of shallow depth insignificant, like a dimple it sticks out
Have you ever found fluff in your navel?	Yes   No
If you answered NO, please go to the end and click on SEND. If you answered YES, please continue:
How often does fluff form in your navel?	select from list every day most days sometimes seldom unsure
How does your fluff's colour behave from day to day?	Same colour (mostly)   Different colours
If your fluff is mostly the same colour, please describe that colour:
How does the colour of your navel fluff relate to the colours of the clothes you wear?	select from list strong correlation approximate resemblance fluff colour not related to clothing colour unsure
Does the quantity of your navel fluff vary significantly from day to day?	Yes   No Unsure
This space is for optional comments, such as suggested uses for navel fluff theories about how it forms your own experiences with it questions, or anything else ...
Thank you for your participation. Please click the send button when you have finished.

(since 19/7/99)

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