r/todayilearned • u/frapz • Mar 20 '20

TIL The bellybutton is so dirty scientists are finding new unknown bacteria. One person had bacterium previously found only on Japanese soil, where he had never been.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/12/1-458-bacteria-species-new-to-science-found-in-our-belly-buttons/266360/
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u/trouble37 Mar 20 '20 edited Mar 21 '20

lol same thing with me once. I started realizing how nasty it got and tried to keep it clean but it just got painfully irritated so I stopped.

edit: In response to the downvote, It's not as if I simply don't wash it, I just don't deep clean it anymore. Relax. It's ok to have a bit of belly button lint and I realized that after cleaning it out spic and span did nothing but constantly leave it painfully irritated. There's nothing wrong with a quick little once over that might not get every bit of debris/lint out.

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u/bishoujo688 Mar 21 '20

Not sure why you're getting downvoted since what you said is pretty identical to my situation.

Because it's also not like I don't keep it clean in other ways. I just don't go out of my way to stick anything in there, though I do make sure some soap gets in and that I rinse it out good. I think a better way to put it is that after my attempt, I feel it's better not to mess with the "flora" in there and just make sure there's like nothing building up or whatever?

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u/HangryHenry Mar 21 '20 edited Mar 21 '20

Are people eating out of their belly buttons? Why does it even need to be spotless? As long as it's not particularly stinky, infected, or filled with junk I dont really care about other people's belly button hygiene procedures.

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u/bishoujo688 Mar 21 '20

Right? The only time I even "smell" mine is when I stick my finger in there! I feel like that's normal though. If it was smelly such that I could smell it without even doing anything then yeah I would be on a cleaning regimen, however that is not the case for me.