The other Innie or outie referendum

We may not admit it but it is a fact that we all think about it in those idle moments when investigating our innie or outie belly buttons.

We may pride ourselves on our personal cleanliness and endeavour to wear clothing of a bobble free nature but most of us have at some time or another, or even right now, discovered the phenomena of belly button lint.

Karl Kruszelnicki of The University of Sydney in Australia is to be thanked for his major research awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in 2002 leading to perhaps the most, if not the only, comprehensive survey of human belly button lint.

Here is the low-down on who gets it, when, what colour, and how much. 

1) You are more likely to have Belly Button Lint if you are male, older, hairy, and have an innie (this is the technical term for a recessed or neatly set in belly button)

2) The older you get, the more Belly Button Lint you get.

3) The majority of those with Belly Button Lint  were male (73%), while the minority were female (27%).

4)Males tend to have more hair than females.

5) Hairiness seemed to be related to Belly Button Lint. About 97% of those who had Belly Button Lint were either "not very hairy", "moderately hairy" or "very hairy".

6) 3% with "no hair" or "very little hair" also had Belly Button Lint. People with very small amounts of belly hair wore tight clothes, which helps to carry the lint towards the belly button. Once it falls into the belly button, it may not come out again.

7)About 80% of people who have Belly Button Lint also have a Snail Trail of hair leading up from their pubic hair to their belly button.

8) There is no real correlation between Belly Button Lint and a person's overall build.

9) Skin colour - There is a slight correlation between skin colour and Belly Button Lint colour. People with darker skin tones had darker lint. People with lighter skin tones had lighter coloured lint.
However, the correlation is so small that it is probably within experimental error.

10)Skin type - There is no real correlation between skin type and Belly Button Lint. About 13.5% said they had dry skin, 70% had "normal" skin, and 15.9% had oily skin.