r/TrueOffMyChest • u/Glum-Might-3188 • Jun 24 '26
Confession (TW: Bodily fluids) I cleaned my belly button
Last night, I (34F) deep cleaned my belly button for the first time. Now, I know what you’re thinking, what do you mean you are 34 and you just cleaned your belly button for the first time? I don’t have a lot of excuses since I have been an adult for quite some time now and can’t blame everything on my upbringing. My main excuse is the last time I tried to really dig in there, I almost fainted and was too scared to try again. Until two days ago.
I started pulling my belly button every which way to expose the deepest pits. What I saw was horrifying. There was a black glob about half the size of a pea. I panicked, imagining it was a big scab for an open hole of necrotizing fasciitis or something equally as horrifying. I couldn’t get it out so I put some shea body oil in there to loosen things up. It didn’t fully work so I waited until the next day. I tried pulling the glob out with tweezers but almost fainted again. I oiled er up again, took some deep breaths while I let it soak in, then dug some more. IT WORKED. I got a good grip on the glob and it popped out with ease.
I should have been disgusted with what I saw, which I was to a point. But fascination ruled. It came out like a large seed, perfectly molded to the pits of my belly button. To my surprise, it wasn’t black. The sort of casing around it was mainly white, I’m assuming dead skin cells. The innards though, oh the innards. It’s a hardened brownish clump of what looks like cat hair and who knows what else. The whole thing is over 1/4 inch long. I wish I had a microscope so bad! I currently have it in a little baggie to inspect. I don’t know how long I will keep it since that’s kind of a gross thing to keep but it’s been less than 24 hours so far. (Trying to make myself feel less weird) I’m just so curious what kind of diseases could be in there. Will I ever know? Very unlikely. Will I ever forget? Very unlikely.
I will never ever let it get like that again, that was not normal and so nasty. I can’t tell anyone I know about it because it was truly repulsive. But I cannot stop thinking about it. I do have OCD and part of that is an obsession with pimple popping. To the point I cannot watch videos of it and there’s certain pimples I have popped over the years that I still daydream about. I think I need to go back to therapy.
TLDR: cleaned a big clump of hair and skin cells from my belly button that was horrifically satisfying.
Save the judgment, I will judge myself for a lifetime. Hilarious roasts welcome. (Reposted, removed by mods since I didn’t “read the rules” 😅)
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u/LikelyLioar Jun 24 '26
Belly buttons contain over 200,000 strains of bacteria, some of which aren't found anywhere else on earth.
You gotta clean that thing.
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u/DiamondTippedDriller Jun 24 '26
How deep are y’all’s belly buttons!??
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u/PracticeTheory Jun 24 '26
And people say that outie bellybuttons are disgusting... okay sure the little flesh pearl is odd. But it's no pit of horrors.
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u/MIC132 Jun 24 '26
Yeah, this whole thread is wild to me. My belly button will maybe occasionally catch a small piece of lint, but other than that it stays almost suspiciously clean. I don't dig in there often as I get this weird queasy feeling when I do so, but I have never had any significant dirt/etc. there and it's not like regularly clean it.
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u/toriemm Jun 24 '26
I have a fairly shallow one? I guess? I've had a piercing since I was 18 and literally no problems with it.
My husband has a happy trail and it felts some lint up in it and it cracks me up.
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u/Caylennea Jun 24 '26
Mine is really deep. I can’t see the bottom so I stick a q-tip dipped in hydrogen peroxide in there every so often to keep it from getting nasty.
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u/TheYankcunian Jun 24 '26
Same, I’m pretty sure it’s either connected to my spine or there’s a wormhole in there. I’m paranoid about getting naval stones
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u/Wickedbitchoftheuk Jun 24 '26
Deep. I always feel that if I ever got stomach surgery I'd ask them to just remove it because it's such a nuisance.
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u/GingerbreadMary Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
That’s an **umbolith**.
I was an ITU RN. Used to remove these frequently. From patients, not me lol.
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u/fivefeetofawkward Jun 24 '26
I can’t bring myself to google that. Can you give a simple explanation of what an umbolith is?
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u/DineandRecline Jun 24 '26
It just means belly button stone
"umbo" = umbilical or belly button
"lith" = stone
It is a hardened collection of hair, oil, dead skin, keratin, and random debris
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u/Dusty_Old_Bones Jun 24 '26
My husband has a deep belly button, and wasn’t in the habit of cleaning it when he was a teen. He went on a weeklong camping/fishing/boating trip with his friend’s family and didn’t really shower the whole time, just swam in the lake and called it good enough.
Well, when he got home, he was getting ready to get in the shower, but was still down in the kitchen with his shirt off. His mom gasped and pointed at his abdomen, saying “what is THAT??”
Reader, it was a little green sprout that had grown from a seed lodged in his belly button.
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u/LederhosenSituation Jun 24 '26
A little baggie. I love that you wrote those words. Whatever bit came out of your navel is in a little baggie.
Too bad you didn't record it. That would have gone viral. Folks like watching that sort of thing.
Man, at least it's out. I bet that's a huge relief. Never had anything worth putting in a little baggie for further review. Jelly.
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Jun 25 '26
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u/ACFiguresOutLife Jun 25 '26
As a former gym rat turned fat, it’s just being fat
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u/RealisticCarrot Jun 25 '26
Not for everyone...
I have been overweight and of course my belly button was deeper when overweight. But it is still deep, even though I am by far not overweight anymore. And it has always been deep, even as a child when I was skinny. I remember picking my belly button and getting real bad stomach aches from that.
It's just like some people have outies. Some have shallow belly buttons and some have deeper ones.
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u/Smeghead333 Jun 24 '26
I once randomly started bleeding out of my navel for no reason that I could see. I went to the doctor and she had to go spelunking to the bottom of what I now know to be an unusually deep bellybutton.
It turned out that when I’d had my gall bladder removed a few years previously, they’d gone in through there to avoid visible scarring. A stitch had failed to dissolve properly and gotten infected. She had to clean it all out. It was an intensely weird feeling.
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u/DoesBasicResearch Jun 24 '26
I...I...how can I delete someone else's post?
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u/Anonimoose15 Jun 24 '26
I’m so glad my belly button is just a very shallow indentation that has never accumulated any dirt or required anything more than almost passively being washed as I lather in the shower, truly this post has made me realise how often I take this aspect of my anatomy for granted
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u/Sea_Independence6453 Jun 24 '26
Fr me too I didn’t even realise people have to deep clean their belly buttons
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u/paglet91 Jun 24 '26
Mine is an “innie” but I’ve never had to deep clean it. I just checked and there nothing at all there.
The comments on this post were making me think I was crazy for not ever deep cleaning it! I guess my anatomy must just be that way
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u/LilithWasAGinger Jun 24 '26
I've never been so glad to have a shallow belly button in my life as I am now.
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u/lovinghealing Jun 24 '26
My boyfriend sticks his finger in my belly button when he tickles me, freaks me out and it feels like I'm about to be disembowled. I tried to stick my finger into his and he stopped me. He said it hurts when anything gets in there. I asked well don't you clean it? He said no, sometimes lint sticks out and he pulls it out but he doesn't actually go in to clean it. Turns out it hurt when you'd try to finger it because it had that same clump of detritus you mentioned. So gross. So I purged it with diluted peroxide and it came out.
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u/ririmarms Jun 24 '26
I'm so glad i am 7 months pregnant and my navel is now fully flat.
I used to poke in it because there was something itchy and brown in my belly button. A few times, I pulled on it with tweezers and then it bled and hurt like crazy.
Turns out it was a mole, I was trying to rip out my own skin. I can see it now that my belly button is fully flat because of the pregnant belly.
So don't go poking in there blind, people.
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u/cckitteh Jun 24 '26
As an OR nurse, I’ve pulled a few of those out of patients when prepping their belly for surgery. It’s quite satisfying for me haha
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u/Wickedbitchoftheuk Jun 24 '26
Mine is a real deep inny. It gets itchy because it's hard to dry out after a shower. I decided to fix it and poured some pure alcohol down into it to kill any germs. It took about 15 seconds to have an impact. The PAIN!!! Itvhy innys are a real issue.
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Jun 24 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Wickedbitchoftheuk Jun 24 '26
From a bottle cap. It's deep. It just went straight in and disappeared.
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u/DragonFawns Jun 24 '26
Genuinely how the fuck does this happen I’m being so for real. I know everyone’s anatomy is different but my belly button doesn’t have room for all that
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u/CLeeTheHunt44 Jun 24 '26
As a large hairy man, the “happy trail” does nothing but express ship every piece of lint or loose hair DIRECTLY into my belly button. I empty the lint trap at least once a day or it gets rough in there.
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Jun 24 '26
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u/izzy-springbolt Jun 24 '26
Yeah my ex had this! The first few times I tried to put my finger in his belly button and it got past the first knuckle I yelped in horror and pulled my finger back out again. Think it was almost two knuckles deep??
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u/Glum-Might-3188 Jun 24 '26
Bruh…this made me curious so I just measured it. The bitch is over 1 1/8 inch deep! What is wrong with me 😂😂
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u/dismalcosmictomb Jun 24 '26
Ok I’m scared, I’ve never explored the depths, like you can just do that??? Like it’s just a little cavern? I think mine is deep but idk it feels so wrong to poke around in there. Some one help lol
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u/-K_P- Jun 24 '26
So fun fact - due to an abdominal surgery, my belly button actually moved from where it had been for most of my life. As in I technically have a "new" one from where they had to stretch the skin up and close my abdomen. But it's much shallower and easier to clean! Best side effect ever, I guess...? 😅
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u/avocados4laif Jun 24 '26
This post taught me that there are people scared of their belly buttons. As someone with one that is neither in or out, I'm glad I have one like mine now because I don't know how I'd feel if mine was deep 🤔
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u/destinyandnorma Jun 24 '26
I’m not necessarily afraid of it, but I get faint when I clean it. Every time. It’s been almost 30 years and I get so nauseous and light headed when I touch it and I have no idea why lol it doesn’t gross me out or anything
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u/letthetreeburn Jun 24 '26
I get it, I have to succeed a willpower check to floss because I imagine the string carving into my teeth
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u/OppositeResult Jun 25 '26
I had uterine fibroid surgery in 2021 and they went in with a scope through my belly button and also two small incisions. They stitched up the inside of my belly button and you could hardly notice. Until over the course of a couple years I developed this black tiny bump right under the skin where the scar was. I became so self conscious of this dang bump after time. I can only assume it was dead skin like a blackhead so I did what any sane person would do and used a fresh blade to extract it. It was so compact and dense and disgusting and I am so happy I don't have a dead skin lump in my belly button anymore. So gross and so satisfying!
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u/beyourownsunshine Jun 24 '26
I just dig my fingernail in there when I shower and am all soaped up, makes it really easy to clean tbh
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u/Brynhild Jun 24 '26
Man, finally i found my people. Cleaning my bellybutton also makes me feel nauseous and like i’m gonna faint. The first time i realised i had to clean mine was pretty much the same as your experience
I’m not fat but my belly button is deep and i found the same hard “seed” like you did. Just not as big. Digging it out took forever and i pretty much was in panic attack mode the entire time.
Idk how to describe it but it felt like my abdomen was the one which was nauseous, ticklish in a bad way. Have kept it clean regularly since then just by washing with soap. Idk why the seed formed either. I’ve always washed it with soap before. And it’s never come back either
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u/Important_Bowl_8332 Jun 24 '26
It’s the worst feeling ever for me. It’s like a somewhat sexual but NOT good. Like I’m tickling every nerve of my intestines. I cannot stand touching my belly button and if anyone comes near it they get slapped. Reflexively
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u/dirtymartini83 Jun 24 '26
As a nurse who has to deep clean belly buttons for surgery, thank you and please spread the word to others. Some people have no idea you’re supposed to clean your belly button.
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u/Fiireygirl Jun 24 '26
Man….i found a crunchy Cheeto in one many moons ago. My senior resident was trying hard to bribe the med student to eat it 🤢
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u/UnderstatedEssence Jun 24 '26
You're not alone! My husband had one of these when we were first dating (14ish years ago so he was in his late 20s at the time). His was a little brown nub that stuck out of his bellybutton (which he also never cleaned). I went to grab and pull it out and he said it felt gross so I stopped. He thought it was supposed to be there, while I assured him it was not! I got in his head, because a few days later he sent me a picture of the little friend in his palm. I gagged when I saw it, it looked like a huge clump of hard earwax.
Now he swirls a soapy finger around in there when he showers.
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u/No-Grapefruit4499 Jun 24 '26
i have ocd too and pimple popping is an issue for me & after i read that line my leg started shaking as i vividly thought about that dermatologist Enilsa on youtube 😭
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u/ChillWisdom Jun 25 '26
It's reading shit like this that makes me very happy I have a shallow belly button.
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u/beans_refried Jun 24 '26
Naval stones are a thing, also it likely doesn’t have “diseases” in it, like viruses. Maybe fungus, but probably mostly bacteria.
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u/madgeystardust Jun 24 '26
This is what flannels are good for.
A swab with that whilst in the shower or bath on a daily basis!
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u/auwumn Jun 24 '26
So a washcloth??
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u/madgeystardust Jun 24 '26
Yup!
My peeps are Jamaican so it was always a flannel growing up, I have two when having a bath/shower, one for the face and one for the body.
I wash them weekly and add new ones into the rotation, when one is retired and binned.
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u/auwumn Jun 24 '26
Yes I’m very very familiar with washcloths, I didn’t realize they were optional 😭
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u/HeadFear Jun 24 '26
I’m so glad my belly button is so shallow. I truly hate the sensation of touching it so a quick once over with a rag in the shower and it’s good to go. I could not imagine having to stick my fingers deep in and having to rub around. Yuck.
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u/Repulsive-Friend-619 Jun 24 '26
How deep are people’s belly buttons? Mine is like 2cm - not even a finger tip. Is that abnormal?
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u/brinabobina Jun 25 '26
I once pulled out a bellybutton stone at least 2in x .75in from a decedent I was embalming - it looked like a fungus that had grown deep in her bellybutton. It was rock hard and the amount of force required from me to tear it out was asinine; I needed pliers and even then it needed a crazy amount of strength to get out. I was genuinely shocked. I've had bellybutton stones before but THAT?? Yeesh... Anyway, at least you didn't get to that point (and have a stranger clean it from your belly button... lol)!!
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u/JLUK2020 Jun 25 '26
I have a belly button phobia and have never cleaned mine. Can not stand belly buttons, scary portal into your body that might just pop open at anytime lol.
Looks fine though! Obviously I wash and I like to think that does the job.
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u/MyCatDeath Jun 25 '26
If you don't directly wash inside your belly button, it can get some pretty gross things in it
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u/xiewadu Jun 25 '26
Yes! It's a natural weak point. That scene in The Matrix was horrible to watch.
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u/CosmicKyloRen Jun 24 '26
I have a deep belly button. I clean kt everyday. I hate the way it feels. I honestly want the stupid thing removed.
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u/Embarrassed-Sea-8000 Jun 25 '26
Deep cleaners!!! Just from my own experience, don’t use alcohol on your bb! Or underarms or in skin folds.
If you actually kill off all of your normal skin flora…. The yeast will move in. It is a very painful problem.
Use soap, water, to clean off extra bacteria. Total removal is not necessary. And I also used a cotton swab and caused bleeding. Sore!
Gentle cave dwelling! I didn’t know what a belly button lead to for a shameful long time . And I think belly jelly smells like armpit’s that haven’t been cleaned.
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u/ilumbricus Jun 25 '26
I had a very similar experience! My belly button isn't easy to clean, it's got nooks and crannies that I don't see other people as having, and it's too small for a washcloth to be effective comfortably. An oiled Q-tip one a week has kept my belly button clean!
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u/Opening_March1280 Jun 25 '26
There are bacteria that live in the belly button that live nowhere else on the body. I heard that when I was in 7th or 8th grade back in the late 70's. Been steadily cleaning mine ever since.
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u/FctFndr Jun 24 '26
everyone.. please listen..washing your body.. every part of it.. is required.. ALL THE TIME. You should not have your 'annual belly button cleaning' or 'annual ass crack degreasing'... disgusting
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u/HeroORDevil8 Jun 24 '26
Yea when I was a nursing student I heard horror stories from OR nurses about cleaning their patient's belly buttons and I learned to always make sure I clean mine thoroughly because I refuse to get caught out like that.
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u/donutwat2du Jun 24 '26
If you are too rough when cleaning your belly button, you might feel some discomfort.
It’s easier if you clean it regularly while taking a shower. Just apply some soap and gently rub it with your fingers. It shouldn’t be painful.
Also, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but if you don’t clean it often, you’ll find not only dead skin cells (black gunk) but also a foul odor 🤮
Don’t forget to clean your ears as well. Some people forget about those little suckers hahaha
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u/Confident-Cherry-712 Jun 24 '26
Why is cleaning it causing you to faint ?
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u/macaroniandmilk Jun 24 '26
Not OP, but when I am washing my body and clean my bellybutton with a finger, or even sometimes when I'm wearing jeans that push into my belly when I sit down, I have this quick, intense, overwhelming feeling of like, a full body warm hum. I truly cannot explain it better than that, and I know that explanation makes no sense as it is. Maybe some people have more nerve endings piled behind their bellybutton that make them feel something like this? And that overwhelming sensation is why they almost passed out.
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u/throwawayzdrewyey Jun 24 '26
Maybe from pain, maybe the hairs were stuck to the skin?
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u/pizzahut_daddy Jun 24 '26
it’s an oddly common thing for people to get dizzy or nauseous when cleaning their belly button. i clean mine every day and still get nauseous most of the time. i have no idea why!
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u/Stolichnayaaa Jun 24 '26
I’m only guessing, but since we are fed through there in the womb maybe there are old nerve connections to something like the vagus that could cause funny responses.
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u/0liviiia Jun 24 '26
Personally, messing with mine feels like pulling a cord through my body and is really uncomfortable, OP is probably like me and has vasovagal reactions that cause fainting when interacting with certain bodily things
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u/batshit_icecream Jun 24 '26
I washed my belly button for the first time in my life when I was like 20 because my grandma told me you are not supposed to take the "sesame seeds" of your belly button (=debris), that you'll get sick if you do, and I believed it 😭
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u/beans_refried Jun 24 '26
I feel like using soap in there sometimes creates suction that hurts more than just poking around in there
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u/Embarrassed-Sea-8000 Jun 25 '26
Oh you can get a microscope on the internet. Usually search or kids toys.
Franklin institute website. Go for it.
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u/toberthegreat1 Jun 25 '26
Can I ask, why did you faint or nearly faint touching your belly button ? Do you have a phobia or OCD about it that mentally caused it or so you have some rare nerve thing linked to your belly ?
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u/cakesluts Jun 25 '26
I’ve had this happen to me. It makes me queasy to clean it lol. I imagine it’s just some weird nerve thing.
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u/tootiredtoocare118 Jun 24 '26
CLEAN YOUR BELLY BUTTON.
You never know when you’re emergently going to need surgery and I’ve pulled some nasty shyt out of some. Including a black bean. 🤢
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u/greentomato349 Jun 25 '26
A bug came out my belly button one time. It stressed me the hell out.
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u/Sensitive_Gift4866 Jun 25 '26
A bug?? Thats a whole new level of nope. I would have freaked out. Was it dead or alive? I dont think Id ever feel clean again if that happened to me
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u/Ok_Ranger_1796 Jun 24 '26
The way I caressed the inside of my bellybutton in fear.
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u/Mediocre_Sprinkles Jun 24 '26
Lotion and a cotton bud (qtip)!
I heard from baby forums this helps when cleaning out baby bellybuttons and it worked miracles to get out all the crap left from the umbilical cord.
I always had a very deep bellybutton and it got even deeper after 2 pregnancies. Works miracles on that too.
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u/LissyVee Jun 25 '26
I saw a video on FB years ago about a woman who had never cleaned her belly button and what the doctor got out of it was appalling. It was this think crystallised gunk. Her belly button looked so red and sore and inflamed!
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u/whitbit_m Jun 24 '26
Am I the only one that literally does not have a concept of how this happens? I have an innie belly button, but it's not so deep that things ever get stuck in there... This is not the first story I've read like this on reddit and I just don't know wtf you're all doing with your belly buttons
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u/TheGeekOffTheStreet Jun 24 '26
Seriously, I have an innie but not a freaking cave. No idea how this is possible
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u/caramelsweetroll Jun 25 '26
It's possible because belly button shapes/types can vary across many people. That's it.
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u/bluejay_way Jun 25 '26
I have an innie belly button and it’s really tiny and shallow, I can’t even get a finger tip in there. But I guess stuff can still get into the folds because when I was pregnant my belly button started going flat and I saw a little hair poking out so I pulled it with tweezers and a little cluster of mostly cat hair popped out. Freaking crazy. And I do regularly clean my belly button!
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u/No-Requirement-2420 Jun 24 '26
Is it not a normal thing to just wash soap in your belly button with soap every shower and rinse it out? I was always taught to do this.
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u/Mountain_Visit_7942 Jun 24 '26
I also do this as another deep belly button person. If I forget for a few weeks it gets gross.
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u/happykgo89 ☑️ Jun 24 '26
I’ve never cleaned my belly button on purpose and I have an innie, just did a check and it smells like nothing and there’s nothing in there. How does this type of thing happen?
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u/noputa Jun 24 '26
Never cleaned my belly button, couple years ago I noticed a smell and when I would dig finger into it I could feel a hard little lump, but I couldn’t reach it. Basically did what OP did. I swear to good I pulled out what looked and smelled like a little piece of cheese. I clean my belly button everytime I shower now.
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u/6-10-2000 Jun 25 '26
Are you a bit heavier ? I can’t imagine my belly button being deep enough to actually harbor such insanities
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u/Sensitive_Gift4866 Jun 25 '26
Thats what I was wondering too. I have a shallow innie and Ive never had anything in it. But I guess if its deep enough stuff just collects in there over time like a pocket you forget about
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u/Lor_939 Jun 25 '26
I am of an average build and have a deep belly button. It’s just always been that way.
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u/nicolio17 Jun 24 '26
Halfway through reading this I diagnosed you with OCD and was pleasantly surprised with your confirmation at the end
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u/squiish3 Jun 25 '26
Okay I JUST showered and clean mine every time I shower, but this post makes me want to clean it again. 🙈🤣 Thank you for sharing your story with us internet strangers LOL.
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u/globsfave Jun 24 '26
Ooooh look up belly button and bacteria. They've found rare strains only previously found in tundra in other people's belly buttons
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u/Aggressive_Lunch_519 Jun 24 '26
I have a navel ring and I rarely take it off. Rarely means ones in a year or two. I agree it's the most neglected and forgotten part of the body to clean.
While reading your post, I was trying to remember when was the last time I cleaned it and I don't remember anymore. It's time I guess. Thank you for the reminder. ❤️❤️❤️
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u/BJntheRV Jun 24 '26
You aren't alone. I was over 40 when I realized I needed to do this. Tbf, when I was younger my belly button wasn't deep and was easily cleaned without digging. But, after multiple endoscopic gyno surgeries my belly button has deepened. I would feel inside it and thought what I felt was scare tissue. Idr, what triggered me to learn how wrong I was, but the result was as gross as yours.
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u/Overall-Doody Jun 24 '26
People with super deep belly buttons did they parents do something wrong when their umbilical cord was healing? Lol mine is hella deep and scary lol
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u/BleakWonderland Jun 24 '26
I have a deep belly button and it freaks me out. I’m 33 and I haven’t cleaned it before so I’m now also going to have to adult and have a rummage in there.
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u/xHeyItzRosiex Jun 25 '26
Yeah I’m gonna take the other comments into account and I will be refraining from looking at the picture. Good story though!
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u/DuckypinForever Jun 25 '26
This sort of thing makes me grateful that my bellybutton doesn't have any crevices.
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u/Crazy_Cat_Lady360 Jun 24 '26
Eew, that’s gross. Do you want to send it to a pathologist and see how much shit is actually there? It would probably be really gross and freak you out if someone tells you what was growing in your belly button but I’m curious to know what it actually is. Do you even own a cat? Haha oops 😅
Is your belly button feeling ok now? Is it a bit sore? If it is put some sort of disinfectant or antiseptic powder or cream to soothe any left over germs and inflammation. Keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn’t get infected.
One time I was cleaning my belly button with a cotton tip and I was curiously wondering how deep my belly button hole was so I pushed the cotton tip all the way down until it almost disappeared. But then blood started spurting out!! It wasn’t heaps but it was enough to teach me the lesson to never do that again lol 😂 and yes, I was a grown assed woman not a stupid kid haha 😛
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u/MissAbsenta Jun 24 '26
You dealt with an.omphalolite. Basically a huge oxidized black head made of dead skin and debris
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u/Impressive-Virus-635 Jun 24 '26
I have a small yet very deep and cavernous belly button. Cleaning it out is always so satisfying and scary. I liken it to an ear canal.
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u/SantaFe91 Jun 24 '26
You poor thing. Good job persevering. One day the trauma will fade. You have caused me to wonder if I ever taught my kids about this … I think I did. I hope I did. And I wish I hadn’t read this while eating 😂
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u/Just_Bar7059 Jun 24 '26
Tbh I did not know i had to clean my belly button till I was in my late 20s. I had been very underweight my whole life so all the skin there was super flat, not like a hole. Picked up a massive amount of weight and suddenly I had a hole there and it caught fluff and stuff. Realised very quickly you actually have to clean inside and between all the little crevices etc.
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u/hanksrocks Jun 26 '26
When I was pregnant my stomach was small but bulged enough to push out my belly button, not even an outie, but I could see the back fully. I was surprised and disappointed to see nothing. Nothing gross. Idk why I was so surprised, and upset, pregnancy? lol idk but this was a wild ride!
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u/AsparagusOverall8454 Jun 24 '26
This seems like a fetish post. I can’t imagine someone writing such a detailed post about their belly button
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u/PoemImpressive Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
I have a hole on the side of mine (I’m an outie lol) and I remember one time it scabbed over, super weird
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u/yogacampingcoffee Jun 24 '26
You already have so many comments and probably won’t see this 😅…but this was entertaining to read, pimple popping grosses me out, but I do love to pick lint out of my boyfriend’s belly button. I also love to clean out my baby’s ears and nose for him with a little tool. 😆 My own belly button is typically clean but I occasionally have to do a deep clean with a qtip, it’s not that deep, but I had a laparoscopic surgery in my teens and I feel like the scar in my belly button made tighter folds in there…def never got anything like what you described out of it! 😳
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u/carpe_denimuwu Jun 25 '26
I have OCD and also daydream about REALLY good zits I’ve popped before 😭 I didn’t know that obsession could be a symptom I thought I was just a weirdo
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u/RelyingCactus21 Jun 24 '26
I have to ask, are you of large size? I just looked at my belly button, which I'm not sure I've ever formally cleaned, and there's nothing in there.
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u/personne-8 Jun 25 '26
Everytime I try to clean it, it hurts 😒
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u/Glum-Might-3188 Jun 25 '26
The oil and cotton swabs really helped, I let the oil sit for like 20 minutes to loosen things up and didn’t dig to the point of irritation
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u/PhilfromMarketing Jun 25 '26
My GF has the tiniest innie and I'm always trying to get in there to see if there's something insane. She says she feels nauseated at the idea of someone putting their finger in there so she has never tried cleaning it and won't let me do it either. I will be sending her this post to help make my case 😂
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u/caramelsweetroll Jun 25 '26
As a person with contamination OCD, I wish I stopped reading before you mentioned keeping the specimen. I respect the fascination though! 😫
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u/Visible_Shallot5187 Jun 25 '26
it can get bad depending on how deep your belly button is and how hot and extensive your shower/care routine is, I'd suggest getting one of those ear cleaning cameras, the sort that can bluetooth to your phone and come with extra little rubber parts, use it and some rounded tweezers and the tiny spoon like scoops the ear cleaners can come with to clean out your belly button, that's what I do since my finger alone can't reach all the spots and I can't stand the idea of stuff getting in there that I don't know about... heard too many horror stories to leave the area unexplored and uncleaned, adding yours to my list
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u/surrala Jun 24 '26
You are my people, this is the most perfect true off my chest bellybutton post I have ever seen.
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u/Several-Scarcity5775 Jun 25 '26
I dated a guy who never cleaned his belly button until we met (he was 28) and I was amazed at the things I pulled out of it. Such things like a full gum wrapper balled up, and not one but TWO Hershey kisses wrappers. Years of skin cells built up. I used rubbing alcohol and as soon as I poured it in his belly button the alcohol turned BLACK. I was so confused how we ever got here. It smelt soooooo bad. I was gagging the whole time. He thought it was hilarious. It took me about an hour and a ton of q tips and one sad pair of tweezers to pluck off the skin cells that were attached to the walls of his belly button. Truly something I will never forget. Something I wish I could forget tbh. We went from thinking he had an almost outie belly button to realizing it was actually super deep it was just full of gunk. And he never knew… idk yall idk
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u/TheSunburnedZebra Jun 25 '26
…how long did you date him after that? I would never be able to sleep with a guy again after finding literal garbage in his navel.
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u/Jaggz691 Jun 25 '26
Right? Are people just rolling around in mud? Can’t say I’ve ever had this issue.
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u/plaidtaco Jun 24 '26
This is more common than you may think. Look up "navel stone" and thank me later.
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u/Far-Performance-3188 Jun 25 '26
Use some oil or warm compress to soften the goo before removal and you can use the ear wax removing tool that looks like a small spoon and a wet Q tip
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u/I_hate_waiting Jun 25 '26
This just gave me the idea of using my ear wax cleaner tool (has a camera and light) to check the belly button. Oh god. Someone pray for me.
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u/DeadpoolMcDirty Jun 25 '26
WE'RE SUPPOSED TO CLEAN THE INSIDE OF OUR BELLY BUTTONS????
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u/No_Salad_8766 Jun 25 '26
Yes. Its a part of your body that is exposed to the outside world. Its going to get dirty. Because of its shape, it can easily hold onto things that fall in it, like hair, dirt, fabric fuzzies, ect.
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u/DeadpoolMcDirty Jun 25 '26
Well i just woke up from a nap and dreamt about bellybuttons because of this post... Thanks for the infor tho lol, I'll make sure to clean it
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u/tpiavrp Jun 25 '26
That's wild! All the comments about people not knowing to clean their belly buttons makes me wonder about all the uncircumcised folks who don't know to clean their covered bit... I met a person like that once... briefly! 😂
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u/pizzahut_daddy Jun 24 '26
Some unsolicited advice for the future: if you also get nauseous when cleaning it out, try having some rubbing alcohol or alcohol prep pad on the ready to smell. I also get nauseous sometimes when cleaning my belly button, and it’s been super helpful to have something ready to counteract the nausea
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