How to Clean Belly Button

Preparation

Step 1: Preparation

Before understanding how to clean belly button, it is important to gather the necessary supplies. Cotton swabs are a must but there are other things that you would need for cleaning your belly button too. You can use any of the following items for cleaning your belly button.

• Water

• An astringent like witch hazel

• Hydrogen peroxide

• Rubbing alcohol

• Baby oil

Dip and Move

Dip the head of the cotton swab into the cleaning solution you are using and then poke the area in and around the belly button. Move gently and be careful not to rub too hard inside the navel.

Repeat and Remove Solution

Discard old swabs and repeat the process if your navel is still dirty. You should only need one or two takes and you're good to go. When you're done, take a clean swab and gently clean out any remaining cleaning solution still present in the navel. Make sure to get as much water, baby oil, hydrogen peroxide, or rubbing alcohol from your belly button as possible.

Care Belly Button (Optional)

Take some Neosporin and work it around your navel if your belly button is dry. Rub it slowly in a circular pattern and get it in the middle too. After this, remove the cream with a swab.

The naked eye is not capable of observing the inner most secrets of the belly button and it is good that it can’t, because what is present there is shocking to say the least. Every person’s belly button is a diverse microbial jungle that also contains dead skin, lint, dirt and dried sweat. People who are extremely careful about their personal hygiene and shower 10 times a day still have hundreds of bacteria living in their belly buttons. The belly button is like a kangaroo’s pouch that is home to a number of fungal and bacterial organisms. Having read all this you must be desperate to know how to clean belly button but read a little more.

A team of researchers from the North Carolina State University decided to unravel the mysteries hiding in the belly button. They named their project the Belly Button Biodiversity (BBB) project which became quite famous. The researcher swabbed 60 belly buttons in the initial experiments of their project and found more than 2,300 species of bacteria in the specimens. The research was published in PLOS ONE, a scientific research journal.

Having known that the hard stuff in belly button is actually microscopic organisms, it is only natural that you are thinking about cleaning your belly button as soon as possible but don’t be so hasty. It is a lesser known fact that a number of the bacteria live in our bodies without harming us. The results of the BBB project show that bacteria present in belly button are not that harmful. Thus, it is not compulsory for you to immediately start cleaning your belly button; however, to get peace of mind, you can scrub the area every now and then.

Cleaning the belly button is likely to produce weird and unwanted sensations in some people.

Cleaning the belly button regularly is just as important as cleaning your face and hands. Regular cleaning of the belly button will ensure that dirt and grime will not accumulate there and your navel will remain smooth and soft. Moreover, you can keep away foul odor and a chance of infection too by moisturizing and cleaning the belly button on a regular basis.

People having navel piercings should consider cleaning the belly button more regularly than others. The metal piercings in combination with water and grime can give rise to foul odor and infections too. You should consult your doctor on how to clean belly button if you have piercings.