The interaction between elasticity and surface tension, or elastocapillarity, is seen whenever hairy structures get wet. A common feature of this interaction is that clumps with a well-defined size emerge (as in a wet dog, a paintbrush or the eye-lashes of a crying toddler). The size of these clumps is traditionally understood as emerging from the equilibrium balance between surface tension and elasticity. I will talk about the dynamics of the aggregation process and show how this can give us new insight into the process.