Why people smell bad

Well ive got a few i know of start with my own mother she never did like water.
Growing up i can only think of her having a bath twice and a shower once. She would change her close once a month if that .
Not even joking she smelled bad hence why i have ocd now she never did care about the smell and she got worse over the years im NC with her she as no health problems or MH she just dont wash or change her close . The last time i saw her she filled my home with a smell i cant explain it stayed behind when she left .
And then there is my cousin he has BO to the next level its so bad it would make one sick hes 28 and its got so bad my aunt as asked him to fine his own home .
He also has no MH just like my mother he dont wash its so bad he has body acne and boils But he just dont smell or see it . My aunt is a prim and proper woman .
I shower every night and every morning after a few cups of tea i always wash my face with water and soap . I have a friend that will brush her teeth but not wash her face in the mornings but will shower twice a week so a face wash twice a week i just dont get it .
I understand life is hard but some people just stink .
Being on low income is not an excuse you can get a cheap bottle of spray or soap even the food bank give it out .
Giving up smoking has made me smell alot more smells .

My first job after Uni was in a psychiatric day hospital. Patients had been discharged from long term treatment and care and came in once, twice a week or daily. I was told to always look out for signs of self neglect ( unwashed / in showered, hair unwashed, bad breath etc.) as a sign that their MH was taking a downward turn again. Maybe some people have poor MH, some don’t have sufficient hot water, access to washing machines etc…. There but for the grace ….

Lozzalou9191
Interesting this thread came up!
I shower every day, wash clothes regularly with bio detergent and dry them on an airer so most clothes are fine. But there’s some clothes- mainly workout clothes and tight fitted t shirts that just seem to always stink of BO! Advice welcome!

i agree it’s really hard to get armpit/ crotch smells out of some clothes! A good solution is spraying the offending areas with vinegar and leaving for 10 mins before putting in the wash. The vinegar kills the bacteria and neutralises the odour.

Seconding advice to use vinegar first. Make sure they're in the wash long enough too. A lot of people use the quick wash cycle for everything and it's not enough.

And the pp's advice of cleaning the washing machine every couple of weeks.

Don't throw them away as suggested!

My SIL is always whiffy, always smells a bit “stale” and a definite BO smell 🤮

Not all bacteria on the skin are bad. Some of them actually protect against the bad ones. You can overdo the antibacterial stuff,

Thank god it’s not just me noticing the stinky ones! I was in the supermarket earlier and it seemed that every other person stank to high heaven!! The one man was so bad I avoided him completely and waited in the dog food aisle til he’d gone!!🤢

Well because of mental health or SEN obviously OP, that's the reason for everything on MN.

Stink of BO? Mental health.

Reborn dolls taking up a pram space on the bus? Mental health.

Kids screeching in public while their parents sit on their phones? Mental health.

I'll add the Warhammer shop to that list too. Although in there, the staff are just as bad as the customers.

I wash with salicylic and glycolic acid so don't get BO anymore. But for the first couple of weeks after I stopped using deodorant I noticed that some of my clothing. Especially workout tops, would start to smell of BO after a couple of hours of being worn. They smelled vaguely of laundry liquid when I put them on but obviously there was some BO stinkiness in the fibres that would come out from my body heat. When I used deodorant, that smell overpowered the smell from the clothes but they were never truly clean. A 60° wash dealt with the smell properly thankfully.

So I suspect that a lot of what makes some people smelly is the trend of washing at 30°. If they aren't wearing deodorant, or are wearing a natural deodorant, there is no adequate disguise for the smell coming from their clothes. They may be clean themselves, their clothes may be washed. But the smells are still trapped in the fibres. Clothes that absorb sweat should regularly be washed at higher temperatures to make them genuinely clean.

Yep. Washing and drying clothes uses a lot of power, as does heating a house. Damp, unheated houses start to smell.

I think it's to do with trolls with weird fetishes wanting people to describe their BO experiences in full detail.

There have been a lot of "tell me your smelly stories" threads recently, disguised as "why do other people smell so bad?"

They also tend to become 'let's kick the homeless/disabled' for good measure.

I worked with a guy years ago who's feet smelled so bad the smell used to give me a headache. He had a medical condition that made him smell sour and fishy.

😟

Some people do smell worse than others and are prone to smelling despite washing. My friends teen showers but she still has BO a few hours later. Maybe she doesn’t get right into the pits with the soap.

One of mime came back from a 5 day festival and had barely washed … she said the showers were rank and £5 a go. Her feet smelt to high heaven but she didn’t have BO.

I think it's to do with trolls with weird fetishes wanting people to describe their BO experiences in full detail.

There's a BO troll?

How bizarre

I realised how poorly some people actually wash even when they do go in the shower when I went on holiday with a bunch of female friends (a long time ago now). We had been to a "UV paint party" the night before and were obviously covered in splatters of UV paint all over us, hair, whole bodies, behind our ears, etc.

My friend went in the shower, got fully ready for the next night out, hair done etc, and then still had huge amounts of UV paint behind her ears, in the hairs at the nape of her neck and all around the cuticles on her toes. We all laughed about it at the time and did impressions of her just running through the shower and considering herself "finished". But really it's kinda gross how poorly she must have washed!

People with uncontrolled medical conditions like diabetes often smell awful. They often cannot smell themselves, so unless someone told them they would not know. Some people have just given up on life, and their personal appearance or odour reflects how they are feeling about themselves. I used to work for a housing project years ago, and the nurses used to tell me lack of interest in self-care was one of their first markers to refer older patients for dementia assessment. Some perfumes seem to amplify the sweaty smells once they get going. In the fast fashion generation, there are a lot of man made fabrics out there that are cheaply produced. They were not designed to ventilate bodies and the sweat produced.

I’m not a fan of the smell of BO but find overpowering deodorants and perfumes/aftershaves more offensive; they can make me feel pretty nauseous. I can only assume some people use way more than they need to.

I once read a tip on MN to use an enzyme cleaner under the arms (of the smelly clothes), the type made for neutralising pet smells on soft furnishings and that sort of thing. It works!

I used to be one of these people, to my eternal shame.
I grew up in a home with parents with depression who were consequently hoarders. Our home was a health hazard. It was impossible to have anything that was clean. I desperately wanted to present as normal so i showered 2-3 times a day, but i never knew the additional steps - my clothes were washed and smelled clean from the machine, but as my body heat warmed them they unleashed a stench that I didn't understand. Equally, shoes/tights that had been soaked in the rain would smell when they warmed. I left the house fresh and clean and within an hour smelled horrific and i couldnt understand why. Also despite my frequent bathing, my washing skills were likely sub-par, which was a blind spot.
Thankfully I met DH reasonably young and he very gently set me on the right path and I have never looked back.

I will be forever embarrassed that I didn't find the solution sooner. There are people from my past that I cant face because I know they commented on my smell. I really thought I was doing everything right.

I can't judge smelly people as a result. I'm no better

Your OP is very judgy. Although I agree with you it is thoroughly unpleasant, you must understand that some people through lack of self respect, trauma, depression or addiction struggle with this stuff. They probably hate themselves way more than you hate the way they smell.

My grandparents were in council housing in 1984 with no bathroom , just an outside loo. They washed at the sink every day and were super clean,every day a full strip wash. I can still smell the waft of Imperial Soap afterwards 😊

Put your airer in the sun whenever you can. It will help to kill the bacteria.
Use a dehumidifier if you have to dry indoors.
Use detol in every wash that isn't going outside to kill bacteria. Sainsbury's and B&M have cheaper versions.

According to a skin science research team in the Netherlands in the early 2000s, the bacteria present in the skin biome can affect how you smell. Some people don't smell very strongly or sweat profusely and others do. But the sebum/oils excreted through the scalp seem particularly strong-smelling, plus hair (like fabric) holds on to odours, and the atmospheric pollution of traffic and city life necessitates more frequent washing and shampooing.

Ah you have nothing to be ashamed of. You were just a child and it wasn't your fault ❤