How do people not know they smell?

How on Earth you "cant do anything about it"?

Besides, "fresh" BO smells very different from what the type people OP describing usually smell - stale BO plus piss.

Its difficult when the smell is so bad you can taste it at the back of your throat.

We went to a restaurant and the owner / manager had a serious dental issue and his breath was awful even at a small distance. When he came with the bill we had to hold our breath. You could visibly see he had issues. He also didn’t smell great, but the teeth were awful.

I work with teenagers and I find the girls often smell worse than the boys. It’s not something I ever comment on as it would be inappropriate.

I have a teenager and he is told to shower daily, has proper roll on and stick deodorant and sprays for on top for smelling nice. We do tell him when he smells and explain that a squirt of his ted baker deodorant is absolutely not enough. He has bar Irish spring soap and shower gel and uses both in the shower. He cycles a couple of miles to and from school and does a lot of exercise (martial arts and boat racing, he’s not a 6ft rugby player) so we are keen for him to not stink us out! We’ve explained that people often don’t smell their own sweat and the need for daily clean clothes and hygiene. I feel it’s our job to produce young people that understand that how they go about life impacts others and also how people see them.

I do think there is often an element of mental health, poor understanding and just not realising that happens. We have the time, resources and energy to insure we are not stinky, plenty of clean clothes, no issues with bills and motivation and capability to ensure change happens.

I worked with a lovely woman who smelled bad. She was always smartly turned out and was a good, hardworking employee, but she smelt horrible, like her clothes were stale and musty, and she had BO. I know she had a difficult start in life and I think she did not learn proper self-care.

I had the misfortune of the same guy sitting in front of me on a train two days running a few months ago and he is possibly the worst smelling person I’ve ever come across. I had to move seats it was just so bad, I honestly felt sick.

I felt bad for him, I’m assuming he was badly mentally ill or something. His hair was thick with grease and hadn’t been cut in some time and the smell was something else. It was basically urine, shit, sweat, foist and decay all in one. Honestly made me heave.

No, it doesn’t.

If you can’t uphold basic hygiene, you need real help. It takes two minutes to shower.

Years ago I worked in a Nursing Home , this happened twice. First time was a lady who had decided to take on a 2nd job working nights in a different home so instead of dropping her uniform at the onsite laundry was just wearing it ti her next job then coming back in it the next morning. After a few days of this she absolutely stank. Management got involved due to service users complaining. This woman knew that she smelled - she didnt care and told us so.
Second time was a case of an abusive partner stopping the woman from showering- Management were really good and set aside a shower for her to use during work ( start of shift), plus gave other support .

People also have medical issues which might make them sweat more. I take two showers a day, clean clothes on both times, there’s still some times when I will smell ripe. It’s really hard. I use industrial strength deodorant.

Of course it takes some effort, everything does. And many people have no effort they can spare, for mental health and other reasons.

It doesn’t take any effort at all to keep yourself clean. I woke up really sweaty, didn’t have time for a shower. I grabbed some wet wipes and soap and I’m as good as new.

Always a sign of poor mental health, childhood neglect or both.

Some people have been dragged up and have never got into the rhythm of showering and washing clothes and cleaning a house …. If you think about it that actually takes up quite a bit of time and effort. Imagine learning that if you’ve not had it ingrained from childhood?

Agree, no excuse for it. A bar of soap and water very easy really.

I fully get what you are saying. I have a real problem with stinky people. I find it offensive. It’s simple. You shower/bath everyday. 3 things you change everyday. Socks/pants shirts. Clean your bloody teeth. It’s disgusting to inflict your body odour on others

This.

People are disgusting. Plenty of excuses being made but there’s no excuse for it.

Untreated lactose intolerance can make people very smelly.
DS had a room-mate with it at university who showered every day but loved dairy and his jackets and shoes were soaked through with the smell.

Nobody is mentioning the recent heatwave and need for more and stronger antiperspirants. The stronger ones contain alluminium which people can be allergic to.

I know, I was literally pointing out she was a mean employee...

Could he have had trimethylaminuria (fish odour syndrome)?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-51006604

I notice a lot of smelly ppl on busses; have to work hard not to visibly recoil sometimes.

I can tell you what's (likely) worse than that. Maggot farmers. I had to try to serve those men without breathing once!

Some crunchy types are really against washing/deodorant. And there's always articles in The Guardian about how bad washing is it seems😄Also, some ppl leave their clothes in the washer too long and they get that musty smell.

It can be old sweat but it can also be hormonal and produced by anxiety. I went through a phase where if I had a job interview my underarms would smell even straight after showering and scrubbing with soap and shower gel. Sometimes I’d have to go to the toilet and wash them during the day when it wasn’t even hot bc I was really stressed about something - but I was ‘clean’.

I also worked with someone who I’m sure had autism and every time there was a presentation in his room the whole place would smell very strongly. He didn’t smell all the time but I do believe it was linked to his anxiety (and no I’m not saying all ppl with anxiety have autism - tho of course some do - but his traits definitely led me to suspect he was on the spectrum and perhaps found social interactions really challenging, among other things). It is definitely not simply a case of not washing in all instances.

Lovely. What a fantastic employee she sounds. If the lady smelt of piss it’s quite possible she was incontinent. Also walking around a shop to get food isn’t the same as bathing.

There used to be a lady that lived in our town, she must have been at least in her 80s, and every time I or my mum went in the local co-op for about three years, she'd be in there aswell. She was able to shop by herself and pay etc, so had capability to wash herself, but I've never smelt anything so strong as her, it would literally follow her up the aisle. It was the strongest urine smell I've ever smelt, poor lady.
the lady that worked the fag counter used to spray air freshener just after she walked away and always said "dirty cow" 😭

Must be getting old, but I agree with you.