Oh lord! Teenage boys’ bedroom 🤢

[GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat]

Wow! Just wow! I had no idea. I mean, you read and hear stories but nothing can prepare you for that smell. What IS it?

Both shower daily, use deodorant (will be getting anti-perspirant ASAP) and are generally clean and tidy, change clothes daily and bedding is washed regularly.

Both very lovely boys no trouble at all so I feel terrible telling them they need to freshen up.

But my god, it’s bad!!

Any tips?

it is a definite thing and as they get older it improves vastly. It's hormones definitely.

How many hours a day are the windows open?

How often is bedding/towels washed?

Smelly people i know rarely open windows and don’t wash bedding/towels often enough.

DS's (14) room had had a whiff about it for a couple of years. It is definitely better than it was. It used to really smell bad but he started puberty at around 12 so quite early and I assume he is moving slowly out of the phase. His sheets are changed weekly but often smell a bit on day 2 after being changed. My

I find DH does not notice the smell as much. He says (lightheartedly!) he reckons the smell is worse for mothers as is is nature's way of making us separate from our darling male children. I just tell him his olefactory senses are missing

I have three teenage boys. Their rooms don't generally smell bad at all (and I have a very sensitive sense of smell).

I encourage them to open a window daily to air the room. Their bedroom doors are open most of the time. Apart from DS1 (who does his own laundry) they don't store their dirty washing in their rooms.

However: sometimes DS1 closes his windows overnight (against traffic noise) and you can definitely notice the smell building up if he forgets to open them again. It's a sort of 'fug'.

They actually only smell bad to female relatives. It’s natures way of preventing incest. Seriously. They’ve done scientific studies on this.

That would explain why all the adults seem to find it vile but they somehow manage to have a girlfriend in there no issues...

Is it wet towels? My brother although a scrupulous showerer had a very stinky room and I think it was wet towels that he would leave on the bed/carpet + not dusting and tbh probably wank

Tbf hes 21 and his room still pongs a bit now, but this is the clothes he leaves on the floor and unwashed bedding, but I don't have to live with it anymore so I dont care

My mum has never mentioned how smelly his room was, potentially disproves the close female relatives theory. And all his uni friends rooms stink too, but come to think of it not as bad even though they are more dirty

A smelly 5 year old?? They only smell when they’ve not had a decent wash IMO.

Teenagers on the other hand.... bedding probably needs washing very regularly (more than weekly), the rooms needs airing with windows and doors open, and clothes washed frequently as well.

Some men just have a very potent smell. I have teenage BILs, and they smell like DP on steroids, their dad also smells the same. Once had them all to stay at once and the smell was overpowering, lasted even after I'd cleaned all the bedding on a boil wash. Grim. It's definitely not a hygiene thing, BILs are higher maintenance than me - they get their eyebrows done professionally FFS.

Just because you get your eyebrows done professionally it doesn’t follow that you also wash yourself properly.

For all the problems they sometimes cause me, I'm sitting here secretly relieved that I birthed two DDs .

What is my DS doing wrong? At 14 his room doesn't smell at all 😂

Get their bedding out on the line
Buy cheaper duvets and replace regularly I think the armpit smell clings to the duvet

My ds is in another country. His room is clean and tidy. It STILL smells. My dd's room never smells.

GreenTulips, this!

It definitely does.

Once my DC left home I washed all the duvets and their rooms now smell much better.

They actually only smell bad to female relatives. It’s natures way of preventing incest. Seriously. They’ve done scientific studies on this

It's true, boys tend to smell off to their mothers.

It's not a theory FFS, it's a biological pheromone thing we're mostly unconscious to. It does seem to penetrate the very walls of their bedrooms though. I'm gutting my teenagers ready for me and everything's going, wallpaper, carpet the lot.

gamer We did that last year, new carpet, painted, new bed, mattress and bedding. The smell was back within days

Just realised your ds won't be in the room. Keep it that way

gamer We did that last year, new carpet, painted, new bed, mattress and bedding. The smell was back within days

Behind radiator and lightshade? They fill with boy dust.

Ugh 2 teenage boys here and yes they honk! Mine shower at least once a day, wear clean clothes and use antiperspirant but their rooms still stink. It's a very particular smell alright and even having the windows open all day (which they do) doesn't get rid of it.

Never mind boys room. I have a 17 yr old DD whi is equally disgusting. Football boots/socks, drink cups, ive stopped going in.

But this week its due a ceiling/walls paint job so unless she clears up, ill be in with a binbag

I can assure you that my DS is washed daily, thoroughly in soap and water by me... He's quite sweaty and just has an odour about him. It's not revolting, not an infection, just smells like cheesy feet even when they've been washed twice with soap!

I bought a 40l kitchen bin for each room.

Summersunshine2 - same here. Not sure why not.

I teach an all male teenage class and they reek. I open windows and have invested in a dry oil diffuser (no water needed) and it works off a USB cable. I pop a few drops of May Cheng oil and it's lemony fresh for hours. Much better than plug ins.

Not sure what to say about dubious looking socks though.

I feel lucky now as DS's room doesn't smell too bad considering how reluctant he is to shower! Then again, he has laminate flooring so the foot smell doesn't seep into a carpet, his bedding is changed twice as often as everyone else's (despite mattress protector he's still somehow turned his newish mattress yellow! Testosterone?), he doesn't eat in there and his footwear is kept downstairs. However that does mean that the hallway reeks of his trainers and rugby boots and the living room carpet stinks of his sweaty socks where he sits, unless shampooed regularly .

Even when he showers regularly he smells sort of fusty and greasy an hour later. I assume it will settle down as he gets older? I hope so anyway!