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Please help me pinpoint the source of the smell in my teenage son's bedroom

304 replies

Smallsteps88 · 11/08/2020 22:51

I know plenty of you have raised teenagers so I’m hoping some of you will know what this is.

He’s 15. Showers every day including washing hair. Brushes his teeth once a day at least, twice if he remembers in the morning. Hmm He uses roll on deodorant daily. He spends his days barefoot and the shoes he wears out of the house are kept downstairs. His clothes are washed daily. He has a laundry basket that they stay in and it is emptied every evening. There are no dirty pants/socks/anything lurking in his room because I completely stripped the room bare last weekend, moved all furniture, washed absolutely everything, including his mattress, all surfaces, bed linen, curtains. The whole lot. He doesn’t wear pyjamas and the offending smell does transfer to his bedsheets. So it’s coming off his body but I just don’t know how! He is washed every day. It is a bodily smell but doesn’t smell like BO. It is horrible though and his room is small and gets warm and stuffy so the smell is strong. His window and curtains are open for a few hours a day. I would have them open all day but he spends a lot of time in his room and likes to close them. The smell is from him but if I sniff him he doesn’t smell. If he leaves his bedroom door open the smell comes through the house.

Please help. I feel awful constantly reminding him to open his windows and asking to sniff his hair to see if it’s clean but we really need to get to the bottom of this. The smell is really horrible.

Can anyone shed any light and/or recommend some products he/we can use to combat this?

OP posts:
missmouse101 · 11/08/2020 23:23

I have one of these. I reckon it's the mattress.

Smallsteps88 · 11/08/2020 23:24

He just often smells a bit musty? Not a BO smell but one step away from it?!

Yep, this is the best way I can describe it too.

OP posts:
Smallsteps88 · 11/08/2020 23:25

@CorianderLord

Farts?
Very likely!
OP posts:
ChubbyPigeon · 11/08/2020 23:27

Well if hes only brushing his teeth once a day chances are hes probably not very good at personal hygeine in other areas

He might be showering but is he properly cleaning himself?

Is it his hair? My DP has an incredibly greasy head and overnight it just seaps into the pillow, it needs more than weekly washing. Some people just really srink of greasy hair

Any jackets he keeps in his room? Or hoodies? Any lounge clothes hes not washing? I find it hard to believe literally everything he wewrs is washed daily

I read somewhere -possibly MN that teenage boys smell bad to their mums and sisters to repel them. It might be total bs but my brothers room absolutely stank so anecdotally true

ChubbyPigeon · 11/08/2020 23:28

The pillow needs more than weekly washing, the hair gets washed daily!

Wbeezer · 11/08/2020 23:28

Is the smell weirdly meaty?
DS1 runs hot and his smell turned into a bit of a sweaty meat smell for a few years.
It seemed to be worse if he'd been gaming a lot, i wondered if it was a stress/adrenalin sweat smell plus maybe not drinking enough, just speculation though...

dottycat123 · 11/08/2020 23:29

Have you actually sniffed his feet? Could be athletes foot. I used to find 'love socks' hidden . Plus the bedding seems to need changing much more frequently. I do agree with others that teenage boys seem to emit a certain odour which lingers in their rooms. I have also read about the smell being natures way of rejecting the adult male from the group but not sure if this is scientific!

fodderbeet · 11/08/2020 23:29

Hair? My boys hair smells strongest - usually because the smallest one doesn't always wash it properly with shampoo.

allinadaystwerk · 11/08/2020 23:30

Is he washing properly in the shower? Especially his 'bits' ie foreskin and butt and a good scrub under the armpits. Sorry to be graphic but at his age he does need to be more meticulous than when he was little. Is the smell on him or his room?

BenoneBeauty · 11/08/2020 23:31

Oh goodness, I have 3 sons, none of whom are teenagers yet so I'm not looking forward to this!

BertieBotts · 11/08/2020 23:31

It's because he's a boy and you're his mother. I bet your DH can't smell it - it's hormonal incompatability to make sure you aren't attracted to him as he reaches sexual maturity. Gross, but nature doesn't know we've evolved our own societal rules against such things.

2018SoFarSoGreat · 11/08/2020 23:32

OH, that smell. It is called "BOY" - that's it. starts when they are early teens, and keeps going until they move out. When there are more than one of them you need a gas mask.

Man smell is different, thank goodness.

allinadaystwerk · 11/08/2020 23:32

My ds is 12 and his dad had a chat with him about personal hygiene and proper washing that a man needs to do to stay fresh so to speak.

gamerchick · 11/08/2020 23:33

Sons go 'off' to their mothers. It's biological. He will give off a pheromone that will repulse you for a while.

It does end though thankfully. Ruddy awful while it's going on.

gamerchick · 11/08/2020 23:33

Pheromone might not be the right word mind. It is something though.

FannyFungi · 11/08/2020 23:34

Oh god I dread this stage. My brother used to stink my mums entire house out with his feet. It was so embarrassing taking people home. He washed them twice a day and wore clean socks but they just stank.

My friends brother kept a jar of jizz hidden in his room. Apparently that stinks after a while too 🤢

gamerchick · 11/08/2020 23:36

@BertieBotts

It's because he's a boy and you're his mother. I bet your DH can't smell it - it's hormonal incompatability to make sure you aren't attracted to him as he reaches sexual maturity. Gross, but nature doesn't know we've evolved our own societal rules against such things.
Yeah that, stops incest type of thing.

It does go though but the poor buggers do get chased into the shower a lot. I'm out the other side with one of mine and just entering with youngest. It's been years of stench.

FluffyPJs · 11/08/2020 23:38

Is he using his shower gel to wash his hair? My teen did this and his hair stank. Once I realised what the smell was I got him some shampoo and the smell went away!

WaxOnFeckOff · 11/08/2020 23:38

Well, apart from "used" tissues, one of mine had a pringles tube full of stale urine.

TheSparklyPussycat · 11/08/2020 23:39

This is normal. Teenage boys smell of teenage boys. With added aroma of Lynx Africa, which doesn't actually improve things.

Smallsteps88 · 11/08/2020 23:40

Well if hes only brushing his teeth once a day chances are hes probably not very good at personal hygeine in other areas

He might be showering but is he properly cleaning himself?

Unlikely to be this but it’s possible. I will have the conversation again.

I find it hard to believe literally everything he wewrs is washed daily

This is what he wears daily, not sure why it wouldn’t be washed daily.

T-shirt
Jogging bottoms
Boxers.

He also uses a towel.

I collect everything from his laundry basket every evening and put it straight in the wash.

Is the smell weirdly meaty?

Not sure I would call it meaty. It’s one i just can’t describe.

Have you actually sniffed his feet?

Yep. They don’t smell. What would athletes foot smell like? Just stinky foot smell?

Is he washing properly in the shower? Especially his 'bits' ie foreskin and butt and a good scrub under the armpits.

I’ve asked him this and he assured me he is but I will be going through it all again.

Is the smell on him or his room?

When you walk into the room then smell hits you but if I smell him he doesn’t smell. So the smell is in his room but I think coming from him.

After reading these posts I think it must be sweat during the night transferring to his sheets. I think I’ll get him to strip his bed every morning. He has a really light duvet but I think he could sleep with something lighter? He won’t have the window open at night to keep himself cool. I’ll be suggesting it again though.

OP posts:
Wherestheline · 11/08/2020 23:40

DSS is like this and his room is always stinking of sweat and farts although he’s always washed and clean. I think it’s a teen thing.

Smallsteps88 · 11/08/2020 23:42

It's because he's a boy and you're his mother. I bet your DH can't smell it

I wish I had a DH to help me work this stuff out but it’s just me! And even worse, I have another one behind him just hitting puberty now! Grin

OP posts:
frustrationcentral · 11/08/2020 23:43

@WaxOnFeckOff

Well, apart from "used" tissues, one of mine had a pringles tube full of stale urine.
GrinGrinGrin
Smallsteps88 · 11/08/2020 23:44

Is he using his shower gel to wash his hair?

He’s using T-gel sensitive because he had dandruff a while back. Could it be this?

OP posts: