I never realised how bad people smell.

[Nonplusultra]

I’ve had a weirdly sharp sense of smell for the last couple of days and when I’m out shopping, I can smell everyone around me and it’s surprising how few people smell nice or even clean.

I’m not talking about properly stinking - just that mild fug of cooking smells, pets, smoke, sweat, occasional halitosis.

I don’t normally notice, and of course, even now, I’m oblivious to my own pong. I’m not even getting up close to people; this is just the drift of air as you walk past someone who’s a couple of feet away.

You are aware that telling others they're 'being too sensitive" is in itself being too sensitive to others expressing valid opinions?

People who can't afford daily showers anymore, don't they have a flannel wash instead?

There is more than one way to be clean. All you need is soap & water.*

(*I appreciate some people have fallen on such tough times that they struggle to afford basic essentials and this may be more than they have. But for those who are having to cut back on heating & hot water, I would still expect them to be able to afford half a sink full with some soap & a flannel)

I can’t believe some people are so genuinely offended by scented shower gels, deodorant, perfume, fabric softener. Again, part of life and I would say most people use at least one of these items 😵‍💫

I'm not 'offended'. I just find them much worse than normal human, food or animal smells. Shower gels or shampoo or conditioner don't bother me, it's only really spray deodorant, perfume or fabric conditioner and I don't use those. Fabric conditioner is the worst, the smell takes multiple washes to get rid of.

Getting undressed and then wet in a freezing house probably isn't appealling. When your house is cold and stays cold for stretches of time it's even more miserable.

Unless you literally have BO smell or staining on your clothes this is perfectly acceptable.

There is such a weirdness about ubercleanliness from some posters on here - it's really not necessary and isn't good for either your clothes or the environment .

Some people possibly cannot even afford soap and (warm) water. There really are folk who are struggling to feed themselves let alone buy soap or washing powder etc.

Of course some folk just have different ideas of clean too.

Quite. My Dad l, born 1925, grew up with only a cold tap in the yard but he was always very particular about washing properly.

@oakleaffy my dog seems to most enjoy disgusting smells- eg other animals poo.

I often walk through waiting rooms and there is always the same smell. The smell of people and it's never a nice smell. Can't describe it but it smells musty.

I hope I don't smell, would never leave the house without getting a shower but when the older generation tell me they never had showers, some not even bathrooms, just had a "strip wash" at the basin I do wonder if people smelled even worse years ago compared to now!

The smell I really dislike is the scent of booze on people's breath when they've been drinking.

@Cheshiresun of course they did, but it was a collective less pleasant smell and many didn't know any different.
I often wonder what the people of Glasgow living in 1or 2 room tenements smelled like, as many worked manual jobs, had large families (5 or 6+) cooked, ate, slept, and lived in a very small space, with limited changes of clothes and an outside loo!

I know a couple who live in a tiny studio flat. They don’t earn a lot of money so keep costs down re electric/heat usage. They also don’t have a washing machine and have to take their laundry out, which is hard work and expensive.

They don’t have any outside space to ‘air clothing’. They cook in the same room they sleep. Windows barely open as they are in a high rise.

they literally can’t help it if they smell musty/cooking. I’m sorry I called people sensitive in my last post, but people are hard up and some of these posts are coming across as judgemental.

I’m normally not bothered except at night. Once I couldn’t sleep because I could smell toilet rim block. Ridiculous😵‍💫 My husband can’t use spray deodorants, because he wakes up first and then smell wakes me up.

My mother said when she was 13 her class teacher (girl's school) told them they should wash 'under their arms and between their legs' every day.

How odd that some people can afford to catch a plane yet have cut down on washing!

It’s an interesting thread as thought I was just hyper sensitive to smells. Went to lecture tiered seating and woman in front of me had such a strong smell of unwashed hair it really turned my stomach. It was so distracting. Am now off to smell all my coats😂

I had the opposite experience earlier this year. We were going on holiday and were allocated seats at the back of the plane next to the toilets.

I was dreading having a lot of hot and sweaty people queuing next to me, but everyone smelled amazing and there at least 4 or 5 people whom I was tempted to ask what perfume/aftershave they were wearing. Can't remember the flight back but we weren't sitting next to the toilets.

I'm not arranging my washing habits around your discerning nose, and I'm especially not going to shower at 3am 🤣

If you're unlucky enough to be sitting next to me on a morning flight, it's been 9 or so hours since I had a bath/shower, maximum. During those 9 hours, I was lying still not doing anything, and then I got up, put on a whole fresh set of clothes, washed my face and hands, brushed my teeth, and so on.

If you get on an evening flight, even somebody who showered that morning has likely been moving around and sweating for 12 hours in the same clothes they've got on, going in restaurants full of cooking smells, cooking food, walking through smoke, eating and drinking and probably not brushing their teeth, and all the other ordinary smelly things people do.

It's not reasonable to expect everyone in your vicinity to have washed within the last couple of hours, even if it's morning and that's when you like to wash. And unbrushed hair smells the same as brushed hair

The voice of reason! Thank you!!! I wonder if some people realise how annoying it is to be told that you smell? Yes, I know some people are hypersensitive, but going around with a metaphorical clothes peg on your nose is a quick way to get in my bad books.

The poster who mentioned this said it was an early morning flight so most likely they just rolled out of bed and hurried to the airport - on that one particular day . Mostly likely they have a shower like most others when they get up at a normal time .

My mother said once that when she was on buses at going home from work time, there'd be a 'manly smell' inside.

Coat’s literally stink. I’d never buy a coat I couldn’t wash and I’m really careful not to leave them anywhere near the kitchen.
I actually never wear anything twice, ever (except coats)because I can’t bare the idea of then not smelling nice. I also obsessively wash dressing gowns and towels way more than other people. Eurgh, dirty dressing gowns / oodies/ indoor wear are the absolute pits.

Mine sense of smell is heightened recently, and only recently. I'm very similar, and suddenly notice that people smell musty or their clothes do, or sweat, or even their hair.

My own perfume makes me sneeze initially now, too. It's very odd.

It lingers the next day. You can definitely smell it.

I'm just wondering if this is an older age affliction as I've never had such keen sense of smell.

If they can't afford a shower they also won't have heating. As a teen I never washed in the morning in winter, it was too darned cold. Without heating, if you undress to wash you quickly become too cold in a matter of minutes and then can't easily get warm again. It's miserable. I used to put my clothes for the morning under my duvet by my feet at night so they weren't cold to put on and I changed under the covers. I did wash each evening but I undoubtedly smelled a little, if not at first then as the day wore on. I'm someone who needs to wash twice daily to remain free from odour.