Smelly people first thing in the morning making me cross

[Wherecanitbe]

I completely understand in the UK we are currently experiencing extremely high temperatures, however......

why is it so many people smell really strongly of B.O first thing in the morning? I was on the bus Saturday morning around 9am and their were one or two people who smelled really strongly, not just slightly. This morning I was in my local shop around 10am and the man in front of me smelled that strongly that when he left, the smell even lingered.

I can understand if it was towards the end of the day, then it would be more reasonable that people would have B.O. I am just really irritated how these people think it's acceptable that other people have to put up with their offensive smell.

I think it’s a mix of people not showering combined with nose blindness and not knowing how to do their washing properly.

I had a coworker who always had this foisty smell about him, it was pretty obvious it came from the clothes. Like when you don’t dry them properly. He was recently divorced so I’m guess his ex used to do the laundry.

a lot of clothes smell now. Washing them on low temperatures and/or people living in damp/musty homes.

And so much being polyester, even expensive clothes.

Well I don’t understand people on their way to work at 8am and smelly breath and BO in a packed train. I also do dance classes at 6/7pm and people know its rotating couples dance and they stink. Upsets me very much

Could they have been shift workers on their way home from a night shift? Not making excuses but it might explain it in part.

There is another thread on here, atm, where people are trying to convince themselves and each other, that they don't have BO.

Perhaps that is why we're having the issue.

Partly due to being dirty gits and partly due to synthetic fabrics, 30° washes and non bio powders. Ideally, synthetics need 40°, 60° if not delicate and bio detergent if no allergies prevail.

Many people don't realise that once a synthetic fabric smells of BO it will usually start smelling of it again once it warms up, even if the wearer is freshly showered and has used anti-perspirant.

'How often do you wash your hair / clothes / body' comes up alot on MN threads. And loads of people think you only need to shower / wash hair / whatever once a week or so. I'm from a very hot country and my norm is a daily shower with complete hair washing or possibly two a day in hot weather.

So, yes, people smell and I confess I do find people in the UK to be quite smelly. I have a friend who says quite openly she washes every 10 days, but does 'bits and pits' in the sink each evening. She has extremely long and fine hair and we were out last weekend and her hair frankly had a very strong odour. She is of the opinion that washing removes the natural oilds of the body. I'm of the opinion that that's what body lotion is for.

On the other side of things though- my DH goes overboard. He washes all his clothes on a boil wash as he says they don't get clean otherwise. I won'y let him touch my clothes or the DCs as they kept shrinking.

I’ve noticed a rise in this since Covid. I think some people (mostly men) just stopped bothering. I also think some people treat communal space as if it’s just theirs. Like playing phones out loud. Eating smelly food and being stinking dirty. I also wonder if some men get off on it, a primitive attempt to dominate? My train honks of BO and I’m sure they’re not all impoverished or night workers.

It’s not all it takes.
Like a previous poster said, some people start sweating within minutes of getting out of the shower, even with antiperspirant. Deodorant is just an attempt to mask, AP is more effective but still doesn’t work for everyone.

Most likely explanation they are washing themselves and their clothes rarely

Well aren't you helping the environment.

Lots of this isn't even showering.
Many people proudly proclaim how they wash their clothes on cold wash and shortest cycle.......

Totally agree 💯

The dirty sods are the ones who don’t shower daily and shower in the morning only, meaning they think it’s acceptable and hygiene to work a full day, sweating and smelling, sitting on work toilets or public toilets and then go to bed in pjs and in their sheets and fester all night.

absolutely fucking rotten.

oh and then not change their sheets and pajamas daily and put the same now dirty pjs on for the next few nights!

grim in an understatement.

I have an aquaintance who smells - I'm not in the kind of position relative to her to tell her, and don't have to spend extended time with her, but it's bad enough that I would have a problem with it if I dod have to say work in close proximity.

She has told me before, in a conversation about teenagers and their water use which she initiated (we both have teenagers) that she showers in the evenings after work and attending to her horses.

Unfortunately she also has to attend to her horses in the morning and spends several hours riding and and cleaning out the stables before going to work in a fairly manual job. Obviously she really smells - presumably the only time she doesn't smell is late evening after her shower.

She was complaining about her teens using too much hot water and making what initially sounds like a fair point that one shower per day is quite enough, but with her specific lifestyle she really, really needs to shower morning and evening.

She's also a lifelong smoker of the old fashioned cigarette type, now in her 50s, and this not only adds to the smell but probably means her own sense of smell is very poor, so she undoubtedly doesn't know she smells...

Are you ok?

Exactly this. Like many people, my partner washes his clothes at 30 on a short wash and he never smells clean, no matter how often he showers. His clothes smell. People start adding fabric conditioner, scent boosters etc to make the clothes smell nice but this only covers up the problem for a very short time (and is terrible for the environment). Mine are all washed at 60. Towels etc at 90.

@HermioneWeasley that’s exactly what I was going to say! Posters on MN love to excuse poor hygiene on the grounds that people can’t afford water, or are being abused and not allowed to shower. Of course that may be the case, but the vast majority of smelly people are smelly because they don’t wash. To use a favourite MN phrase - if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck….

A lot of people sweat a lot during the night - the jury is out on whether a morning or an evening shower is best... Plenty of people smell in the morning if they shower at night. Teenage boys and menopausal women for example will definitely need to shower before going into the world each day no matter how clean they went to bed.

Showering at night is for your own benefit, showering in the morning is for other people's too!

Have the people who bathe once a week and just wash their bits and pits in the sink come along yet to say how no one needs a daily shower?

I take the Tube almost daily, and yes, I can tell who hasn't showered in days. They are not night workers, either.

Stress stinks. I get the most appalling smell when I think I’ve made a mistake or done something wrong.
Books talk about the smell of fear- it’s real and it’s rank.

I think people just aren’t as hygiene focused anymore. It drives me insane. I’m one of those people who always showers at least once a day, washes my clothes on a hot, long wash, changes bedding once a week, etc etc. My dd aged 23 (and all her friends, as we’ve talked about this) showers maybe once every 2-3 days, never changes her bedding unless I practically beg her to (currently living at home as finished university etc) - we’re literally talking weeks and weeks. Washes her hair maybe once a week- and yes it looks greasy. It’s really disgusting but as she’s an adult what can I say? She certainly didn’t get it from me! And growing up I taught her better than that but since university she really just doesn’t care, and neither do her friends. Not depressed, not disabled, just dirty. Urgh.

Oh don’t there’s this woman who whenever I am in the supermarket she is shopping and the stench is bloody vile. You can smell urine & other smells from a mile off, worse thing is she walks sticking her bum out so it’s even worse. Makes me feel sick.

Could they be those people who insist that before bed is the correct time to shower, and those of us who prefer to shower in the mornng are disgusting?