to think I should be allowed to have a messy hair look at work and smelling a bit at the end of the day is normal

[vicecave]

Nc as there's people I know and this is very embarrassing.

My manager has just called me as side to comment on my appearance. Apparently my hair looks too messy and not "business like" enough or reflects the professional image. The office is business causal and I work for an architects. If you watch food upwrapped on channel 4 I have the same hair as that woman. Also apparnelty someone has complained that I smell. I do pong a bit at the end of a warm day when I get home, I just thought that was normal? I do only wear natural fibers. I'm allergic to perfume and most deodorants so use a rock deodorant, that probably doesn't do much but I try.

Aibu to keep my hair how I want it?

Interpolalert.

Have you a cloak room or a store room at work that you could put your trainers in, so they are away from the main office? Not saying that you should stink out the cloak room, but here we have a little cubby/store junk room where we hang up our coats and the like. If I've walked in, I spray a bit of Fabreze into my trainers, put them in a bag, and stick them in there. The Fabreze isn't the same obviously as cleaning them, or airing them out, but it keeps them from ponging, and they are kept out of my colleagues' way.

Op I have naturally messy hair and generally scruffy tendencies, but I retie my hair several times a day to keep it beat and try to at least give off an aura of having made an effort at work. It's not hard to look presentable

I wear a lot of natural fabrics. Wool is a bastard for retaining smells, so anything 'long lasting' tends to stink, especially if you wash at 30 degrees with non-bio. I tend to wash what I can in bio and if it's not salvageable I will put it up a cycle / use the bio, because stinky is unusable. I'm like you btw, like wool, but I actually had a dress last 4 years and eventually had to wash it a 60 to see if it survived because it was unwearable (2hr after wearing I would smell myself and shoes aside, I am not stinky).

I am fairly sure that on a couple of occasions I was stinky because I could smell myself with different 'completely clean' wool dresses.

Check the clothes - natural fibres can absolutely retain smells and rank smells from clothes will amplify natural sweat smells.

One solution for wool clothes is sweat pads: small cotton pads sewn or just placed in them under the arms. They stop sweat soaking into the fabric. You just take them out and wash them on a hot wash.

It is antisocial to stink either of body odour or perfume. Get a grip, OP. Sort yourself out before you are sacked.

My hair is a curly mass of insanity. In my professional life, I taught myself simple ways to keep it looking polished. The weekends are for masses of curls down my back.

OP, I saw this and thought of you!

www.care2.com/greenliving/2-ingredient-diy-deodorant-recipe-that-works.html

you could also sprinkle some onto your feet before you head out in the morning I'd forgotten the old driller's trick of powdering one's feet before putting the wellies on for a day working in the muck!

wot no OP

This is a nice deodorant without all the chemicals, the rose one is nice. It worked for me (though a bit pricey).

Do you wear tight fitting clothing? I find that looser stuff doesn't get so smelly.

You can get charcoal kind of inserts from Scholl that you place in shoes to absorbs sweat/odours.

The op is long gone

I don't smell though.

Not sure why, but that really made me laugh .

I had 'the talk' at work recently, for not being formal enough. Or in the words of HR: "sometimes you are, sometimes you're not." The problem for me is that I have put on weight so most of my office clothes don't fit me. So I look fab for the first 2 days of the week and a bag lady for the remaining 3 days.

But yeah, I don't smell though .

OP, if it is an underarm problem, seriously consider Botox.

Can't believe that this thread is still running! OP posted once and never came back.

Op changed name half way through the thread -so still here.

Fwiw and for anyone else with a problem. I gave up aluminium deoderants last summer on account of the Alzheimer's in my family and there may be a link. I used coconut oil and on three days when my pits must have been detoxing I washed more frequently and used coconut oil and lavender oil. I don't work so bothering anyone else wasn't a problem. ( neither do ihavemy messy hair).

Now I'm fine.

I use magnesium oil spray. It's really good. H and b do it on buy one get one half price so you get two for just over £18 and they last ages. No artificial smells and you get the benefit of the body absorbing much needed magnesium too.

I thought you were going to say you had a busy job like an A&E nurse or a fork lift truck driver, in those cases it is perfectly understandable to be a bit whiffy or messy at the end of a shift.

But for working in an architects' office? No excuse.

piggychops, she did, but under a different username.

OP, you said something about not remembering your password from last night - so did you NC by opening a new account?

R.e. the hair - personally I think you're right to say it's a sexist issue. What kind of hairstyles do the men have? Your hair is tied back, out of your face, and whilst the style might not be everyone's choice, itself hardly like you're going in with bits of food stuck in your hair. (Quickly checks ridiculously long hair post-breakfast).

Toptips from a sweaty individual.....I have to wash my pits half way through the day if I get particularly hot and sweaty. Oddly enough, my bottom sweats and I have to put roll on on it every morning too. Dove is a nice deoderant if you have sensitive skin. Also, you might need to buy some new tops, because the old sweat can build up and the smell never really goes. I quite often have to roll a bit of deoderant onto the inside of my top where my armpit sits to prevent extra smellage. I find I sweat more if the day is stressful, so have to adjust accordingly. Bodymists are good too to give you that extra confidence if you don't like perfume.

Oops sorry, I just scrolled looking for the highlighted posts