To think there's no excuse for being smelly?

[ohflowerofscotland]

eating out with DM and a lady has walked in and the smell of body odour was overpowering, so much so that it really put me off eating and made me feel sick.

what's the excuse for such poor hygiene? I've never understood it

Other than issues mentioned such as medical conditions, extreme poverty, homelessness, there are genuinely people who just don't wash, more than most realise I reckon.

I commute on the tube and encounter some shockingly smelly people, on the commute home I am more understanding as they may have done a hard days work, but some people clearly on their way to work at 7.30am and stinking to high heaven...I struggle to not judge.

I take it you're not just talking about BO but a different smell ?

Nope, BO, fried onions sweaty smell.

It seems pretty common lately.
I do think it`s mostly laziness.
The worst thing for me is I have a strong sense of smell and I end up heaving,my husband on the other hand has no sense of smell,lucky git.

Even in the 80s, not everyone had showers/hot water etc to the extent we do now

^WTF?

I take it you mean the 1880s FFS.^

I knew people who still had outside toilets and no central heating in the 80s, particularly the early 80s. I remember when we had gas put in, before that you had to have a coal fire or, if you were lucky, oil fired central heating.

*Even in the 80s, not everyone had showers/hot water etc to the extent we do now

WTF?

I take it you mean the 1880s FFS.*

Nope. We moved to a new build estate around 1978 and none of the houses had showers. Baths only, and you used a rubber tubing contraption attached to the taps with a This was a relatively affluent estate- most houses were 4 bed two baths.

We didn’t have a purpose built shower until the mid to late 80’s, when we moved and refurbished a house.

Combi boilers also weren’t common, as pp said many 70’s build houses didn’t have gas, just electric, or oil. We actually had one house where the water was heated by an open fire- the heat was diverted to the water tank.

Lots of people I knew only bathed once or twice a week as it cost money to put the immersion on. Shared baths- one family getting in one after the other was common too. Nobody smelled.

I’ve said this before but I wonder if modern shower gels and shampoos contribute. I normally only bath my dog when he’s been somewhere disgusting. I ran out of dog shampoo so used human. The dog stank after 48 hours- i had to bath him every other day until i got dog shampoo and he went back to not needing a bath.

YANBU - apart from medical issues or rough sleeping, i can't think of any excuse for poor hygiene.

A friend has a stomach and digestion disorder and sometimes smells like rotting flesh. He’s very clean but can’t help it.

I have noticed fat people are often smelly

@bluebluezoo that’s interesting about shampoos and shower gels. I tend to wash with plain bar soaps but anytime I use shower gel or something fancy I never feel clean as clean, like it leaves a residue.

depression, low self esteem , poverty.

Well it depends on the person and as you’re not likely to get their full life history in a random encounter then judging can be a bit harsh.

I agree it can be off putting, especially when trying to eat, but you don’t know what that individual is going through - I am constantly worried about being smelly because after a routine operation to remove a benign cyst from my right breast my right armpit is constantly sweating and no matter how much I wash, how much deodorant I use, by the end of a day I’m very aware that there is a smell and it’s mortifying for me and I’m in constant worry that others will judge me for it. My DH has benign familial pemphigus (also know as Hailey Hailey disease) and in the summers the top layers of his skin will just pull apart leaving raw skin and it’s extremely painful for him, no matter what he does there is an odour that can develop from it and so he’s constantly hyper aware too. That’s not to say all people who have BO issues are in the grips of a medical issue, but it’s impossible to tell so I try not to judge...

Crikes, yes, let's just try and be ever so slightly kinder to each other. Having to tolerate someone else's smell for a while is hardly going to throw your entire day.

In Scotland the word is Minging. Pronounced like clinging. Certainly in Scotland water is free so no excuse. I realise domestic water is charged in England, but I'm sure it cannot be cut off.

"Not everyone who doesn't wash regularly has a mental illness. Some are just lazy, that's a fact."
@SaraNade...your response shows even more that you have zero understanding about illness. I wasn't specifically referring to mental health. There are thousands of people who suffer from brain injuries and conditions and spend a lot of their time confused with cognitive issues. They wouldn't necessarily think to wash and the majority of them don't have carers. They are not lazy. It's not a perfect world where we all know what we are doing. There's also dementia and altseimers. You can't presume everyone is fit and well and able to wash and wash their clothes.

So today I learned bullies don't grow out of it, they just grow older and hide behind a computer keyboard.

@missbattenburg

Absolutely agree. Anyone can experience a medical condition or anxiety that triggers hyperhidrosis etc. When you're depressed you struggle to find the motivation to do things. People may not have ever learnt personal hygiene or they may be sweaty after a long days work.

It doesn't matter the reason, yes it can be unpleasant but you only have to tolerate it for a fraction of your day. If they were in your house it's understandable but berating people without having any understanding is a bit mean

Everyone stinks at some point in their life.

Some people's attitude stinks more than any amount of BO

I have HS which causes abscesses, and I get them in my left armpit. The abscesses smell, and when I have a giant open wound in my armpit, I can't use anti perspirant
It's not caused by hygiene, I use hibiscrub to wash with but if I have a flare or an open wound then one armpit might smell. Not much I can do about it

You can't understand someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes.

One thing is for sure, the person probably isn't doing it just to piss you off. You likely don't register on their radar. We've all got stuff to deal with.

I often smell at the end of the day because I sweat with a baby in a sling, have baby sick and leaked milk on me, baby wee on my trousers etc. I can't be doing with changing my clothes every time some body fluid gets on me.

The utterly ridiculous and unrealistic idea that the very mentally ill are getting anywhere CLOSE to the care we need shows how COMPLETELY Out of touch you and anyone who agrees with you is!

And even if the services were there, how likely would someone with severe depression or anxiety be to ask for help/expose the problem after reading pages and pages of "eww ,eww,ewww".

The mental health I can understand to a point but if you can function to get dressed and go out you can have a wash IMO.

Of course, all those people who have depression so crippling that they can barely function should just pull themselves together and have a damn good scrub, shouldn't they? And it they're dressed, they may well have been in those clothes 24/7.

Self-neglect is one of the first signs of serious depression imo. It's always the first I noticed when one of my MH clients was becoming unwell.

People also forget to wash coats, cardigans, dressing gowns regularly. They keep shoes for way too long and they become smelly. Which in turn makes their feet and the whole room stink of a vile cheesy smell. They also keep handbags for years and they are absolutely filthy.

Or they're subsisting on basic benefits and can't afford to do laundry, take coats to the cleaners or replace their shoes out of their paltry £73.10 pw, of which £8 goes on council tax and a fair few quid may have to go on rent, because benefits don't cover the full amount.

I myself have a serious gas issue. Not sure what I eat that brings it on but farts will literally explode out. It's not normal at all, like having a farting sound, they literally blast out in a single ball of gas which can make me shout out in fright. I do try to hold them in when I feel them coming on, but it's quite hard. If I compress my diaphragm and drive down, compressing my shpincter at the same time, it's like they disappear. But my point is they maybe can't help it.