Do all prepubescent boys have a weird smell?

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My son is 12, getting very close to puberty and he smells awful. He wears deodorant and it’s not a normal BO smell. He showers daily but every time he gets in the car after school I get hit in the face by an overwhelming smell that is just awful.

so is it all boys or is mine unique and this is a sign of something more sinister and needing further investigation?

The smell seems to resemble onions/hamster cage. I am constantly airing their room.

lol we used to call our now adult son's bedrooms the hamster cages when they were younger as well!

I'm a Year 6 teacher and everyone says my classroom always stinks, but I don't notice it and neither do the children! 😂

I have one smelly 13 year old too and his smell started at about 10, he smelt like hamburgers for a while, really gross and meaty, I could smell when he was home from school!! 😂

By what age does it wear off? A dd used to share a student house with 5 boys and one other girl (all 19+) she used to say that the boys always smelt rank - but that was at least partly because they weren’t over-fond of soap and water.

My 16 year old DS doesn’t smell anymore unless he’s done loads of sport and then it’s just a normal sweaty smell.

The 14 year old stinks 😂 he has to shower morning and evening and I change his bedding/towel about twice a week to try and help…… however it’s not all negative as the dog absolutely loves the smell of him so happily cuddles up to him when the rest of us don’t want too!

That would be hilarious if it didn’t actually smell so bad!

I hadn’t even considered how awful this must be for their teachers 15 lads all smelling that bad must be quite something!

Well that’s reassuring to know that it’s more biological and others don’t get a whiff as badly as I do and I’m not about to be reported for neglect 😂

Seems my boys are the minority because no, no weird smell. No she’ll at all really.

Is he washing properly? I don't remember mine smelling . Clean clothes on? What sort of smell is it?

Ds is 10, 11 in December. We've just been on a UK holiday in a lodge. Packed up this morning and the stench from his room when I opened the door the get his stuff 🤮🤮🤮. I left the windows open for an hour and all the windows in that part of the lodge and it was still vile when I had to lock up and go. Poor cleaners.

He is very fusty. Showers daily, I always remind him to wash bits, pits and arse but the boy honks by the time he is out of school despite being prompted to use antiperspirant etc.

He's also a fucker for hoodies and fleecy dressing gowns which makes it 10 times worse. I've only bought cotton summer shirts in the hope natural fibres are better than synthetic stuff.

Oh yes. Make sure he’s washing his pits, as my son wasn’t for ages, only when I walked past him as he got out of the shower and realised he still stank that I realised he wasn’t washing properly

DS is 13, and I'm surprised he's not smellier by now (puberty is definitely well underway though). I can smell a metallic smell when he's been hot, but not a BO smell. And he brings home a classroom smell when he's been at school - it smells a bit of farty boys and Lynx. He's not even using deodorant yet, he'll use a PitRok crystal when he needs to.

I was pregnant with my youngest when my oldest hit puberty and I really hated the way he smelt! It got so much better after giving birth!

Could it be his scalp? Both teenage boys and girls can get smelly hair/scalps due to hormonal changes.

Yes, awful smell. Maybe even worse when they hit puberty.

Mine is 13 and, to me, he smells of vanilla and baby shampoo. Except his socks which I admit smell of the bog. Maybe I am just nose blind. But he’s ok so far as I can tell. He has 2 older sisters. They never smelled bad either.

Yes to hamster smell. I have to secretly air his room as he hates fresh air.
At the end of the school day a waft accompanies him into the car.

He's not got to the acid armpits/ Lynx stage yet.

There's nothing quite like period 5 eww de y9/10, post-PE covered up with Lynx.

My son is 12, doesn't generally get that sweaty and doesn't really get BO (unless he's done a LOT of exercise) - but he does leave an odd smell behind in places where he's spent a lot of time (mostly his bedroom). I can't work out what causes it - and it's not even that bad, it's just his smell. It's a relatively new thing in the last year or so.

Just wait til he's an actual teenager OP!

Yes, a KS3 classroom at the end of the day is not a feast for the nose. And winter heating fug, or sweaty polyester blazers in the sun just enhances the aroma. Be grateful you don't have 30 at home 😁

My DS is nearly 13 and doesn't smell at all. Yet! No real signs of puberty though.

I teach secondary and a couple of my lessons follow their PE lesson and my classroom has needed airing afterwards in this hot weather. 28 ripe teenagers post PE are utterly honkworthy!

Buy him dettol anti bacterial soap and mitchum roll on for men. This combination will keep the pong at bay, shower gel makes it worse. He needs to scrub himself well with traditional bar soap & dettol does the job.

It's the bacteria in the skin which causes the unpleasant odour.

Yes!!

We joke about it now he’s well into his 20s, but my DS was just like Gollum between 13 - 15. Enormous hands and feet out of proportion with the rest of his body. Long, thin, white arms and legs. Lank hair. Aversion to daylight. Tendency to only communicate in a low growl with hunched shoulders.

And smelt very peculiar.

Now he’s upright. Confident. Good looking and 100x fresher scented!