Honking of body odour!

[Manatee50]

Is it just me noticing but there seems honking body odour permeating the air. Are people just not washing? Or is a thing to reek ? It seems tubes, buses, streets have are filled with people with stifling B.O.

I've been wondering about this. I assumed our senses sharpen at perimenopause as some friends in their early 40s said similar recently.

Or pregnancies have a lasting change on sensory processing?

Or the trend for natural deodorants is still ongoing...

It could be result of overcrowded homes, fuel hikes, poverty eg less hot water, cold rooms, washing/drying clothes less often to save costs, lack of space to dry clothes indoors. Houses with no spare rooms, or cramped house shares?
Increase in mental health problems, harder to access treatment. It's very common for people to neglect personal care when depressed, chronic anxiety, lack of motivation.

Bad diet could play a role too. Obesity rates going up, so people sweat more, prone to weight-related health conditions. Which in turn may make it harder to wash and dress, especially washing hair.

The average family has less time these days. Parents usually both employed, fitting a commute around kids' school/nursery run, trying to get everyone's laundry done at weekend. Maybe it's hard for many to shower every day or wear a fresh outfit, even if no issues with money/health/mobility?

I'm 27. For as long as I can remember, I've suffered from really bad B.O. I genuinely don't smoke weed, but my sweat smells exactly like weed. The GP said it's due to bacteria, and I tried some prescription anti perspirant and it didn't help. I really need to go back to the GP about it, but it's almost more mortifying to talk to the GP about it than it is to just grin and bear the fact I smell so bad.

I wear thick coats and hoodies to mask the smell as much as possible. I even wash my armpits with antibacterial hand wash and I use anti perspirant after every shower. Nothing seems to help. I sweat excessively too (and it wasn't any better when I was skinnier, either).

I know I smell, and it's mortifying, but it's so hard to keep going back to the GP, too.

@GarlicBreadStan wash/shower/scrub with hibiscrub. Will be available online or in somewhere like boots.

Honking = disgusting expression.

Pretty disgusting odour

I understand it may be a medical condition and it’s really tough to mask the smell. I would definitely ask your gp to refer you to a specialist, dont feel that you are being a nuisance. Maybe the covering up to mask the smell is adding to the issue. Hope you get relief from this problem soon.

I think the B.O I sense is days of cumulative sweat. Maybe I’m particularly sensitive.

I think the problem at the moment is that it’s cold in the morning but warms up during the day. I know that I spend most of the day a sweaty mess as a result, wearing the wrong number of layers and sweating profusely under my coat.

I've got worse since menopause. Dove deodorant and a daily shower helps

Yes the London underground stank yesterday, was really noticeable when certain people got on the train. Delightfully accompanied with the odd stench of fart wafting through the carriage. Absolutely repulsive 🤢

I think you need to move. If there are so many smelly people where you live it sounds like a really bad area.

Hi Garlicbreadstan are you sure it isn’t your clothes even when washed in the washing machine, sometimes in the armpits of t-shirts and certain tops the bacteria lingers?

This sort of thing makes me paranoid. I really do not think I smell at all. I did as a teenager, I could smell my own BO all the time (I blame horrible polycotton school shirts…)
Now at age 38 I never ever smell, even if I skip a day showering or forget to wear deodorant.
I live alone though and it makes me worry I’m desensitised to it and there’s nobody to tell me I pong 😬

I have/had awful BO bacteria. If you have sticky ear wax then it’s in your genes to be predisposed.

Super weird but if you have a non smelly partner then get non crème stick antiperspirant and ask to share. You will pick up your partners biome and it makes a massive difference. When I start to smell again I check which stick my partners been using and it’s always that he’s not been using it/ using a different one.

Sounds so weird but I am not joking. It does work and it’s clinically proven.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2120923-stinky-armpits-bacteria-from-a-less-smelly-person-can-fix-them/

I’ve noticed it a lot recently also the smell of tonsil stones

Is it just recently?

Could it be related to the Mitchum saga (some batches withdrawn as burning the skin). Many are trying to switch from it.

Let's face it Mitchum is really the only odour-buster that really works!

what do they smell of?

I think it’s the aluminium-free deodorants. Everyone I know seems to be talking about the perils of deodorant and buying it and it just doesn’t work!

I’m curious OP, are you the kind of person to whom any body odour is bad, or is it just particular people? My partner can stink to high heaven but to me he pretty much always smells great. Other people who smell strongly, not so much. I wonder if what you’re actually objecting to is just people whose body odour isn’t palatable to you. Some people just aren’t the right match for our noses!

I don’t really know how to describe it! Most people probably just think of it as bad breath but I’ve had them before and they’re such a distinct smell

I think breath repulses me even more than whiffy underarms.

I think it’s washing the clothes at low temperatures that fails to kill the bacteria. You don’t smell when everything goes on fresh but as you warm up the bacteria warms up and then honking all round!

Afraid I don't think 'just showering at night' is an option - you sweat in bed, and sweat turns to BO. I would feel gross if I didn't shower in the morning (and I don't even wear PJs.

I think I tolerate most smells but the frequency of smelling people with B.O that had accumulated over time has definitely increased. It may be the pleasant weather we’ve had that is a factor.

I remember the change when smoking was banned in clubs. You went from clubs and bars which stunk of cigarette smoke, to the disgusting fug of body odour and farts 🤢

i notice I am much more intolerant of body odours (including my own) when I'm approaching and on my period, and it was the same when I was pregnant - especially with my daughter - so I think hormones (and menopause) could definitely play a part too.

I think it's a mixture of more unpredictable weather and the switch to natural deodorants. I tried one, and the stench was hideous!
The current mitchum situation can't be helping - even if people want to stick with it after the recent issues, it's out of stock everywhere!