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.

On my bus commute this morning, I had the joy of eau de meat (smelled like a butchers shop - boke) interspersed with occasional wafts of rancid fart.

I carry a bottle of expensive but quite subtle perfume in my work bag and put a little spray on my wrist to mask it when it's very bad but do reserve this for the worst offenders as I'm conscious that my idea of subtle and acceptable perfume might not be everyone's taste.

It’s a kind of damp, doggy, old cheese smell. It’s on synthetic coats that are sweated into, farted into and never ever cleaned. Nearly always worn by men and they make a kind of smelly air when the sit down/get up near you.

I know a lot of people lost their sense of smell from covid so it could be that more people can't smell their own b.o. so don't realise it's an issue?

If you wear a brand new t shirt is it the same? Or better. As I'd bet it is your clothes. I'd recommend using laundry sanitizer in every wash, and dry the clothes quickly and thoroughly before putting away.

I think it is the material used in a lot of clothing together with people washing clothes at lower temps.

Op I think it's people washing clothes on low temperature and with eco liquid etc.

I wonder if it's because of synthetic fabrics. I don't particularly smell bad I don't think but there's certain clothes I own that start smelling pretty quickly.

People don’t wear more synthetic fabrics now than they used to wear 20 years ago, though. People have been wearing a huge amount of synthetic fabric since the 1960s and, if anything, a lot of modern synthetics are more breathable than they used to be.

It’s also got nothing to do with armpit shaving as a PP suggested. There is nothing about armpit hair that makes people more smelly or less hygienic. If you have hair there, sweat will obviously attach to it. But if you don’t have hair there, the same sweat simply attaches to your clothes instead and will smell exactly the same. The only reason to shave your armpits is your personal aesthetic or sensory preference - just like pubic hair. I think a lot of women like to believe it’s for hygiene because they don’t want to admit to themselves that they’re conforming to a sexist beauty standard.

I shave my armpits, legs and bikini line, because I like it, but I’m also aware that reason I like it is probably just because I’ve been conditioned to think it’s nice for women to be smooth 🤷🏻‍♀️

Adding onto synthetic fabrics and eco washing cycles, I think the use of shower gel instead of soap also contributes.

I like a nice shower gel on most of my skin, but if I don't use a proper soap on my armpits I can get horrible BO by the afternoon.

I watched an interesting video by Prof Hannah Fry about the temperature in the Tube. The tunnels are dug through clay which holds on to heat. It has now absorbed as much as it can take and will only get warmer.
Travelling by Tube is going to get honking muggy!
P.S. Vodka or rubbing alcohol dabbed on the armpits of clothes kills the bacteria that makes BO.

I’m menopausal and have to hold my nose a lot. With a colleague yesterday and in a cab too. I could barely breathe

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

Some of them work. Fussy works fine for me,no BO here.

Thankfully I generally can't smell things unless they're really bad.

The only times I've had issues with colleagues having BO was with a male colleague who smelled fusty (think it was his clothes not washed properly) and a heavily pregnant colleague who had a distinct sour/sweet smell throughout her pregnancy. When she sat next to me, I had to literally stop breathing and try to unobtrusively move away a bit. But I think she realised what I was doing.

I think people have moved to natural deodorants and away from antiperspirants… which as good for the environment as you think they are, don’t work.

Yep, and I've noticed some men try to cram as many clothes as possible on the radiator or clothes drier. They don't give the clothes room to breathe and dry properly.

You might also notice that people have really bad skin these days. I think it's to do with food. Eating lots of processed fats and sugar messing up their hormones.
Then trying to fix the problem with chemicals....

Yes, I'd agree with that. Some people seem to think shower gel works but I don't find it as good as Dove bar soap.

😧

Yeah I had a period of noticing this over a few years… a lot of it was young people as well! As though deodorant has gone out of fashion!

But it’s the way you can smell them from a distance, if I go without deo, then sure my pits will end up smelling, but you can only smell it if you stick your nose in my pits!! Not from 2+ metres away 🤷🏻‍♀️

Its the layers. The smell permeates into coats, jumpers and they're not washed as much.
Plus everyone wears polyester which stinks.

I think the young uns have lost their way a bit! I'm not sure if they are rebelling against their parents hygiene standards or saving the planet etc....I have a teenage son and daughter and the rule in this house is that you shower daily and put deodorant on! They always have clean clothes available and change bedding weekly....they do not smell!!!
Some of the whiffy teenagers walking around astonish me, surely their parents can smell them, I think it is verging on neglect to allow them to smell so rotten but I have mentioned this on here before and got told their parents can't possibly be expected to tell them to shower and wear clean clothes🤷‍♀️

Try Persimmon soap, the wonder soap that odour eats.

I was actually warned about this when I first moved to France and didn't really believe it but a trip to the supermarket can be horrendous in the summer months.

This is very much a hypothesis based on speculation but I wonder if it’s to do with diet or milk. I’ve heard people who live in some Asian countries think we smell horrible due to the amount of dairy and meat we eat. Younger people are more likely to eat less meat and be low dairy/dairy free so I wonder if that changes your skin bacteria or sweat chemicals. Maybe that combined with natural deodorants, synthetic clothing and possibly natural laundry detergent

Fussy does work for me, as I said, and as the refill packaging is recyclable/ compostable, there is nothing to go to landfill. So they are better for the environment.