What makes a smelly person

[pootlingalong5]

Bit of a random one. I’ve been out all day with dd at a NT place, in the woods, paddling in water etc. Didn’t bother showering before we went as I knew I’d be getting dirty and sweaty. Got home and knew I smelt a bit, probably not so someone walking past would notice me but I could tell I wasn’t fresh, as many of us probably are not in this weather.

I’ve had a bath and feel much better now but it made me wonder about people who really do smell. I encounter them a lot in shops and on buses and have been unfortunate enough to work with a few. That’s like a constant smell that you can detect a mile off and that lingers even when they leave the room. Would it be caused by them simply not washing for days on end? Or maybe I was one of them today and just didn’t realise.

I can't go out without showering in the morning even if going to get sweaty at an exercise class. A lot of the time it could be residual smells from clothing as sweaty smells dont always wash out. I spray gym top armpits to help with that

I worked with adult students before and 1 particular learner smelt extremely bad of body odour. None of the staff would tell her. I found it really hard but I did tell her. I was very gentle about it and the subject they were studying involved high personal hygiene.

She was very embarrassed and after that she never smelt again. It made me think she just didn’t realise, or didn’t think other people noticed.

I think in her case it was wearing the same uniform on repeat without washing it.

Our uniform shirts were made of an awful material that was supposed to be wicking and help us breathe etc
In reality they just really stank and held onto the smells so even regular washes after one wear still left them smelling of BO even if the wearer themselves didn't smell.

I think there are some people with awful hygiene and they do smell, I'm assuming they don't realise they smell.
But there are also some ppl who have regular good hygiene who for example had to walk a distance in the heat, and smell just on that day.

knew I smelt a bit, probably not so someone walking past would notice me

or so you think!
I mean maybe not in an outdoor setting, but in a small area, it's likely they would.

It's combination: BO
unwashed or badly washed clothes
badly dried clothes, that smells too
bad deodorant

Posters on here who fall over themselves to brag they run 1 load of laundry a month (while they're cooking their monthly chicken) don't realise how much people and fabric stink if they are not clean. Hair can smell badly very quickly too.

It's normal to sweat, but you shouldnt' stink within 2 mn

I think some people are just in denial and don’t want to believe they smell. Especially the ones where you can’t not notice the smell. Sometimes being depressed is enough to stop people taking care of personal hygiene as well. It’s odd that when you do have a particularly potent ponger in a work environment and someone has to tell them, they are always completely unaware of it.

I used to work with a youngish, mid 20s man who lived with his father and had very old fashioned ideas including, we assumed, only having a bath once a week. If he and his father smelled perhaps they couldn’t smell anyone else over their own BO and thought that everyone else smelled too?

Not washing properly.
Not washing clothes properly.
I’m a sweaty person (thank you peri). I’ll get up and shower including my hair using soap/shampoo, I shave, dry off, I use a fragranced body lotion, deodorant and perfume. I put on clean clothes. Use a clean towel daily.

I’ll shower again before bed and again clean underwear.
Wash bedding once a week.
I also exfoliate and have a steam and sauna - found this helps and stops me sweating so much after (odd I know, but works for me).

I think you’d be pretty unfortunate to still smell very badly of B.O if you are doing all of these things. You may smell a bit un fresh I guess? But surely not really bad!!

I suppose what you eat, what you are doing, if you are on your period or have a bad tummy along with what fabrics you are wearing can play a part too.

I have worked with some smelly people. In one case he proudly said he had a bath once a week, didn't believe in deodorant and he would wear the same clothes all week, even in hot weather. You had to keep upwind of him. Another really lovely lady smelled of stale sweat, that oniony-cheese-and-onion-pasty-armpit smell. I assumed she had a medical condition and couldn't help it, until I met her equally smelly husband and daughter. I decided that they didn't bother washing often.

People just have different lives. Some didn’t have the same start and weren't taught to shower brush teeth etc. some
people neglect themselves as a form of self harm.

Forgive me for being a little blunt, but in your situation I would have…

had a shower before setting out

taken a couple of wet washcloths - one saturated with deodorising soap, the other au naturel - for freshening up at the end of your sweaty activities

plus a clean t-shirt to change into.

You would take pre soaked washcloths to a sweaty activity?

it’s not blunt, it’s nuts 😂

Why…… explain your reasoning…

Perimenopause 🙋🏻‍♀️

You need to put those garments on a higher wash even if the label says don’t. A higher wash will wash out all the smells.

I mean…no lol.

I was going to an outdoor place, we were mucky from being in the woods, wet from paddling and sweaty within 10 seconds of walking out of the front door. I don’t think a damp wash cloth and a new t shirt would have done much good. I bathed when I got in. Maybe I did noticeably stink to others but I’m clean now 😂

Why can’t you get sweaty then come straight home and shower?

In my experience people who use soap are less likely to smell than people who just shower and use nothing, or use shower gel. I worked with someone who showered but just rinsed rather than washing with soap. He smelt awful to the extent people complained about it. He came in the next day and his hair was actually a different colour - he'd used shampoo and it had taken all the filth out of his hair.

My daughter washes daily every evening. Sometimes morning and evening. For what ever reason after a few hours she has a bad body odour. Shaved her arm pits, deodorant, scent boosters for her clothes, fresh clean clothes daily. Summer is the worst for her. Some do neglact themselves due to being unaware of their own personal hygiene though. They don’t have good personal hygiene due to never being told about it. My kids school teacher person hygiene and I did find it bizarre but I’m guessing some parents don’t teach it. My kids came away from it asking why they needed to be told the obvious.

In my experience when there’s a noticeable smell it’s almost always unwashed clothes, rather than the body itself.

My Brother doesn’t wash, at one stage he hadn’t showered for 8 months it’s disgusting and he smelt vile. He always wore clean clothes but it didn’t detract from his stench

In my experience it's the clothes and unwashed hair that really retain the smell. I work in a school and unfortunately do have the odd child who really does smell and they usually look grubby. Their clothes, hair etc all look like they need a wash. It will get reported and hopefully improves. One child for multiple reasons not just hygiene was put in care. His foster parents had such a positive impact on both his hygiene, health, physical appearance and confidence he was almost unrecognisable.

Health condition 🙋🏻‍♀️ (genuine real one)

What’s with all the SMELLY posters on Mumsnet recently?

@pootlingalong5 this is going to sound crude, the BO smells, although revolting I can get my head around, but it’s the ‘fanny or urine’ smells that I can’t tolerate or understand how people can just ignore not washing.

… could it be the two heatwaves?