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.

It’s not black and white, a lot of adults smell due to poor mental health or learning disabilities.

Out of curiosity is this why schools have been educating children on good hygiene? At least my kids school has. My kids were confused why they needed to be told to wash daily and brush teeth ect. All they took from it was they already had good hygiene.

There’s something nasty about these posts

knew someone once with awful smelling feet (actually her shoes) they were awful absolutely stinking to high heaven. Nobody told her until one day I sort of mentioned it in a jokey way and she hardly said a word but must have listened because then the footwear changed

People (who are able) who don’t wash their hair, it absolutely stinks. I remember a college friend telling me very proudly that they hadn’t washed their hair for two weeks (in the summer) as it wasn’t greasy.

Yes exactly

Drying clothes inside / without a tumble dryer.

I was a smelly kid / teen. It was my clothes and I didn't realise until I moved out - I just couldn't smell it.

Coming back from Uni and wearing stuff my mum had washed and I realised...

It could be BO but the people who honk when I go round Tescos just don’t wash or dry their clothes properly. And sometimes with that fucking awful laundry stinkable stuff on top.

Some people smell of slightly off beef and I dread to think what that is but it often emanates from people in gym clothes. 🤢

Trimethylaminuria also known as TMAU is an unfortunate and incurable metabolic disease that causes people to smell no matter how much they wash.

Yes unwashed hair is another ick. Days old grease. Ugh.

Yes to the hair. DS2 is autistic and does struggle with hygiene. He understands the need to shower, but he has very thick, long hair and just didn't wash it often enough, however much I explained that tube soot and stale London air and bacteria would cling to it. It smelled of tube station air and stale vape.

In the end DH had a pretty blunt word with him. He didn't take it well. But next time we saw him, his hair was very neatly cut and smelled good.

My DD can get very smelly and doesn't notice it herself. She needs a really strong deodorant, she is still a teen so maybe it will calm down when she gets older. I do think some people sweat more than others and smells cling to some more than others. I've been around people who smoke but I'd have no idea they did. I've been around other smokers who smell really strongly of it.

A big contributor is wearing synthetic fibre clothes, polyester especially, and then using non-bio washing detergent. The clothes pick up BO smell way faster than natural fibres, within minutes rather than hours, and then hang on to the smell even when washed.

I showered last night, put on deodorant (but not antiperspirant) and feel like i could do with a shower now, but I've been wearing a linen dress all day and am just hot and sticky feeling rather than smelling of sweat.

Good lord why?

'Slightly off beef.'

That's interesting. I have noticed a massive increase in young people smelling of cheap, fatty pork - or perhaps slightly off beef, as you say. I was trying to work out how the hell a whole generation could have this vile smell (sometimes noticeable on DS2 and his girlfriend) and I worked out it is related to vaping. Not sure how, but vaping seems to induce stale, meaty-smelling sweat.

There always is. It’s playground nonsense.

How did you manage a bath in this heat 😭😭

Perhaps it comes down to school again. We had some lessons in biology about hygiene. Plus at home mum made sure I knew about keeping fresh with shaving armpits deodorants etc bathing daily etc washing clothes regularly, changing underwear daily etc. Maybe some of these people are not taught by anyone these days

A bath?

It was vile and he still doesn’t shower, it’s disgusting. I rarely see him. He doesn’t think he smells

I do think diet plays a big part in it too. I know when my DH works away and usually eats crap (due to timings of him finishing and only take aways / pubs being close by) he will stink when he gets back on at the end of the week, despite showering twice a day (labourer). But after a week of eating actual vegetables and not shop bought stuff at home, he is less stinky. Still not fully unstinky mind but after grafting as hard as he does, especially in this weather, it's to be expected.

Someone I once knew used to smell because he never dried his clothes properly so he’d have a constant musty damp smell coupled with tobacco smell it was gross.

that!

I stink after a long run when it's hot (or not that hot), or a heavy training session. It can wait until I go home to shower. Who cares if I smell on the way home.

Have you considered running with a bucket of water, sponge, bar of soap and complete change of clothes? That's what I'd do in your situation.

It's genetics.

I'm not a smelly person at all, can go without showering and eventually I smell unclean, but I never smell of BO or sweat. (this has been confirmed by very close friends and family). I do shower daily usually but I do a lot of wild camping and hiking so have been known to go a few days without.

DH on the other hand pongs by the end of the day despite having impeccable personal hygiene, using soap instead of shower gel, using antiperspirant and changing his clothes everyday. We have to use laundry sanitiser and a hot wash on his clothes.

DHs parents are both smelly people. They do not have good personal hygiene and also have that nonenal odour. So they smell of BO, the sour unwashed smell AND old people smell.

Kids are little still, so I'm interested to see which of us they take after.