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.

You said you didn't shower but did you put deodorant on.

I have a family member and the full family stink, their house is really dirty, they don’t regularly wash clothes and do no not get showered daily, I think on hot days or after gym etc most people are a bit sweaty but people that stink have not been washed regularly or are putting dirty clothes on.

If I wear a sleeveless top, I'm always terrified that I smell so am continually having a sly sniff just to make sure.

I know a man who absolutely honks of BO. He has a wife and I wonder if she doesn't notice it.

I remember when my daughter worked at a bank they have her 2nd hand work uniforms when she began and she instantly started to smell of stale sweat !
I noticed straight away she only did when I mentioned how hot she been washing the blouses she said normal wash so I took them all and soaked the armpits in bicarbonate soda then hot washed no more nasty smells !
Sometimes people just not very clean and they don't care I don't mind a bit of fresh sweat it's when it's vomit inducing stench that lingers like wtf is that what the hell is so crusty it smells that bad !!!! 🤮

How old is your daughter? When mine was 11/12 I found she often stank of BO despite showering and changing clothes daily. I put it down to hormones but weirdly her dad, brother and sister said they couldn’t smell her and thought I was imagining it. Only me and her could smell it.

She’a 14 and smells like the bloody perfume counter at Selfridges now, so has clearly grown out of it.

But I wonder if hormones can make clean people still smell and whether only some people can smell the smell?

Of course some people just don’t have good hygiene too.

Plenty of women on Mumsnet only shower every other day or every few days and don't wash in between, they boast about it when those " how often do you shower" threads. According to them they never smell.

People smell due to: not showering/ bathing every day.

Washing clothes at 30, it just isn't hot enough to get smells out of clothes.

Re wearing unwashed clothes.

Wearing synthetic fabrics.

Needing a better deodorant/ antiperspirant.

If overweight with extra skin folds, not making sure that these are very clean. Whole body deodorant helps here.

Medical issues account for very few of the smelly people.

I used to work somewhere that required a 20 minute walk from work to the train station. Even using deodorant I must have smelled on hot days on the train but in the absence of shower facilities at the station there wasn't anything I could have done.

I didnt say I spray deodorant on top. I use a dr beckmann spray on the armpits before washing them with bio powder. It helps to remove sweat and deodorant stains

I feel like a complete slattern now, I am deeply ashamed and should apologise to any one I have offended with my actions

Worse than BO tbh is that 'unwashed bum' smell that some people have. There's been a couple of occasions where I've been in close proximity to it (on a bus and in the supermarket) and it makes me feel ill.

I hate the smell of dirty hair even more than the smell of BO. People who say they wash their hair once a week and it's fine...I just think 'I bet it's not'.

I also think people have very varied senses of smell... some just don't realise because they can't smell it themselves .

She’s 14. Other people in the house have said I’m the only person smelling this. She’s not aware how bad it is but could smell it to some degree. It has been happening for 2 years but it has got better in time. Some one at school did mention it when I mentioned she wash regularly washed and I was aware of the smell issue. She mentioned she had a adour that smelt like a hormonal smelll rather than unwashed.

There was a child who smelled at my primary school. It turned out his mum didn’t have a washing machine.

I think it’s often clothes rather than people.

I have noticed that people’s winter coats often smell. I think some people don’t clean them regularly and they take on a kind of musty sour smell that is very unpleasant.

It isn’t a nice thing to say but overweight people seem to sometimes niff a bit as well. I think it’s bacteria getting in the folds of the skin or the extra sweat. I sat next to a lovely mum at the school but oh dear that damp sour smell of the skin. Not pleasant.

Having a shower in the morning before starting your day is basic hygiene, OP. You wonder why people smell? this is one of the reasons: thinking that they don't need a shower because they aer going to get dirty anyway.

Portable shower….. setting fire to sweaty clothes………. I’m giving you 7/10 for your feverish imagination… 😎

Lying in a really cool bath in this heat is delicious 😋

Love this 😂

Believing you are so much cleaner than others can provide an easily achieved glow of superiority. No wonder it's so popular.

I think unwashed bodies and clothes are what smell really bad. And people who wash once a week but claim not to smell are not being honest with themselves. I had a good friend once who washed once a week and was adamant that he didn’t smell. He did. He didn’t reek of BO but he smelled unmistakably unwashed.

I am glad you pointed this out. Especially as it's so warm over night... I don't understand why you wouldn't just have a 2 min shower before getting ready for the day.

I always found it’s not usually the body that smells, it’s the clothes.

I used to live in 1 room with a baby and so I could never dry clothes properly so they always had a damp smell.

I also didn’t have a washing machine and so they were just hand washed and the sweat smell never really got out (couldn’t afford many clothes either).

People with lots of dogs also sometimes smell.

My friend has a sweat problem and she smells of BO quite a lot regardless of how often she washes.

Hygiene can be covered in different lessons. Science from a disease prevention point of view. Then what was PSE can also cover it.

Hygiene is so bad in some areas that supervised toothbrushing has been introduced for 3-5 year olds in some nurseries and primary schools in deprived areas. This has come about because the most common reason for hospital admission for 5-9 year olds is for treatment for tooth decay. Incredible when you consider how preventable it is.

I was once working with an early 20s graduate. We were working up courage to talk to him about his smell (BO) as he was on a client-facing role. Then one day he was talking about all the things he’d learnt living alone for the first time - including - you don’t need to wash your shirt just give it a quick iron.

Gave us the opening to say - no James you really need to wash your shirts.

There's a saying: if you stink and can't think, you need zinc.

My BO has massively reduced since supplementing zinc.

Some ppl don't wash enough, don't wash their clothes enough, don't use effective deodorant. Additionally some ppl live in damp homes, which make their clothes smell before anything else, sometimes homes are not clea,cooking smells. Smoke also is an unpleasant smell.
I work with mostly 16+ lads most they are fine but they do manual lessons too but usuacarry Lynx, to mask the smell till they get home!