How do people not know they smell?

[sioermt]

I’m not talking “it’s hot, I’ve been sweating and headed home for a shower” or I’m disabled and can’t shower so have a sink wash or even showering every day

went to the supermarket today and was hit with a wall of body odour from someone in front of me to the point in caught in my throat. Every aisle they went down stunk of it, people were moving away and looking who the smell was from. It was acrid beyond belief. it was a couple who were driving and seemed perfectly normal apart from this smell as if they hadn’t showered in months

Could he have had trimethylaminuria (fish odour syndrome)?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-51006604

I know, I was literally pointing out she was a mean employee...

Untreated lactose intolerance can make people very smelly.
DS had a room-mate with it at university who showered every day but loved dairy and his jackets and shoes were soaked through with the smell.

Nobody is mentioning the recent heatwave and need for more and stronger antiperspirants. The stronger ones contain alluminium which people can be allergic to.

People are disgusting. Plenty of excuses being made but there’s no excuse for it.

This.

I fully get what you are saying. I have a real problem with stinky people. I find it offensive. It’s simple. You shower/bath everyday. 3 things you change everyday. Socks/pants shirts. Clean your bloody teeth. It’s disgusting to inflict your body odour on others

Agree, no excuse for it. A bar of soap and water very easy really.

Always a sign of poor mental health, childhood neglect or both.

Some people have been dragged up and have never got into the rhythm of showering and washing clothes and cleaning a house …. If you think about it that actually takes up quite a bit of time and effort. Imagine learning that if you’ve not had it ingrained from childhood?

It doesn’t take any effort at all to keep yourself clean. I woke up really sweaty, didn’t have time for a shower. I grabbed some wet wipes and soap and I’m as good as new.

Of course it takes some effort, everything does. And many people have no effort they can spare, for mental health and other reasons.

People also have medical issues which might make them sweat more. I take two showers a day, clean clothes on both times, there’s still some times when I will smell ripe. It’s really hard. I use industrial strength deodorant.

Years ago I worked in a Nursing Home , this happened twice. First time was a lady who had decided to take on a 2nd job working nights in a different home so instead of dropping her uniform at the onsite laundry was just wearing it ti her next job then coming back in it the next morning. After a few days of this she absolutely stank. Management got involved due to service users complaining. This woman knew that she smelled - she didnt care and told us so.
Second time was a case of an abusive partner stopping the woman from showering- Management were really good and set aside a shower for her to use during work ( start of shift), plus gave other support .

No, it doesn’t.

If you can’t uphold basic hygiene, you need real help. It takes two minutes to shower.

I had the misfortune of the same guy sitting in front of me on a train two days running a few months ago and he is possibly the worst smelling person I’ve ever come across. I had to move seats it was just so bad, I honestly felt sick.

I felt bad for him, I’m assuming he was badly mentally ill or something. His hair was thick with grease and hadn’t been cut in some time and the smell was something else. It was basically urine, shit, sweat, foist and decay all in one. Honestly made me heave.

I worked with a lovely woman who smelled bad. She was always smartly turned out and was a good, hardworking employee, but she smelt horrible, like her clothes were stale and musty, and she had BO. I know she had a difficult start in life and I think she did not learn proper self-care.

We went to a restaurant and the owner / manager had a serious dental issue and his breath was awful even at a small distance. When he came with the bill we had to hold our breath. You could visibly see he had issues. He also didn’t smell great, but the teeth were awful.

I work with teenagers and I find the girls often smell worse than the boys. It’s not something I ever comment on as it would be inappropriate.

I have a teenager and he is told to shower daily, has proper roll on and stick deodorant and sprays for on top for smelling nice. We do tell him when he smells and explain that a squirt of his ted baker deodorant is absolutely not enough. He has bar Irish spring soap and shower gel and uses both in the shower. He cycles a couple of miles to and from school and does a lot of exercise (martial arts and boat racing, he’s not a 6ft rugby player) so we are keen for him to not stink us out! We’ve explained that people often don’t smell their own sweat and the need for daily clean clothes and hygiene. I feel it’s our job to produce young people that understand that how they go about life impacts others and also how people see them.

I do think there is often an element of mental health, poor understanding and just not realising that happens. We have the time, resources and energy to insure we are not stinky, plenty of clean clothes, no issues with bills and motivation and capability to ensure change happens.

Its difficult when the smell is so bad you can taste it at the back of your throat.

How on Earth you "cant do anything about it"?

Besides, "fresh" BO smells very different from what the type people OP describing usually smell - stale BO plus piss.

People simply get used to their own smell and no one tells them out of politeness. Go on any discussion about washing and there are always people who say "I dont need to wash daily as I dont smell" - you do, you just dont notice.

Did things improve smell wise, or did she just avoid you afterwards?

This isn't about me.

Surely you are aware many people DO need real help? That's the point.

Have you really never read, seen or heard anything about mental ill health such as depression? There is lots of information about it. A common sign is people stop taking care of themselves, including washing.

In the old days, when people were quite ignorant about mental health, people didn't understand how it affects people. These days, it's more widely understood.

I doubt it

I couldn’t agree more. My sense of smell, unlike some of my other faculties, has not diminished with age! Nothing I like more than the smell of clean washing, mild fabric softener odours beat the other kind hands down.

At least during Covid, masks blocked rancid breath.

My dd doesn’t care about personal hygiene. Not a single shit does she give. If there’s not someone to tell her to wash she won’t. We tried so hard when she was growing up. Some people don’t care and it’s unreasonable of some PPs on here to assume that there aren’t some humans who don’t give a shit.

Why are things worse since Covid?