Anyone else hate the smell of unwashed hair?

[Idontpostmuch]

I'm constantly surprised by how many people don't wash their hair enough. We all have to wash our hair with differing frequencies. My friend only does hers once a week and it's OK. Yet I keep coming across people with revolting smelling hair. In theatres and cinemas, on public transport, and often even in the street, if the breeze catches the scent. Does it really smell so bad, or am I just hyper sensitive to the smell?

No you’re not alone in noticing it. I can’t stand near people whose hair smells of oil and grease I find it really disgusting.

Yep. I saw someone today as part of my job, I meet with her every month, and every time I see her she stinks my office out with her dirty, unwashed hair smell. She’s only with me 10 mins but I have to open the window and spray when she’s left, and I can still smell it in my nostrils long after she’s gone.
Check out queues, cinema, restaurants - I smell it everywhere.

Are you peri/menopausal by chance? Sense of smell does seem heightened then. It’s a curse.

Yes it's horrible. I've always been able to smell it on others.

It's a really horrible smell, I dislike it on others. One woman I know you can smell it from a distance.

I don't think I've ever smelt any ones unwashed hair.

I have on buses - can’t understand why they can’t wash their hair more often like the rest of us - or just use dry shampoo-

What does it smell like? I've never smelt it and I'm very sensitive to smell, can't walk past a perfume counter or Lush without feeling sick.

Yep I can smell it on others (by others I mean child and husband as never really got close to anyone else long enough to smell their hair! )

I like to wash my hair every day, I can't bear the feeling of dirty hair, mine gets so greasy. I sometimes go every other day with dry shampoo but I can't bear it, makes me feel dirty and unwashed all over!

When I was pregnant I could smell unwashed hair a mile off like some crazed hound. It was horrendous, mostly older chaps with longer hair. Luckily my hound super power died after I gave birth and thank goodness. Now I feel sorry for dogs being able to smell EVERYTHING that well.

yes it's grim. My hair is very dry so doesn't get greasy but I still wash it a few times a week so that it doesn't stink

I can smell dirty hair a mile off. It’s always people that have hair that gets greasy.

I can also smell people that don’t shower in the morning.

I remember being sat in a cafe years ago and the woman behind me smelt so bad - her dirty unwashed hair did anyway. All I could think of is that she must have been trying the 'no poo' movement as I couldn't understand why anybody would meet a friend in a cafe with hair that greasy.

YANBU. Hate it.

I'm with you, it's a really strong, disgusting smell.

Although weirdly, when I was pregnant, I couldn't bear the smell of freshly washed hair. It just smelled of chemicals to me.

@Hotnamehere This is Mumsnet remember, where people can smell other people's unwashed hair and especially fannies at twenty paces 🤣. I can't say l've ever smelt either.

I have smelt BO on people but they'd have to be close to me and to smell pretty major before I noticed.

Once more I am delighted not to be as dainty and fastidious as the average mumsnetter.

I live in London, I work in a hospital, I am around people of all types every day, and the only time I have smelled any of their hair is when we are packed in like sardines on the tube, and even then it didn't horrify me.

This is like the threads where people insist they can tell whether someone has their period by the smell when they walk past.

It smells a bit like old, rancid oil.

That unpleasant musty smell. It really lingers.

I 100% think your being slightly dramatic😭

Some posters on MN should have careers as sniffer dogs.

Yes. It can be overwhelming. Once at the hairdresser there was a man who came for a cut but not a wash, so they spritzed his hair to damp it then dried it off at the end. I discreetly sat and smelled my coffee as the dryer heating his unwashed hair/scalp was not good. Another time I sat smelling the perfume on my sleeve and eventually moved as the woman next to me was having some highlights done but when they sat her under the heat lamp the smell from her scalp was way too much, she must not have washed her hair for at least a week.

I think hair holds cooking smells so I cover mine when I cook as I only wash it twice a week

Don't usually smell it but last week in the local shop there was a woman who stunk, however she obviously had an alcohol issue and her hair was wet with grease so.. not a wash once a week thing

Oh my god yes

it’s a filthy damp honk

@HeHeHeDidIt No, went through menopause early, so a long way in the past for me. Heightened sense of smell when pregnant, though.

@Sue152 It's really hard to describe. Not at all like sweaty armpits but just as nasty in its own way. A bit like food that's gone off.