something i don't understand about personal hygiene-

[MarsThe Cat]

not mine(i hope), so much as that of some people that i come across every so often- like today for instance...the person who seems by all accounts to be a normal, clean-dressed person, but when you get close enough, it smells like they shit their pants?
it sometimes boggles my mind how a person can go into public like that and be seemingly oblivious to their own...aroma.
another thing my wife has STRICT orders on- if anything about me smells foul and/or offensive, she is to notify me immediately. anything from a funky-tasting kiss to full-blown mudbutt- i need to know before i/we leave the house...where the shower and clean clothes are.

we can make this a better world, people...even if you don't all know who you are...all it takes is a bar of soap and some warm water.

[redqueen]

1. aahaahahahahahahaha

I'm related (*by marriage*) to someone like that.

Oh, the horror.

[MarsThe Cat]

6. the repeat offenders really puzzle me...

is your *in-law* married or in a relationship with someone who should be telling them about it?

[redqueen]

29. No they are not.

I mean... I think her son & daughter have told her... but apparently she doesn't care.

[tjdee]

2. I worry about that all the time.

I always think I smell fine--I mean, I should--but no one would say any different. They would just *think* it.

Of course, I worry about a lot of things all the time.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. The beauty of the human nose is that it learns to shut out the stench

So people who smell bad, if they've smelled bad for a while, don't notice it.

I notice this when I'm off on camping/canoeing adventures with no shower for a week -- I stink like shit, but I never notice it until I get back into civilization.

I know some people just have had bad BO, no matter what they try to do - one of our teachers was like that; his body was just always making smelly stuff. But most people who stink just have bad hygience, and I simply and totally cannotunderstand why anyone wouldn't want to be clean and smell nice.

I really don't understand it at all.

[Omphaloskepsis]

18. I saw a thing on Mr Wizard? Remember that show?

Basically you stop noticing the shit under your nose after a few minutes. A girl had an onion put up and removed.. She couldn't tell when it happened.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

4. Gross

any possibility this person has a health problem?

[MarsThe Cat]

5. it isn't one particular person or persons-

for instance, a few weeks ago we were in Las Vegas, waiting in the cancellation line for tickets to see "O", and there were two japanese couples in front of us, in a group of four- a man/woman couple, and a man/man couple- they were all dressed nice for a night out, and one of the guys in the m/m couple smelled like he had shit his pants. it was gross...and my wife could smell it too.

today, it was a guy at the grocery store- thankfully not an employee, and thankfully i wasn't there for produce.

btw- "O" was fantastic- and we had FANTASTIC seats- 3rd row "wet seats"
i don't know where smelly ended up- but luckily it wasn't near us. in the cancellation line it's luck of the draw- whatever seats are available when you get to the window is what you get- a guy that was four spots ahead of us in line got seats waaay far up, and we got the primo ones. and some other not-so-lucky, and i'm sure- surprised people, got to sit with smelly.

[hfojvt]

16. my boss has a colostomy bag

because he had colon cancer. The bags, at least in his case, do not contain odor very well.

[MarsThe Cat]

19. i don't think that was the case with the guy i saw-

standing on line- he was younger, and had on fairly form-fitting clothes.

[Starlight]

10. Sometimes it's caused by gum disease/tooth decay.

I once worked with a very pretty young woman who had breathe that smelled like a rotting corpse. No exaggeration. It was difficult to be in the same room with her. She smelled that bad.

[radwriter0555]

15. I knew a republican woman like that! She is married to an accomplished and

well noted neurosurgeon in LA, her kids go to the finest school, they have a lovely house, and she has THE worst rotted tooth breath on the planet.

With all their money she should get that fixed.

[lpbk2713]

28. I used to work with a guy like that.

I always tried to keep my distance. He was a nice enough guy but I don't see how his wife could stand to be near him.

[BlueWolf]

7. Good question

I know some people like that. They look normal, act normal, but smell horrible. And I really have no idea why. One guy I know showers only once a week. I'm not sure why people think they can go that long without showering. I never had the guts to call him on it though.

[XemaSab]

13. I had a roommate who would shower once a week

and there would be an ALLUVIAL FAN in the tub when she was done.

Think about it.... not only did she have the dirt on her to create a fan, but she spent so little time in the shower that the dirt didn't all wash down the drain.

And yes, she stunk.

[Digit]

8. I smell like my therapy gel I have to use

I am using a relatively new therapy to keep from having a knee replacement. I have to keep this "brace" on while I sleep to hopefully generate new cartilege. Every evening I slather on some special gel onto the conductors... then attach the generator to send signals to my knee.
The smell is starting to drive ME crazy. It is not a stinky smell, but it is noticible.

[radwriter0555]

9. I worked with a guy who smelled like shit, literally, for several weeks.

He couldn't clean his ass properly? I have no idea. It was so bad my co-workers made me to tell my boss who had to counsel the guy and literally tell him he stank. He's an executive.

Then I once knew a female producer who had the worst body odor ever, and when she went on location, she asked me to houses-sit. Her bathroom STANK. Her toilet reeked of urine. A chick. The floor. How does a chick miss the toilet? I had to scrub it to tolerate it and could never look her in the eye afterward.

[NoSheep]

11. Could it be that people scratch their ass? I mean literally, and don't

realize that we can smell it? i have that experience too and I wonder if we may all be immune to our own shit smell and only those around us can detect the evidence? I knew I could come here to talk!

[obxhead]

12. I've had a coworker like that.

Very intelligent, a clean dresser, well organized, and very tidy. Just don't stand within 10 feet of him if you plan on having lunch anytime soon. Oh that smell.

No one from the company could bring themselves to say something. He was one of our best and never let you down. He had a warm personality and always gave 150%.

Just make sure you keep your distance. The (ahem) odor was ALWAYS there too, not just a once in a while thing. No one could ever figure it out either.

[southlandshari]

14. Locking (ok, not really, but ewwwwww...)

Is being stinky a bodily function?

[Richardo]

27. The term 'mudbutt' could be construed as pushing it...

But hey, I'm no Mod.

[khashka]

17. It's not always the person's fault

There are some disorders and diseases that cause people to smell bad, regardless of hygeine. And there is really nothing they can do about it.

Personally I'd rather smell honest sweat and a person's natural odor (clean, of course) than the cloying, sickeningly sweet perfumes and colognes people drench themselves in. The former I might not always like, the latter often makes me wanna hurl.

YMMV.

Khash.

[MarsThe Cat]

20. yeah, perfume can be pretty nasty...

i used to work at office building that had A LOT of ...'older'(?) women working there(Rotary International World Headquarters in Evanston), that would seemingly take a bath in rank/sickly-sweet perfumes before leaving for the office everyday.
the elevator was The Worst, as far as getting trapped by the stench.
but then- maybe they were using the perfume to cover for incontinence related odors...?

[Loonman]

22. But when somebody's hair smells like landfill at 6:30 am

While they sit in front of you on the bus(though she can quite capably stink up the whole bus, and has done so in the past), the sympathy meter drops down to zero,and the tolerance meter is wiggling by .001.

Move? Where, she stinks up the whole vehicle.
Take another one? Yeah, right, ditto with biking to work or whichever.

When she sits near me, now, i quite openly cover my nose.

[khashka]

25. I can understand your frustration

I had a teacher in high school who smelled so rank it was almost impossible to be in the same room with her. Many complaints were made against her.... but she was very ill and that was what caused the stench. Nothing she could do and it was a constant humiliation.

She was a sweet woman and she took a special interest in me - so we spent a lot of time in close quarters - I held a handkerchief over my nose and told her my allergies were bothering me (a ploy she saw through immediately but she knew I was trying to spare her feelings).

All I was saying is that it's not always a lack of hygeine (though it most often is) so don't make assumptions.

(Now her husband -another teacher - smelled almost as bad and it was definitely a lack of soap and water).

Khash.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

21. Thanks - now I'm going to be paranoid all day.

I'm usually pretty paranoid about this stuff. Especially my breath. Hey, I usually shower twice a day too, but you never know...

thanks - I'm sending you my therapy bill.

[babydollhead]

23. one of the signs of paranoia is...

thinking that you smell bad. I habitually tell people that I think I stink because i am paranoid. I do not stink. B ut I am aware of the fear of stink. I'd rather just stink and be done than worry that I stink and have a prolonged encounter trying to keep people from getting too close and smelling my stink hole.

[Beausoir]

24. I just had that experience this morning in my own home!

We are living in our basement while our house remodel is finished.

The head carpenter wanted to talk to me this morning. I walked up to him and I almost vomited. It was clearly the odor of which you speak. WTF???? He's leaving cloud everywhere he goes!

God! I'm lighting candles like crazy.

[miss_kitty]

26. maybe they have a colostomy

and their bag's seal isn't done up correctly.

When all get accustomed to smells we're around for awhile. So if they have a poorly sealed bag, they might not smell it, just because their olfactory receptors are filled up with that particular odor.

[pitohui]

30. that's the first thing i thought of also

it's sad