this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2023
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Like, I travel around for work and I've met plenty of people from all backgrounds.

Why is there a demographic of people who don't seemingly bathe regularly, or at the very least wear something to cover up their BO? I could understand if it's an allergy, or even religious reasons (though the people I've met that smell bad are usually you're average American young adult man) but recently (like in the past week, recently) I've met a concerning number of people who don't seem to wear any kind of deodorant or possibly don't even bathe regularly; it's starting to become an issue for me, as I don't even want to interact with them when I can smell them walking up from 3+ feet away yet I need to for work.

Does anyone have any possible insight?

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[–] nigh7y@lemmy.ml 4 points 11 months ago

I live in a tropical country, showering daily or more than once/day is a necessity (at least it is to me). As for a decent and safe deodorant, try Milk of Magnesia.

[–] Vej@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (14 children)

I shower once a day. I don't generally wear deodorant. I get away with it I think because body odor is largely impacted by meat intake. I swear I don't smell bad, I've asked others. This is the Internet and so no one will believe me unless OP comes to my house and smells my arm pit.

[–] quotheraven404@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Apparently it could also have to do with the microbiome on the skin too, there are a couple companies developing probiotic deodorant based on the flora of people who naturally don't smell very bad. It's a balance of good bacteria versus stinky bacteria and I can see how things like antibiotic use and diet can have an impact on that balance just like it does in the gut, but a decent portion of it does seem to be genetic.

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[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

I rarely ever eat meat (and almost never red meat) and my BO still smells if I don't shower or use deodorant daily

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[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (8 children)

How do people not smell bad?

My clothes are drenched within a few hours, if I’m sitting somewhere then there is a puddle under my feet in less than 30 minutes

Even in the shower I’m dripping/have BO while using soap

[–] Birdie@thelemmy.club 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Are you on any meds? I was once taking a medication (an NSAID) that caused excessive sweating, and it took me longer than I'd like to admit that my new med and my sweaty head were related.

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[–] SecretPancake@feddit.de 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

So I shower relatively regular and definitely before I go out meeting people. But deodorant I keep forgetting since I started working from home when Covid began. I don’t go out often and for going to the grocery store I don’t care, so it’s not ingrained into me anymore. But I don’t think it’s so important since I just showered anyways.

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[–] thawed_caveman@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

I never talk to anyone so i have no incentive to other than my own comfort. I do feel more comfortable when i'm clean, but my mere comfort often doesn't feel like reason enough when executive dysfunction makes a shower is a 1-hour affair, plus i have a weird anxiety around thriftiness so i don't like to "waste" the warm water and soap.

Same reason why the house isn't as clean as it could be. It would be cleaner if anyone came in here ever, but no one does, so the only reason to vaccuum is my own satisfaction, which isn't worth the time and effort.

All told i end up showering every ~5 days in winter and once a day in summer, and i never touch the perfume bottles. I actually don't really get the point of perfume or deodorant tbh, seems like the solution to BO is a shower.

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[–] WitchHazel@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 11 months ago

Are you more sensitive to stimulation than the average person?

[–] Whisper06@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 11 months ago

I was once a stinky man and while I don’t want to use this as an excuse, I had a not so great childhood and struggle with mental illnesses. I’m still not always the best at taking care of myself but I’m better than I was and I make sure I’m mostly clean.

[–] 0x4E4F@infosec.pub 2 points 11 months ago (8 children)

I just don't like them. I like the natural body odors, even with women, I hate it when they cover that up with some heavy perfume.

[–] sour@kbin.social 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)
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[–] OmgItBurns@discuss.online 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I know I will let myself go when I'm in the midst of being deeply depressed, but then again I usually don't get much past my bed then. So that could be some of it.

I used to have a buddy that stank to high heaven, good dude overall, but damn did he smell. Turned out that he never washed his clothes. Once he got in the habit of doing that the problem resolved itself quickly.

The only other thing I can think of would be some Andrew Tate types going on about some made up benefits of 'natural male musk ' or something like that. Not sure if anyone is doing that, but I could see some men taking to that advice.

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[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago

I've noticed a lot of people don't do things the way I do them and it bothers me too!! Stomp your right foot with me if you agree!

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