I put this in GQ because I’m wondering if there isn’t some psychology to this.
I have a business acquaintance that I do some consulting for once, and at the most twice a year. He’s a very pleasant person and would otherwise be a pleasure to deal with.
Except he wreaks to high heaven.
It’s not a “I just worked out at the gym and haven’t showered yet” smell.
It’s not a “I worked hard all day and need a shower” odor.
It’s not a “I’m a very heavy sweater and can’t help this” funk.
It’s not “I have a colostomy or other medical condition” nosefull.
It is a “it’s early in the morning and I stink because I never goddamn bathe” stench!
WTF?
Every now and then you’ll see a letter to Dear Abbey from some poor woman complaining about her husband not bathing.
What’s the deal with this? Do these people not realize that at very least a person should bathe at least every other day, preferably every day, if not twice a day?
What’s going on in the heads of these folks?
This guy doesn’t even use heavy cologne to try and cover it up.
The only GQ worthy response you’re going to get is that standards of hygiene are not universal. A non-GQ response is that he probably doesn’t realize he stinks.
I’ve seen a few people who even appear to bathe but still smell horrific. I think the problem is that generally people can’t tell how badly they smell and, chances are, no one really feels comfortable telling them how much they smell. So, they just go on smelling bad none the wiser.
I had a co-worker once who we all noticed had this really nauseating smell that would float in the air around him. It was sickly sweet, almost like something rotting. It was absolutely disgusting. Our boss had to actually pull him aside several times and tell him in private that there was an odor problem. Supposedly what was happening was the co-worker lived in a house that was falling apart (it was later condemned and he was forced to move to a shelter) and had no hot water, so when the weather got cold he would bathe less and less. And he was a huge guy, in both height and weight, with hip & knee problems, so he likely couldn’t reach all parts to clean them.
Nonsense. Assuming you’re not working out or doing a job that makes you sweat, twice a week is fine – especially if you change your clothes daily. Once a week is probably pushing it, though.
It depends on your natural sweat and oiliness, I would say. And your hair, I suppose. I couldn’t get away with bathing twice a week. I don’t know, I assumed all Indians
Some people are really, really lazy and just never want to put in the 15 minutes it takes to get in the shower, soap up, rinse off, dry off, hang up the towel, and put on clothes again. Some people are hoarders and have filled their bathrooms with so much crap (both literal and figurative) that they can’t get inside it any longer even if they did want to wash. Some people wash regularly and have medical problems that cause them to stink horribly. Some people bathe regularly but rarely wash their clothes, sheets, or towels so they smell from the built up funk in their fabrics.
I don’t think you’ll ever know what causes it for this particular guy. If you like him you may want to take him out for a drink (somewhere with an outdoor seating area!) and tell him that you are concerned for him because of his smell and see what he says.
I was afraid I’d catch some flak for saying every-other-day. But only twice a week?
No way is that enough for an adult man or woman who is having any interactions with anyone else! Just the act of sleeping causes a person to sweat and build up body odor.
If you live alone and don’t go anywhere, fine. Stink all you want. Otherwise conform to the standards of civilized society.
As for this acquaintance, he is a well paid businessman who wears what appears to be clean/pressed clothes every time I’ve seen him. I know he has a “common law” wife at home. I’ve never met her so I wonder how she can stand it. Either she’s one of those women who complains about her mans hygiene or she stinks like a litter box too!
Are you sure he doesn’t bathe? Is it possible that the problem is infact that he doesn’t launder?
Someone I know, has dulled his own sense of smell with years of smoking. He will step out of the shower smelling oh so appealingly of soap and shaving cream with a hint of actual dude. Then he will grab and put on clothes that should have been in the hamper two wearings ago. I have to believe he can’t smell it.
I don’t shower daily in winter. My skin becomes painfully dry and flaky, not to mention how unattractive the whole mess is. I am scrupulous about wearing clean clothes, though.
Sure you could easily go a week without bathing and not having anyone notice.
You just don’t notice the ones who can do this.
I worked with a guy from Pakistan and he had a STENCH about him that was awful. And I couldn’t figure that out. He was clean, his clothes were clean, I just assumed it was some kind of "ethnic food"that he ate that made him like that. He was always bringing these Pakistani dishes to eat at lunch.
My mother was big on brewers yeast and if she over did it and took too much, it would come out of her pores and it wasn’t a nice smell.
So could a food such as garlic or something do this.
Yeah, garlic can make people stink all over. Not just the breath - the perspiration gets a nasty, not-normal-perspiration funk.
Food supplements that are high in sulfur can do it, too. cwPartner was big on MSM supplements for a while. He’s fastidious about his hygiene, but he smelled like a combination of feces and stale meat the whole time he was taking the stuff.
