If I swipe my finger behind my ear and then smell it, it smells just like swiss. Even within hours of a shower. The sides of my nose have a similar scent.
Is this normal or a sign of impending doom?
If there are holes back there too, then it is time to worry.
I have noticed a cheesy smell behind my ears as well although I don’t think it is Swiss. There are a few parts of the body that start to smell like cheese after a few days of not bathing. The technical term for a body cheese smell is called Fumunacheese or at least that is what we called it when I was younger. I knew a guy once whose whole head smelled like cheese all the time. His nickname was (wait for it) - Cheese. I got into a fight with him once and I couldn’t get the cheese smell off my hands and arms for two days. You could have it worse than you do now.
From the locations I would guess it is sebum. Which smells pretty damn nasty, although it’s actually bacterial activity, not the sebum itself. Try using a hardcore antiseptic wash after your shower, like Betadine.
Mine smells like Parmesan, I guess because I’m Italian.
Just be glad it’s not Limburger.
Mine smells like bleu cheese. It started about 30 years ago and never went away completely. It smells worse when it is associated with a slight flaking that sometimes occurs. My theory is that it is infection with the same fungus that causes onychomycosis, because it smells the same and regular use of Nizoral shampoo ameliorates it completely, including the flaking. As soon as I discontinue the shampoo, it comes right back.
I just tried this and got a chocolate smell for my ears. Nothing of note for the sides of my nose, though. Very odd.
As long as we’re on the subject, beginning-to-get-stinky feet smell like Fritos.
Have you tried scrubbing all the crevices behind your ear with an old soft toothbrush? Sometimes just showering doesn’t do the trick. I learned that from the crevices behind my toddlers’ sons ears.
Are you turning into Shrek?
So long as nothing else on you smells like pastrami or rye, you’re probably safe.
Do you use a washcloth to wash behind your ears? You probably just need to exfoliate better.
Concur.
Betadine?
And you know those fatty acids in Crazyhorse’s link? They change with age so you have lots to look forward to.
The taste and smell of Swiss cheese owes much to its high amounts of acetate and propionic acid produced by a variety of bacteria, including Propionibacterium. Propionibacterium species thrive in areas of the skin that have more sebaceous glands, like the face and scalp. (That study looking at Propionibacterium acnes populations but applies to others as well.) Behind the ears is an area that sebum collects no matter how good you are at washing.
I am betting you are smelling the propionic acid and acetate produced by the Propionibacterium species. Much better than the isovaleric acid produced by some Staph species (that’s the classicbad foot odor smell).
Maybe use a grater.
And there is this study too.
So what fatty acids an individual’s skin produces varies from individual site to site and with intra-individual age, likely by arousal state, and inter-individual as well, including by gender. Which bacteria are colonized where (producing which enzymes to produce which products from those fatty acids) also has variation between sites likely with age, and between individuals, including by gender.
More on the bacteria of the skin (but behind wall I think).
I wash twice daily.
And it still smells cheesy.
Suggestions?
Well you can’t change the fatty acids in your sebum. And I doubt that harsher washing or Betadine or an over the counter antibiotic cream would alter the balance or numbers all that much. I’d wonder if one of the topical antibiotics aimed for Propionibacterium acnes (for acne) such as a topical clindamycin applied to the areas twice daily would do it though. Does the smell bother you or those who get that close to you enough to bother doing it though?