Deodorant and Bathing

Years ago, an e-friend from hickville, USA and I were discussing hygiene. I'm not sure how or why the topic came up but it resulted in his telling me that he didn't bathe daily. He asserted it was because didn't sweat and didn't feel compelled to bathe daily because he didn't stink. He also stated that growing up, his mother discouraged daily baths as it's "not good for your skin." He even said that sometimes, if he was late for work, he'd get up, wash his face, brush his teeth and head off.

So this of course made me think of the world outside the US and a theory that a group of friends and I gathered during a stint abroad. Upon riding the bus in a foreign country we remarked at how consistent the body odor of the passengers was. Not only was it apparent, but the shocking part was that the stench was there...every morning...without fail. Being Americans who pride ourselves on smell-goods, we couldn't quite understand how no one else seemed to notice. Why is everyone TOTALLY oblivious to the foulness?

Today, I was asking Frenchy about this topic and recalled a story a prof told during one of his prev trips overseas. He and all of the students piled onto a crowed bus one day. The bus stopped and more passengers got on. He saw this one lady position herself in front of one of the students who looked a little peakish and his gut reaction was "Oh my God!" Just then, the lady lifted her arm to grab the hand rail and *WHAM* the student hit the floor! She literally fainted.

Anyhoo, Frenchy said that he's never noticed any smell and that the city is very cosmo so there are people from all over. I then supplied him with articles in which other Americans/British spoke of this mysterious stench. I also told him that years ago we decided that the odor for his people must be due to either deodorant/anti-perspirant and our belief that one shielded odor better than the other. He then says, "I don't use deodorant."

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

Truth be told I didn't notice any foulness during his brief stay but maybe those were on deodorant-use days?


Do you bathe daily? Why or why not?

Do you use deodorant? Why or why not?

If you do not bathe daily and/or use deodorant, do you believe you smell?


On a side note, he said he dated a girl that had a "strong odor" and that first it was off-putting but he grew to love it.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

My farts smell like rainbows and lilac.

first post and it's off-topic...sheesh.

stop with the semantics 😛

yes, everyone has days where they sit on their butt or lie in bed or whatever. not talking about that. i'm talking about consistently not using deodorant/anti-perspirant and/or avoiding bathing for one reason or another.

some people STINK! and i don't mean, damnit, i'm a llittle not fresh today. i mean, so thick it swallows up the room and stays in your mouth STANK! i had a roommate one year who was like this. i called the odor "El Nino!"

at the end of the skit she smells herself and agrees with him. HA!

i hope that was in pre-k cause that was weeeeeeeeeeeeeeak!

AA - you're saying british don't believe that french folks have olfactory issues?

new french are pooh la la

depends on what region/city your in silly boy.

the south is generally fatter. areas where there isn't a good public trans, fatter. it just makes sense really. when you have to walk more, you're thinner. duh! we're stuck in the 60s when it comes to trans advances. i blame hostess.

UGH!

Well I'm in Europe and I don't feel awake without a shower. I have to be in bed sick not to wash. What I don't understand is how people have a bath or shower before bed and then don't have one in the morning. Men seem to do this and then go straight to work when they wake up.

But people who wash still smell. Everyone has a smell. People who use loads of chemical shower gels & shampoos probably smell of parabens. I can't remember where I read that some cultures find this smell just as off putting as we find stale sweat. Putting loads of chemicals on your skin is not good for it. Your skin has natural oils and if you don't wash every day it will probably be healthier. Not that Im willing to find out. But there was a programme about some woman who didn't wash for a month or three months or so. Apparently after a couple of weeks your hair starts to look really shiny and conditioned. But she did smell bad and she needed a filling at the end of it. She was not too surprised that friends stopped asking her to dinner parties a couple of weeks into the experiment.....

the "truth" is, hair does "clean" itself in 3 months. but like you said, who the hell wants to find out?

there are some women who don't wash "down there" because they believe it throws off the ph-balance. instead, they rinse.

our skin does secrete oils that are beneficial and can result in a healthier state...i.e. no dry skin in winter.

with that said, all of these scenarios ignore LIFE! did you work out today? is it particularly hot outside? if you're in larger cities, smog and airborne "stuff" are on ya. food smells are on ya...

and taking showers at night and "washing up" in the morning, i did this when i was a kid and sometimes in college if i had an early class but it was rare. it wasn't my default.

i will gladly stink of parabens if the alternative is to wreak! i always wondered if american's have a stench that we're aware of. some asians tend to smell of garlic. some indians...i don't know if that's curry or the stale sweat from eating so much curry. maybe americans wreak of fast food and vegetable oil?

i didn't realize the boys smell of sweet candy. what body parts are you sniffing?

but seriously, we need to be honest and confront the fact that nationally/culturally, we have different standards on what smells good. for americans...clean and soap smells good. that's not the case for some other parts of the world...

^ LOL. I bathe/shower daily unless I'm extremely ill. Ditto with deodorant, it's all part and parcel of smelling good. Scents usually, but not always. Sometimes I just like smelling like me and soap.

anything but stank is good.

Posted by tubbyscubby


i will gladly stink of parabens if the alternative is to wreak! i always wondered if american's have a stench that we're aware of. some asians tend to smell of garlic. some indians...i don't know if that's curry or the stale sweat from eating so much curry. maybe americans wreak of fast food and vegetable oil?

The Japanese have traditionally thought westerners smell sour of milk or rancid butter. Their diet is not high in dairy.

However good we all think we smell, there is always someone out there who will think we stink however much we wash. Fact of the matter is that people with similar diets and similar hygiene smell good to each other.

TOC, and you stepped how many paces back afterward?

i heard about the milk thing. true or not, food odors make sense. they come out in your pores. when i was vegetarian, i used to hate going to the gym because meat-eaters sweat has a distinct odor.

overall, wreaking of cologne/perfumes/soap is a far cry from FUNK! "natural" odors in there extreme are not pleasant and it's shocking to me how culturally/nationally we differ on what's funky and what ain't. i mean, if you WREAK all the time, how do you define "smells bad?"

OH! i go this gas station sometimes and there's a guy in there who literally stinks up the joint. it's as if he went down each aisle with his pants around his ankles and used the crack of his ass to mark his territory.

Oh *gag* tubby. No one should be smelling booty stank coming off of another human being.

I'll bet you do TOC, ick.

what is a metro without body odor and urine?

indeed! but poofs aren't equal. vegetarians/vegans are generally gassy. back them my poofs smelled like cauliflower and broccoli. not particular fragrant but rancid, no.

but meat eaters...my god, the sulphur in those poofs are capable of suffocating a small child.

funky people make me paranoid. you ever been around someone who smells so bad that you begin to wonder if you stink too? like, they're so oblivious to how bad they smell that maybe you're in denial too. and what makes it worse is when they have friends or lovers who behave as if nothing is wrong.

as a result, i shower too often. i shower before i go to the gym and after. i hate smelling when i get there. i hate smelling when i leave. i shower at night and in the morning. and yes, i have dry skin but that's what industrial strength lotion is for.

just shower and don't put on any panties. you're weird.

You can tell when someone really smells. It's like a parting of the Red Sea around them. What I put up with varies, last Christmas an elderly gent was chatting with me in a local store. He had this miasma of old goat funk and straight up urine, you could cut it with a knife. But I pleasantly chatted on because he was a nice fellow and I was making his day. So even though I breathed in the fresh air deeply when I exited that corona of stench, I felt good too.
I think the worst, hands down personal reek I've ever encountered was as a child. A woman at the local suds n duds. Was swinging my feet enjoying a bottle of Coke, had to use the w/c. It was right after her. And it wasn't poo, it was her lady works. The entire room was a wall of heaven knows what. She must have had a serious problem, or an allergy to soap and water. Still makes me shiver to this day.

yeah, balls can be funky but kitties can be much worse. i don't go in restrooms after a woman has just used it. i've walked in on one too many "ooh bitch yo kitty stink" episodes to risk it.

and yeah, if someone is chatting me up and i don't have to see them regularly, i will be nice and pretend their odor isn't offensive. like with homeless people. it's difficult but you just try not to stand down wind.

I can handle nose wiping, but 19 years of being a momma and caregiver cured me of that. You're always wiping one end or the other. Oh goodness if I'm ill that will make me spew.

Kitties can be much worse. And that particular aroma of unwashed female after a session is just like 'Woman PLEASE, I beg of you, a whores bath, a shower, something..anything. We get it, no need to advertise."

lmao @ "a whore's bath"

LOL tubby. 'ooo bitch yo kitty stink'. I was listening to a comedienne once, she was talking about douching. She touched on that you'd never, ever see a woman of color in one of those commercials because they'd have her going crazy. "DAMN Shaniqua!? That YOU stankin'?! You better douche yo' nasty ass! Seagulls swooping in and shit. DAYUMN girl!" Cracks me up every time I listen to it.

That's the funny thing TOC, whatever you think you can't stand, you just do because it's your child. Not that it doesn't turn your stomach from time to time, but you just suck it up and soldier on.

whenever i'm home, i still make my gma taste day old milk to see if it's sour. and even after she tastes it and says it's good, i still won't drink it. so i agree, it's mom's job to do disgusting shit.

and i think i might've seen that skit venus. i think women who grow up with sisters are far more...direct when it comes to dead kitties...dead fishies...whatever. all i know is after one of my roommates, i'm paranoid as hell. not to say i never have that "not so fresh feeling" but never have i felt as if something crawled up in there and died.

LMAO No joke, if there was anything off down South I'd be on the phone to my doctor. Um HELLO. And as far as all the male jokes about women stinking, we didn't before you inserted something and left a deposit. *blowing kisses to the fellas*

You probably did see that skit. 🙂 One that also makes me laugh every damned time is Wanda Sykes and the detachable puss.

Indeed. "Doctor, this is A______, I need to schedule an appointment." LOL Maybe we can have a Clean Cooter society. Sort of like the Justice League minus the spandex, that might chafe.

ROFLMAO @ the video.

Posted by Astrological Aftermath1


i think i speak for most people that showering before gym is pointless

Guess that depends on how smelly and profuse your sweat is 😉 but in the case of most swimming pools you have to shower before you get in the pool so I end up having about three showers while Im there, one before swimming, one after swim but before steam and sauna to rinse out any chlorine and a final one at the end.... "Wrinkled toes r us"

Posted by Astrological Aftermath1
and i never understood how people can smell so bad ona dail basis if they don't shower every 2 hours?? maybe i havn't hit puberty yet but i can honestly say i can for 2 days (maybe more) without a shower and i don't stink. hand on heart

Don't tell me you don't change your underpants either because they are still fresh.....

clearly you missed the OCD thread?

going to the gym when you're not clean is offensive. i can't stand smelling other people when i'm there. i mean, you spend all day at work eating, pissing, pooping OR you roll out of bed and you smell like sleep. whether you recognize it or not, you secrete stuff and unless you're the type to use baby wipes after you go to the bathroom, your undies aren't fresh out the laundry if they have been resting on your ass.

all sweating does is activate your funk and open your pores. maybe i just have a sensitive nose but if the wrong person gets beside me, i will change machines...instantly. beyond body odor, i hate when people smell like food. it's always a mixture of coca-cola and meat. sorta like a lingering burp that gets stronger as they work out.

so where others don't care, i make it more pleasant for those around me as i smell of victoria's secret and soap. i hope that my good odors will create a bubble around me so that other people's bad odors won't penetrate my cloud of cleanliness.

the only time i won't shower before i work out is if i go to the track and walk. sometimes i go at random and walk a few laps to clear my head and get fresh air. in those instances, no need to shower but if i go for a run outside, yes, shower first.

and AA, if you go two days without bathing...that's just nasty. there are natural yeasties on our bodies. one of the reasons why hospitals are so deadly is from simple germs. touch a door, GERMS! someone digs up their nose and you use their laptop, STAPH!

Do you bathe daily? Why or why not?
i shower once a day, sometimes twice. cause i love the feeling of being clean, and i want to make sure i smell good (by my standards) at all times.

Do you use deodorant? Why or why not?
i use antiperspirant. because sweaty pits make me sad.

lol

did you get it removed?

well it's good to see the other side of the hygiene equation.....this is exactly why people become ocd in the first place 😕

Look at all the little shallow people here.

Knowing what I know about you all now ..... if chance came to be in your presence, I wouldn't shower for weeks to just to make all the shallow people who think thier shit doesn't stink ... suffer.

if bathing makes me shallow then i'm one stuck-up, high-falutin, snatch washing, pit check sniffin, victoria secret sprayin biyaaatch and proud of it!

I wasn't aware soap and water were detrimental to ones psychological well being. Color me confused.

venus, we should huddle together so that our smell goods over power the forces of evil.

lol @ TOC. you and THAT word

OH dear tubby, can the world handle the smell of soap, scent and femme?

V, we shall prevail...as long as hordes of women with smelly vagina's don't form a gang called Stank Twat Divas (STD), we're good to go!

ROFLMAO Stank Twat Divas! Quick girls! To the 'Wet Cave'! We have a crime to stop! Cooter Scooters, ENGAGE.

LMAO @ wet cave!

i suppose their weaknesses would be fresh air and monistat?

ROFLMAO!!! Like a horde of female vampires from a baaaaad B movie. Hissing at the cans of FDS in our utility belts. "Begone foul wenches from the depths of HELL, I banish your STANK to the nether regions! Rest easy citizens, no potpourri THIS night. The STD's have been vanquished." *hooray✨

you make me *lol* 😄

i like this forum. i came on here to help with brainstorming and in one day, i have come up with 10 article ideas. who said being lazy is counterproductive?

on a side note, in fear that she may some day read this, i shall tell the story...

a while back, i was doing a poetry presentation on the fly and didn't have any clothes that suited the occasion. i was over a friend of mine's house and i asked her if i could borrow a pair of jeans. she said sure...

so i go through her drawers and i settled on a couple pair to try on. she kept saying, "no, i don't think you want those...try these."

i said, "bitch, you don't even like THOSE. i like these." (i call my bitches, bitch from time to time).

eventually, after much protestation, she relents. i go into the bathroom to try on the jeans. i get the right leg in. all is good.

i got to put the left leg in, glance down, and there in the crotch is a bright red blood stain! not a little stain either...like, i just bled in my pants and rinsed it out so it's all spread out kinda stain.

so i stood there frozen, not knowing what to do. WTF! do i do? i was simultaneously disgusted and shocked.

i was obviously in there for a while because at some point she said, "how do the fit?"

BITCH! is it any wonder i bathe so often?

EW, she could have just been straight up and said Aunt Flo visited that denim. Those would have been banished to the stash bag to cut up for quilt blocks. Minus the stained bit.
Have to give my mother credit for this one. My sister was wanting to borrow a bathing suit and she was upstairs going through the drawer. She hollers down "The one piece Mom??" And our mother hollers back up the stair well; "NOT THAT ONE! It has clitty litter in it!"