Smelly people first thing in the morning making me cross

[Wherecanitbe]

I completely understand in the UK we are currently experiencing extremely high temperatures, however......

why is it so many people smell really strongly of B.O first thing in the morning? I was on the bus Saturday morning around 9am and their were one or two people who smelled really strongly, not just slightly. This morning I was in my local shop around 10am and the man in front of me smelled that strongly that when he left, the smell even lingered.

I can understand if it was towards the end of the day, then it would be more reasonable that people would have B.O. I am just really irritated how these people think it's acceptable that other people have to put up with their offensive smell.

A lot of people are disgusting OP. They don't wash. They don't wash their clothes. They don't use deodorant and they don't care.

YANBU but someone will be along to make excuses like not everyone can afford soap 🙄

Smelly people are more obvious during a heatwave.
I work with a woman who doesn’t believe in antiperspirant. She’s a bit stinky by coffee break and full on unbearable by lunchtime.

Or water.

With some people it can be hormonal, I have a friend who can literally be 5 minutes out of the shower and is already starting to smell. Friend is very self conscious and has tried all sorts, including through GP, but with limited effect, it’s particularly bad/ strong at certain times of the month. It is somewhat unpleasant but I know she can’t help it so don’t judge her for it or let it out me off being around her.

It’s actually vile. Shower in the evening before bed, stick a load of deodorant on and make sure you’re in light sheets and light pyjamas. That’s all it takes

Because some people genuinely believe it’s acceptable to go several days without cleaning themselves.

They’ll be on this thread shortly arguing about how it’s totally fine to only shower twice a week.

Yeah but that’s not the case for most smelly people. Some are just lazy bastards.

Yes, I imagine that case is extremely unusual, even for a GP’s caseload.

Some people don’t wash every day.

For some other people, 9am isn’t first thing in the morning.

edited to add that I’m referring to night shift workers, early starters, gym goers, etc.

I used to line manage someone like this and I had to speak to her as it was revolting 🤢

Having read threads on here where people have said they shower twice a week and some before they go to bed? It’s not surprising.

Dirty sods!

Clutching at straws here, but not everyone keeps to standard hours. Some of the smelly people may be night shift workers headed home - in this heat I wouldn’t be surprised if some were a little smelly after work, even if they showered & used deodorant beforehand.

I have noticed a rise in smelly people generally, though. It always used to just be the odd man, now it seems to be a lot more men and quite a few women. I don’t know if deodorant has become less effective or less popular.

One night shift if you shower before hand and have a clean set of clothes or uniform won’t make you stink, you might have BO or morning breath but the type of stench the op was describing wasn’t that.

Or even better in the morning so you aren’t walking around with sweat from the night before.

The smelly person on the bus was not a night worker etc, they were off shopping for the day. I know this because they were having a very loud conversation with the person they were with.

Some people don't wash. My wonderful PhD supervisor always stank. I know for a fact he dry-cleaned his suits, but they stank, he always sweated profusely. I think dry-cleaning can't remove the smell of sweat if a person sweats through the shirt onto the suit. Obviously I don't know if he used a deodorant or not, but the smell....

I think they don't notice/don't smell themselves! But a lot of people don't have good hygiene.

TBH I grew up without good hygiene being modelled, and it took me a while to understand that even if I could not smell myself in the morning, if you sweat onto dried-on sweat and dead skin, that is likely to smell. If you have fresh sweat on clean skin, it doesn't usually smell (at least, not as strongly). Sometimes I used to feel like it was pointless washing if I was going to get sweaty again, but the fresh sweat/clean skin combo is much better than sweating onto dirty skin, which will smell.

But I do also think that people have differently smelling sweat. My tops get a build up which doesn't even smell of sweat particularly, I don't know how to describe the smell, it's sort of like the stale carpet smell of communal hallways. This does not get washed away in the washing machine unless I wash my tops at 60C, so I save them up and do them in a batch with some towels every 3-4 washes so they don't get destroyed by washing at 60 every time.

However I don't have to do this for DH's tops or teenage DS's even though their BO is much stronger than mine. The washing machine removes their armpit smell perfectly fine. It's annoying TBH.

I also find that unless I wash under my arms with salycylic acid (found in a lot of face washes) the old sweat doesn't seem to get removed properly. I can get out of the shower after having washed and I am still smelly.

I work at a university and some of the students absolutely reek. I'm really not looking forward to going in to the office tomorrow.

Or accuse you of having a ‘MN Nose’ (whatever that is) basically implying that you are imagining it 🤷🏻‍♀️

The people I have known who smell, who aren’t homeless people or similar, do have genuine reasons for it. Some people just smell more strongly than others. It’s normal human variance. If someone looks clean and well presented but smells, it’s not likely to be because they are smelly bastards who can’t be arsed washing is it? They’ve made an effort with everything else, so to conclude they decided, mysteriously, just to skip the washing bit, is not a reasonable conclusion to make.

There's no excuse. I shower every morning and most evenings in summer.

I went through a phase of smelling terrible because of medication I was on. I was showering and changing clothes several times a day. It was awful!

Its always handy and convenient when the person loudly announces their plans in front of you so you have the full information for judgement.

Some reasons:
Laziness
Depression
Poverty
Disability
Lack of resources
On way home to shower after work/activity/event

It was 2 mins out of your life, you dont have to live or deal with it, let alone make an MN post about it.

You sound fun OP - I bet you're a right old laugh at a party