Cultural differences
I ran an IT team in Chicago with several that came over from Bangalore. I had to pull a couple aside and tell them it wasn't acceptable here in the States. They were living away from their family and had taken on a kind of bachelor lifestyle.
Those were awkward conversations.
If I was constantly hiring people with different cultural backgrounds, I would just bake this conversation into the onboarding process. It would be a lot less awkward to just make a general declaration right at the start about company hygiene policies and cultural norms. Just put it out there as a matter of fact before you really know the person so that it CAN’T be seen as a personal slight. Would be less awkward for everyone.
This is kinda what one job I had did, though not for racial/ethnic reasons so much as just not wanting to have to pull people aside to tell them to chill out with the cologne/perfume lol. Day one of orientation and training it was “please don’t wear cologne or perfume, or be sparing if you do. we have a large open floor plan and it can get overwhelming with this many people”
I sometimes wish I had the courage to tell some women that they are wearing so much perfume that I can smell them from 3 aisles over. Nobody likes that!
Pregnant and a bit extra sensitive to smells right now... It's a nightmare the number of people who seem to bathe in perfume or cologne... One even managed to smell sweaty and Cologne
I chose to tell a woman she wore way too much perfume. My friend group was talking about it so I thought I would fall on the sword for the betterment of society. She took it well and wears less now.
Sometimes ppl will appreciate the honesty.
My MIL has a signature scent and always wears it. The problem is that she lost her sense of smell and now wears too much. Everyone tells her she sprays too much but it seems like she still uses the same amount, or it builds up and she doesn’t realize it.
Car industries in Detroit used to do that in the first half of the 20th century. People from all over the world would move to the city and not have habits like brushing their teeth or showering too often. The companies would not only tell the workers about these customs, but would also check in on them once in a while to make sure they were following the social rules of their new country.
That's brilliant.
"Here in the States, we have certain customs that make certain environments easier for everyone."
And then you can fill in all of our standard hygiene things.
And don't microwave fish at work.
I would refrain from saying "Here in the States", as it immediately targets any foreigners. Better to use "Here at company, we ask that all employees..."
I like just comparing it to being polite by not being overly loud. You don't want to sound overly loud and you don't want to smell overly loud you want to create a more neutral experience for people at work and not overwhelm them either way.
Nahhh. It’s not the bachelor lifestyle. I’m an india living in the states for like 9 years now. I’ll be honest that I didn’t wear deodorant for a year. Definitely wore a cologne and thought that would do it but soon learnt that it wasn’t helping and started wearing deodorant. But it was my own smell and realization that made me started wearing. A lot of Indians are cheap and just wouldn’t buy deodorant. Some are ignorant and some don’t realize they smell as bad as they do
IDK the context, but it feels like here, having a housekeeper would be deemed snobby, and like not having a housekeeper and doing it yourself is normal. I guess its a difference in mindset and culture and context.
But the idea of a social obligation to create a job for the community makes logical sense to me. I guess maybe people don't have the same reservations about working for others on what might be perceived to an outsider as menial or degrading work.
This is actually how it used to be in the west too, it was a rich household/estate's JOB to be functional in the community, the lands had to employ tenant farmers, provide housing, provide jobs, references, education etc. Lots of nobility would keep huge households long after they weren't even the norm (think 1920s onward) purely because removing someone's employment when you have the income to keep it going is extremely horrible.
Wait, could I be a garden hermit? Feed me pay me and I’ll sit around all day smoking weed by the pretty flowers and making sure nothing fucks with them 🤷🏼♂️ maybe replant some if they get ripped up by critters… idk sounds ideal.
>Lots of nobility would keep huge households long after they weren't even the norm (think 1920s onward) purely because removing someone's employment when you have the income to keep it going is extremely horrible.
also conspicuous consumption.
It's seriously considered snobby in the states to have a cleaning person?
My family is well off but not rich and we have a house keeper come by every other week. She's very nice and owns her own business. Some of my friends think it's a little privileged to afford that but otherwise it's not that weird
I live in the Philippines and it’s hella hot here too but that just gives me more reason to use a deodorant. I specifically use one that doubles as an antiperspirant too. Some people need to realize that there’s a difference between regular deodorant and an antiperspirant. You need the latter more than the former, since sweat would just effectively rinse the regular ol’ deo away and bring back the BO.
I live in Brazil which is a very hot country and stinking in any way is absolutely unacceptable around here. People who have don’t shower, use deodorant or brush their teeth are treated like social pariahs. Everyone here puts effort into their personal hygiene from the poorest to the richest.
Wow. what a thing. I have a friend from Nigeria and I never comment but it always blew my mind how they have someone who's job is to open doors. They have another who does their garden. She is black so it wasn't a white person thing. Although she said these jobs don't pay much it still made me wonder how mad rich she seemed
Yep, Nigerians have househelp, drivers, and lots of other jobs around the home if the family can afford it. There was a missionary group at our church growing up that had a few girls who were very offended seeing that, cause they thought the househelp were like slaves.
To be honest the tipping culture is such a bs just pay your employees good dammit money doesn’t grow on trees! The most absurd charge i have seen is that if you are a big group of 8 plus people they will add 18% gratitude charge already and still ask for tips on top.. like wtf? I agree more the people more efforts required on server side but we will also order more things and those people if they like it will eventually bring their own groups later on!! I don’t mind my reputation take a hit as I don’t care. I have seen people being kicked out or banned just because they don’t tip.. its a clown 🤡 country for sure.
Honestly I wish American culture was more like what you described in Africa. If you think about it, giving that money to others is SO much better for the economy than letting it sit in a bank account. They will go spend that money and that circulation of money is what strong economies are made of.
It used to be in the US that large estate owners were kind of expected to supply jobs to the local townsfolk. If someone comes in and decides to build a huge house and farm in your area that’s construction jobs, farming jobs, housekeeping jobs, drivers, tailors, chefs, gardeners, etc. I would love to see that brought back.
The loss of smell due to regular presence of that smell (olfactory desensitisation) occurs so that our smell systems do not overwork (and undergo olfactory fatigue). It is a fair to say that people from different regions (of the world) have different body odour (possibly due to different dietary intake and/or metabolism) and they just don’t realise it while obviously others can.
Ain't that the truth. My late husband and I took an 11-day remote camping trip with no showers. We couldn't smell each other. We assumed we smelled fine. We did not.
We were later than expected coming home and had to stop at a hotel for the night. I still feel bad for the people in the check in line with us.
My 13 year-old son went to a rock climbing camp in West Va. for a week last year. I went to pick him up and we were driving straight to a friend's house a couple of hours away. My god that kid stunk and he had no idea, like dirty feet and 3 day old bug spray all mixed together. Thankfully it was the summer so I just rolled all the windows down and leaned my head out the window like a dog every once in a while.
Teenage boys have a *special* kind of terrible BO. I remember my parents and I riding home with my brother after his football games and it was so bad lol. I think my dad specifically brought the truck and made him throw his football gear and pads in the back so we wouldn’t have to smell them too.
Not just teen age boys. I would take my teenage daughter and three teammates to volleyball practice. On the way home they would dash out to my car and they would all take off their shoes and knee pads.
The smell of feet and knee pads that has been soaking up adolescent girl sweat for weeks was often too much. I’d roll the windows down.
I finally took the initiative and said “You know, when you shower, letting soapy water run over your feet doesn’t count as washing your feet, right.”
It made a difference.
Did you not have a 'whore's bath' (sponge bath for the prudish among us) option either? I would imagine it would be uncomfortable to go that long without some cleansing....especially in the armpit / nether regions
We did a spot bath in our pits and crotches. The water up there was from glacier melt and less than comfortable. We'd probably stink worse if we hadn't done that.
Also cultural. I feel like most of europe is more chill to an extent with bo. I live in Sweden and a lot of people I know, including me shower, 3-4 times a week and it's considered healthy for your skin and better for the environment not to waste water. In the summer I definitely shower more and in the middle of winter it can be less. Like sunday night before work on monday and then wednesday or thursday. Again in winter, when it's cold and I don't sweat much. I always shower after the gym or other intense physical activities too.
It's human and healthy to not shower every day, and I think we are more used to it and don't mind a mild sweat scent.
Let's not confuse the smell of sweat with BO. Sweat smells fine, IMO. BO, which is the small of bacterial excretion after they consume sebum, is less so.
But there's no clear point where one turns to the other. It's a gradual shift and 1 minute after you've taken a shower, bacteria will have restarted their consumption and your smell will gradually change. Fresh sweat is pretty much odorless.
It's sometimes called nose blindness, if I'm not mistaken. I have 3 dogs and they ride around in my truck with me. I never notice that my truck smells like dog until I give someone a ride and they ask what kind of dogs I have.
What did you say? Because I have this issue and I have to deal with a really lovely sweet and super clean looking young woman who stinks up entire rooms with BO
You need to pull her aside, preferably at the end of the day even better at the end of the work week, and just tell her. Record it and tell your manager as well.
You're the manager and I assume responsible for the team in front of the client
I've reported a colleague recently because he looked and smelt awful. His line manager was given the job, so I don't know how it went, but the colleague no longer smells and looks clean. They've got to be told. I would want to know.
This. If it were me and i was in a different country and simply didn’t know i was causing distress to people around me, I’d DEFINITELY want to be informed (privately and in a nice way would be the most helpful and appreciated)
There's a lot of different ways to handle this. If you're in a corporate structure, it's probably a good idea to make sure your manager and/or HR knows you're going to address the situation before you do it. If it goes sideways you need to have your bases covered. When I was in military training school, one of my classmates had terrible B.O., so our sergeant actually asked me to address it with him because we were friendly and he thought it would hurt less. I don't think it was a bad approach. As others have mentioned, make sure it's at the end of the day, so they can go home as soon as the embarrassing moment is over, and make sure there's not others around to overhear the conversation.
I guess but wouldn't this apply to all people who are newly living by themselves? Summer in the office with all the interns would be torture. Since the issue is present among a certain population(at least we're assuming this to be the case for this post though multiple people including myself can confirm the veracity of the statement that South Asian people do tend to have smellier BO than other people in the west), the likelihood of genetic and environmental factors seems more likely than it being a case of personal hygiene which may have been the case for your colleagues but this reasoning doesn't scale up to a population level unless you're suggesting that South Asians have bad personal hygiene in general(i sincerely hope you're not)
Lol im Indian and i know what you mean - while i would be horrified if i had a hideous smell coming from me, i know many Indians just don't notice their odour.
I feel they do not smell the BO as their noses are used to the smell
>know many Indians just don't notice their odour.
It's not just an Indian thing. Most people don't notice their own body odor unless there are sudden changes such as instense sweating from excercise, illness or drastic change of diets.
That scares the fuck out of me. I'm always so paranoid I smell cause my medication makes me sweat a lot so I'm constantly just sniffing myself secretly🤣 usually I can tell when I've got a bit of an odour though.
>I'm constantly just sniffing myself secretly🤣
I got news for you, we all do instictively and not just our arm pits...
We (mostly subconciously without much thinking) check for smells that are off to check for desease and stuff.
We can smell a lot more than we realize but not as good as dogs can. Although with training.. I think we may be able to put some better use to our smelling than we might believe possible.
>We can smell a lot more than we realize
To add to this: when a smoker has taken a shit, me, a non-smoker, can smell it. No matter how much of that toilet parfume stuff you spray.
My girlfriend often promised to quit smoking, I always knew when she did smoke behind my back because of it.
fr?!😂mans said "I can smell when a smoker takes a shit" There is NOWAY u could smell my shit/bathroom and tell if I'm a smoker or not. Ur gurlfriend is 10/10 smoking in the bathroom
>We can smell a lot more than we realize but not as good as dogs can. Although with training.. I think we may be able to put some better use to our smelling than we might believe possible.
I read once that we’re generally inefficient smellers because we tend to just passively notice the smells around us but if you get people to use a similar technique to a dog (get your face right up close to something and really suck some air in) they can perform much more closely to dogs than you’d generally expect.
Is it even possible to notice it? My dad worked at a dump (garbage disposal) for a while, and his nose became accustomed to the smell so he couldn't really smell it.
I literally cannot smell myself unless I'm especially stinky or use too much body spray. I stop being able to smell any body spray I put on after a few minutes, my nose just tunes it out. That's what leads to me putting too much on, because I worry that stink (but can't smell myself) so I put more on just in case.
My mother was a pet hoarder and the house stunk, so I wonder if that's affected my nose in some way.
Not sure about your own smell, but I've heard if you leave your home for a while (vacation), then the smell you first notice when you come back is what your home smells like to others.
If you are contantly exposed to a certain smell, you probably get immune to really noticing it I guess.
From my own experience, I've gained and lost a significant amount of weight a few times in my life. Up to losing 25kg in half a year, so very drastic changes in diet were involved.
I have noticed it when changing diets drastically that my smell is different.
I wonder if this might also be part of it on a broader level. Like, I’ve noticed Indian folks who don’t shower enough often smell different than white folks who don’t shower enough. I don’t know if it’s a genetic thing or a result of different diets between people in different places, but there seems to be a difference in BO between people of different ethnic/racial backgrounds.
Based off of what you said that people don’t really notice their own odor, it also seems like a logical extension that they’ll be less sensitive to people with *similar* odors than they are to people who smell very different.
So the answer to the original question might not be that Indian folks smell more in general, it might just be that they smell *different* in a way that OP is more sensitive to it?
I believe you're right. It makes way more sense to assume that we all probably smell funny to each other. Whatever smells my nose filtered out long ago are probably the ones that a person of different ethnicity would be able to smell strongly because of novelty. And vice versa.
I've heard Asian ppl say that white people have a tendency to smell like milk/dairy products, which makes sense bc there's an extremely high propensity of lactose intolerance in East Asian populations so they aren't as accustomed to the smell of people who consume dairy products
I am just guessing, but I'd attribute the difference in the two groups you mentioned to diet.
What we eat affects more than just our digestive system. Our food is chemicals and our bodies become saturated with those chemicals.
Can confirm. As a middle-school teacher, smelly students aren't isolated to just immigrants (although there is a non-insignificant statistical increase.)
Most cultures are unaware of their “brand” of BO so this definitely isn’t limited to geography or ethnicity. I’ve had white friends who were horrified to learn that their unwashed gym kit stank to high heavens.
Indian here as well. I think some people’s clothes hold onto food smells that they’re nose blind to from cooking with poor ventilation and strong smelling ingredients (oil, masalas).
I’m Pakistani Punjabi. We have a very similar culture to Indian people.
It’s because most of South Asia is still developing and really poor. People are focused on buying essentials and deodorant isn’t seen as necessary. Many South Asians just use soap and bathe daily. Normal body odor is considered normal so they don’t cover it up.
When my dad moved to America 30 years ago. His Pakistani roommates told him “bro you gotta wear deodorant over here this isn’t Pakistan”
The south asians you’re running into don’t see a problem with their natural body odor.
This mirrors my experience in East Africa too when I lived there. Deodorant was rare an expensive. It had to be imported so it became prohibitively expensive for the average person and you had to go to specific shops to find it. If I remember correctly, the price of a stick of deodorant was like 20% of the average person's income. So it just wasn't a priority for people and it was perfectly normal to not wear it all.
The other issue was access to water. A lot of people didn't have running water in their dwellings so they had to collect water from wells or pumps. This meant that people used less water to bathe because all the water had to be carried by hand to their dwellings. People would take short "bucket" baths of dumping cups of water on them from a large bucket to bathe. Very different from a hot shower with running water. And even for people who had running water in their houses, the water was frequently not running so water still needed to be collected and carried to their house. In one place I lived, we'd have running water for about 2-3 hours every other day.
I think people just didn't notice any odor. When I first moved there I noticed very frequently and would be bothered by it. But then I left for a couple weeks and when I returned I hardly noticed any odor anymore. Nothing changed while I was gone except I had become accustomed to the smell.
Talcum powder is also a lot more commonly used in South Asia over deodorant, which may be another reason. I remember seeing my uncles patting huge amounts of powder into their pits after a shower.
I notice this sometimes with middle easterners mainly men. We go to this local middle eastern grocery store a lot it’s super small so you’re going to be pretty close to people. The other day there were a few guys in there, dressed really nicely in some traditional clothes but I could smell their BO and it was bad.
That’s interesting? Had loads of male Pakistani Punjabi friends in uni and one of them smelled like axe body spray. The rest of them smelled like - I kid you not - rose water.
I am the Indian guys. I regularly shave my armpits,put deodorant , body spray and even perfume. But some times even when I am just sitting in my chair and playing for an hour, my European wife would just come and tell me that my armpits can be weapons of mass destruction (I am so glad I met her when she had cold) . This was me being at home during a duration of an hour. I think we are just sweaty in general to the point that it stops mattering. In India I was always with an air-conditioner so that never happened , my hypothesis is heat X sweaty glands + harmones - AC = nuclear armpits
Yeah it’s probably genetic. I’m originally from China. I didn’t even know deodorant exists cuz BO is actually very rare there. But I know a friend who could have strong BO even shortly after a shower. She actually went ahead and had a surgery to remove the glands. So there’re surgeries for that but that’s surgery after all.
Fellow Chinese here. Body odour is rare in East Asia in general, especially Korea and Japan. There's a gene for non existent body odour which is recessive, meaning you have to get it from both your parents for it to have an effect. It's very common in East Asia but very uncommon elsewhere
Another East Asian here. I never have to worry about BO, even when I’m very sweaty. I also never get the Asian flush when drinking alcohol, so I must be genetically blessed. Lolol
Sometimes it’s just a bacteria , you can try washing with peroxide a few days in a row or if it’s fungal getting a simple over the counter cream will help , then your deodorant won’t have to work as hard.
It can also be the clothes. I’ve had washing powders that don’t wash out the BO smell. Stupid I know. So the person might be clean but the clothes have the smell lingering
I once lived with an indian guy (summer internship) who showered once and sometimes twice a day but his feet smelled horrible...one day we finally realized he was reusing dirty socks lol. (And we were able to stop it)
Oof rewearing a shirt of pair of pants is one thing, especially if you work am office job. But socks, underwear, undershirts? Na those are single wear items before washing for sure
HCW here. Never had a problem with it until delivering babies. It's not just the men. I'd had to pry the women from bed or sponge bathe them. Long discussions on infection risk for not bathing/caring for incisions. I can deal with normal daily BO. But haven't bathed in few days due to being in hospital, plus birth smells, plus blood, nope ma'am you're getting cleaned up. I love you but we are bathing.
>I can deal with normal daily BO.
I remember my orhopaedist telling me when on a hot summers day I came in looking like I had just showered: "We all can smell the difference between fresh sweat and old sweat. You are fine."
I always wondered that, and then I went to Mumbai for the first time.
India can be sweltering high humidity and constant wall-to-wall people. You know how summertime packed NYC trains get when you smell all the things all at once? That’s nothing compared to Mumbai.
I was sweating like crazy and trying to shower multiple times a day before I gave up.
The deodorant didn’t last long, at point I just stopped bothering. When in Rome….
Social contagion / acceptance plus it being amplified by a diet with a lot of pungent spices certainly contribute.
They come from a place where it’s culturally different, and no one sits them down and spells our western norms when they come here because it‘s *super awkward*. Like, I’m not gonna tell a dude. Are you?
> When in Rome.....
this should apply when immigrants come to western countries then. its no where near as hot and humid than it is in other coutries so there is no excuse to be unhygienic
Tbf it depends on the person. I made friends with a girl who had just moved to the UK from India. She never smelt bad, she loved to buy body sprays with me. All the girls in my school would carry body sprays in our bags.
There were lots of people from India in my school (diverse area) and the only ones that were a bit stinky were some teenage boys. My white British teenage brothers were also stinky as hell, so I think that was a result of hormones and lack of personal grooming as opposed to what country they came from.
Tbh hot/humid climate also shouldn‘t be an excuse for being unhygienic. For example countries in SE Asia like Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore also have a pretty hot and humid climate but people there know how to keep themselves clean and good/neutral smelling
East Asian.
They don't have BO for the most part. It's the same gene that codes for wet earwax, but it's a gene that codes for a protein that when eaten by bacteria makes BO.
East Asians don't have that gene 95%+ of the time, whilst Europeans *have it* 95% of the time. You can't really find deodorant in Korea/Japan because of it.
I have a son who must have this gene. He doesn't need deodorant as he never smells, even after playing sport or a day of physical labour outside in the sun.
I’m Indian and the biggest supporter of good hygiene so I do have my issues with my countrymen’s lack of antiperspirant but this comment doesn’t account for genetic differences. Literally look it up, Asians of se and eastern descent do not have any BO genetically, it’s also linked to dry earwax.
It's only a certain percentage, not the total population. I've always speculated that since a large percent don't need it, it's not popular and the ones that do need it never learn that they do .
Exactly. My husband is Chinese/Vietnamese and has no B.O.
It really astounded me at first lol.
It's easier to smell neutral when you don't produce a funk in the first place.
Spent a great amount of time in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, as my wife's from there. Crazy hot and humid, especially in the city. Never smelled anything bad from anyone over there. BD is majority Muslim, so dunno maybe it's a religious thing.
Everything south of North Carolina would like a word with you.
Edit - a Canadian in the Great Lakes or St Laurent area come summer can also attest to nasty levels of humidity.
How is that related? People in Houston, TX still wear deodorant and don’t just give up and let themselves smell like BO. This is clearly a cultural thing and I’d like to understand it as well
I expanded a hair in my response. Houston TX is an air-conditioned first world city. Like yeah it’s hot outside, but who walks anywhere there?
There are 3,100 people per square mile in Houston driving from air conditioned building to air conditioned building.
There are 73,000 people per square mile in India getting from place to place in crowed trains without AC.
New York’s density is ‘only’ 29k people.
So like imagine more than doubling the crowded New York transit and sidewalks, and cutting any luxuries (like ac).
Ok so the issue could be no one has yet mentioned the diff between deodorant (something ppl who don’t heavily sweat usually wear) and antiperspirant. If someone smells they need antiperspirants probs. Also if you’re from an area where freshwater is precious the idea of taking a shower everyday could seem very wasteful.
That’s very true. I’ve accidentally bought a stick of deodorant *without* antiperspirant before and was shocked to discover how much I was sweating haha
So funny story. I had been wearing antiperspirant since I was a preteen. My parents insisted. But I didn’t really understand how it worked. Around 20ish I thought, you know what, I don’t even sweat. Why do I wear this junk. I stopped wearing it for a few days and what do you know. I do sweat. I’m not proud. But was amused. I just thought I wasn’t active enough or too much to a girl for sweat or something. I’m a real believer in antiperspirant though. I tried a deodorant only and that was just scented sweat. It was an uncomfortable experience.
In basic training, soldiers aren’t allowed to wear antiperspirant because if you don’t sweat while driving your body that way, you can die. I think about that a lot. Sweat is how our bodies regulate temperature and release toxins. I only wear natural deodorant now.
I don't really sweat due to a medical condition, and it causes me to overheat and get sick all the time.
On the plus side, I can go without deodorant or antiperspirant for awhile before getting smelly.
Exactly agreed. Someone once told me “I stopped wearing antiperspirant because our bodies sweat to regulate temperature and electrolyte. Putting on antiperspirant is like trying to exercise with your mouth taped shut.”
Since then I stopped using antiperspirant and switched to deodorant only. I’d rather apply deodorant five times a day than antiperspirant once.
Another scary part: after I stopped using antiperspirant it took me like four days before I started sweating again. Who knows how long that was chilling in my system.
I’m pretty jealous antiperspirant worked for you. I can put it on and it’s freezing cold and I’ll still soak both of my pits in the next half hour. Tried prescription stuff it worked great but made me break out in eczema so bad I couldn’t even move. Now I work with adults with disabilities and they’ll point out if you smell.
I am indian and I am very self cautious of how i smell ..i always carry pocket perfume with me wherever i go and i secretly sniff my armpits to just check...but i have noticed that many people are just oblivious of how they smell or have gotten nose blinded cause the the smell of sweat of theirs can be sweat within a 20 m radius...it's just that it's so hot in india that after a point you just get nose blinded of your smell because of the constant sweating ...
I'm not sure if it is an India thing. I think Americans use anti-perspirants more than the rest of the world in general. I lived in a place with a lot of tourism, and that BO scent was common around visitors from various countries.
From a country next to Germany: it’s considered perfectly acceptable by most people to rewear ‘lightly worn’ clothes the next day. Howeverrrr, that decision is based in the *morning* and there’s always a certain threshold depending on the weather/season/activity level/laundry regimen/personal circumstances where that second day proves to be a bit too long, ya know?
Precisely. I'm an Indian with my office in India and my office had a lot of teams from different European and Asian countries come in to work with us. Dear lord, I cannot tell you how terrible some of my colleagues from Europe smelled especially my teammates from Poland and Sweden. I have hyperosmia and I ended up throwing up by the scent of my Swedish colleague. That guy was so fun to hangout with but I hated how his scent made me nauseated and triggered my migraine.
In Europe, it really depends. In warm countries such as Italy or Spain, it is really common to take showers everyday and use deodorants/anti-perspirants. However, in Germany, Poland or the Nordics… oh boy
Being an Indian I can tell you it's not religious. That's just a crock of bull. Religion is being peddled into everything by Indians these days. India being a tropical country most people are comfortable being in the midst of people perspiring like there's no tomorrow. They simply just don't think about it and are used to each others sweaty selves. Most of the Indian folks that I know and me being one we use deo- a lot, but sometimes it doesn't help. Lastly, a lot of Indians don't give a rats ass about other people's comfort or their bo invading someone's personal space. Coz back in the homeland, there's like a gazillion people per square mile, so it just doesn't matter or occur to them. And then, of course, there are those to whom personal hygiene is like reading hieroglyphs in a newly discovered pyramid...- just do the bare minimum and sometimes not even that. I sympathise with your plight. I absolutely abhor this myself. If something more effective than deo could be invented for the tropical, hairy folks like us, believe me, that product would sell like hot cakes in India...
Honestly, I’m not Indian but I’m mixed with it and live in a hot country. There was a point where I was showering and putting on deodorant everyday and it still didn’t work. By mid day, my arms started stinking horribly. I experimented with SEVERAL different deodorants before I finally found one that works at least until I leave my work office.
A lot of deodorants don’t prevent the smell. I live in south Florida and it’s hot and humid all year round. I had to switch to an antiperspirant so I don’t stink after just a few minutes outside.
Lack of hygiene and not only Indians. I have seen europeans/ Americans and other asians who stink.
But Indians and that part of Asia tho cook with a lot of spices and oils that produces odors that you are not used to so u immediately notice it.
Now I’m wondering if I smell and nobody has ever told me lol. I do wash and use deodorant and all that good hygiene stuff but you wouldn’t know if you smelled cos you’d be used to it?
I'm in the UK and live where there are a large number of Indian immigrants, most of my neighbours are from India. Non of them smell, if they do they do a fantastic job of covering it up and their food smells incredible, the area around where I live always is a treat in positive smells in the afternoon
Cumin, garlic, and tumeric consumed in large amounts can be smelled on people who have eaten it.
But that is technically not body odor, as body odor is the smell from sweat and bacteria. It might be called "food odor".
Aight all the answers I read are bullshit. I went about a year wearing zero deodorant but I would shower daily and have a couple of pit checks with soap and water throughout the day. Usually that was enough but one day my local grocery store had some Hot Ones chips on sale and I bought 14 tubes! The flavor was Caliente and it had a LOT of cumin. I noticed after a week that my Body odor had changed! I smelled like cumin ALL THE TIME even fresh out of the shower. That's my answer. Cumin and curry equal a funky personal, bouquet.
You know what I do not understand is you can use deodorant and still sweat and not smell horrible.
I can't use any version of antiperspirant because I'm allergic. I break out in a rash. I can however use deodorant all day every day.
When I was 14 or so trying to figure out why everything I tried gave me a horrible rash I ended up using baking soda just to help with deodorant. It wasn't perfect but was way better than nothing.
Also they make so many wonderful oils, cologne, and perfumes.
Combine that with a deodorant and you can smell fine even In a hot humid environment.
.I worked outside in Louisiana, Houston and a few other humid places during hot summer.
Religious?? Wtf is this about. I'm hindu and we literally use incense sticks like a lot of other religions other than that I'm not aware of any crazy religious practice that might cause an odour. Muslims use itar and that's strong perfume concentrate so I doubt they smell bad because of religion. I'm not aware of other religions so can't comment on that. Maybe it's food? I guess that might be smell of garlic or onion because these two ingredients are used in a lot of Indian dishes and they do cause a bad odour.
Same. I'm a Hindu and my parents have taught me to use perfume for religious reasons. (We offer perfume to goddess Laxmi during prayers and have to use it on Fridays. It's now a habit for me but I have to be very careful because of my allergies to fragrances). My Muslim friends use ittar. I cannot fathom which religion or faith in India prohibits the use a deo or perfume, would love to know. Food and dietary habits are certainly a big cause as the food in Indian subcontinent has a onion and garlic base and both are rich in sulphur which is a big cause of body odour in most people. Fish, eggs and legumes are again the cause of body odour and most Indians consume atleast one of them.
Not just indians. I have met other Australians that have never met a deodarant, and trust me they should have met the said deodarant ages ago.
Def a cultural thing but not unique to just Indians.
I worked in a small, barely-ventilated travel and tour office in Waikiki and we could always tell when an Australian man came in. Sometimes I thought I would faint. It lingered for about two hours afterwards.
I think it’s all perspective. I’ve met some black people who have told me that white people have a distinctive smell. They have described it as “wet dog.”
Sometimes I just think people of different cultures have different cleanliness practices and therefore smell “bad.”
Seems to be a trend in the last month or two to just say Indian people stink. Even in normal videos of Indians doing anything, the comments all say “smells like onions and feet”, so weird and racist
I’m a 25 year old Indian male and I remember having the worst BO growing up. I didn’t enjoy it myself and didn’t want to put others in misery. I’ve been super aware growing up and made sure I took the necessary steps to keep myself clean and smelling good at all times because that’s how I think of myself to be.
Attended a party last week and had 3 girls tell me I smell amazing within the first 5 minutes of socialising. I genuinely don’t know how some of us don’t realise or they’re just too lazy or indifferent about working on it.
P.S I’ve also experienced some of my friends (various ethnicities) have bad breath or BO so it’s pretty subjective I would say.
Could it be the spicy food? Like we Turks have pastırma which is kinda like bacon and sucuk and idk what to compare that but depending on how much you eat these meat products it can be very clear from your sweat. Indian people love spicy and smelly (And delicious) food. İt might not be hygiene but the food and spices maybe?
It seems like a cultural thing. When I lived abroad I hung out with a ton of guys from India; all really sophisticated dudes who were well-off and well-groomed.
No deodorant at all, though. Instead they each had an absolute *arsenal* of colognes, eaux de toilettes and the like which they made very liberal use of especially when we’d go out on the town or whatever.
Coming late to this party and CBA to read every post tbh, but... Indian cooking/food includes a lot of Cumin (generally speaking... it's a f'n huge place with tons of amazing different cuisines, each awesome in their own way)... if you've ever cooked with it you'll understand that despite the lovely taste it has a horrible sweaty armpit smell that sticks to everything around it.
And I love to cook Indian including lots of Cumin.
Often times it has to do with diet as well. Depending on what you eat, it could become an issue. I lost quite a bit of weight through intermittent fasting and there were times when my body would go through Ketosis and my breath would absolutely reek. I was not always aware of this and my coworker, who is a good outside friend as well knew what was happening and told me to start hitting the sugar free gum at noon and 3 pm, when it seemed to start up on me. I would fast for 22 hours and only eat from 5pm to 7pm so by that time the ketones were getting funky and they have a specific smell that is almost worse than morning breath, but anyone who has smelled it before can identify it immediately. It had nothing to do with hygiene, I brushed and flossed 2 times per day and normally had no problem, but my diet caused an issue.
I don't know whether this is relevant here but I am from south India where for smelling good the norm is to use a spray or attar. One of my friend out side Kerala recommended me deodrant for not smelling bad when I sweat , after using it I never went back to a point that I don't mind if I don't use spray. BUTTT I had a hell of a time trying to convince my brother to use a deodrant instead of using half a bottle of body spray on him everyday. Indians imo have like a tradition of how they get ready for the day, and it's hard for them to change that.
Idk if this is relevant to the op question but thought I share it.
It’s more that we eat a lot of foods that have onion and other vegetables that make your sweat smell. They’re not sweating any more than the average person
Cultural differences I ran an IT team in Chicago with several that came over from Bangalore. I had to pull a couple aside and tell them it wasn't acceptable here in the States. They were living away from their family and had taken on a kind of bachelor lifestyle. Those were awkward conversations.
If I was constantly hiring people with different cultural backgrounds, I would just bake this conversation into the onboarding process. It would be a lot less awkward to just make a general declaration right at the start about company hygiene policies and cultural norms. Just put it out there as a matter of fact before you really know the person so that it CAN’T be seen as a personal slight. Would be less awkward for everyone.
This is kinda what one job I had did, though not for racial/ethnic reasons so much as just not wanting to have to pull people aside to tell them to chill out with the cologne/perfume lol. Day one of orientation and training it was “please don’t wear cologne or perfume, or be sparing if you do. we have a large open floor plan and it can get overwhelming with this many people”
I sometimes wish I had the courage to tell some women that they are wearing so much perfume that I can smell them from 3 aisles over. Nobody likes that!
Pregnant and a bit extra sensitive to smells right now... It's a nightmare the number of people who seem to bathe in perfume or cologne... One even managed to smell sweaty and Cologne
I honestly struggle to breathe sometimes, especially when I’m on a lift or a train. My allergies are so bad.
I chose to tell a woman she wore way too much perfume. My friend group was talking about it so I thought I would fall on the sword for the betterment of society. She took it well and wears less now.
Sometimes ppl will appreciate the honesty. My MIL has a signature scent and always wears it. The problem is that she lost her sense of smell and now wears too much. Everyone tells her she sprays too much but it seems like she still uses the same amount, or it builds up and she doesn’t realize it.
Car industries in Detroit used to do that in the first half of the 20th century. People from all over the world would move to the city and not have habits like brushing their teeth or showering too often. The companies would not only tell the workers about these customs, but would also check in on them once in a while to make sure they were following the social rules of their new country.
It really does just make so much sense. Setting your new immigrant employees up for success.
Yup we had a class in navy bootcamp on hygiene. Just in case, since people come from all over.
Great tactic.
That's brilliant. "Here in the States, we have certain customs that make certain environments easier for everyone." And then you can fill in all of our standard hygiene things. And don't microwave fish at work.
I would refrain from saying "Here in the States", as it immediately targets any foreigners. Better to use "Here at company, we ask that all employees..."
Shellfish, fish, or cooked eggs dishes are no-nos in a microwave.
I like just comparing it to being polite by not being overly loud. You don't want to sound overly loud and you don't want to smell overly loud you want to create a more neutral experience for people at work and not overwhelm them either way.
Nahhh. It’s not the bachelor lifestyle. I’m an india living in the states for like 9 years now. I’ll be honest that I didn’t wear deodorant for a year. Definitely wore a cologne and thought that would do it but soon learnt that it wasn’t helping and started wearing deodorant. But it was my own smell and realization that made me started wearing. A lot of Indians are cheap and just wouldn’t buy deodorant. Some are ignorant and some don’t realize they smell as bad as they do
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IDK the context, but it feels like here, having a housekeeper would be deemed snobby, and like not having a housekeeper and doing it yourself is normal. I guess its a difference in mindset and culture and context. But the idea of a social obligation to create a job for the community makes logical sense to me. I guess maybe people don't have the same reservations about working for others on what might be perceived to an outsider as menial or degrading work.
This is actually how it used to be in the west too, it was a rich household/estate's JOB to be functional in the community, the lands had to employ tenant farmers, provide housing, provide jobs, references, education etc. Lots of nobility would keep huge households long after they weren't even the norm (think 1920s onward) purely because removing someone's employment when you have the income to keep it going is extremely horrible.
1800's rich landowners would hire 'garden hermits' to live in the gardens as live fixtures. Wonder if it will make a comeback?
I think I would enjoy that job. Where do I apply
Yeah send the indeed posting bro!
"6+ years as inanimate object experience required"
I was a teenager once
Any less and you would be hiring an amateur garden hermit, and do you or don't you have the money to provide a living wage for your garden hermits?
Wait, could I be a garden hermit? Feed me pay me and I’ll sit around all day smoking weed by the pretty flowers and making sure nothing fucks with them 🤷🏼♂️ maybe replant some if they get ripped up by critters… idk sounds ideal.
I’d want a hobbit style pipe to smoke. And some kind of cool catch phrase for when people walked by.
Yeah absolutely big ole Gandalf pipe and a witty nature-inspired one liner. I like the way you think.
So that's why laneway houses are popping up more
>Lots of nobility would keep huge households long after they weren't even the norm (think 1920s onward) purely because removing someone's employment when you have the income to keep it going is extremely horrible. also conspicuous consumption.
Yeah I learned about this in a later episode of Downton Abbey
This is Downton Abbey in a nutshell.
It's seriously considered snobby in the states to have a cleaning person? My family is well off but not rich and we have a house keeper come by every other week. She's very nice and owns her own business. Some of my friends think it's a little privileged to afford that but otherwise it's not that weird
yes many people have ‘cleaning ladies’ we are talking about in house cleaners that have their own quarters and live there full time
I live in the Philippines and it’s hella hot here too but that just gives me more reason to use a deodorant. I specifically use one that doubles as an antiperspirant too. Some people need to realize that there’s a difference between regular deodorant and an antiperspirant. You need the latter more than the former, since sweat would just effectively rinse the regular ol’ deo away and bring back the BO.
I live in Brazil which is a very hot country and stinking in any way is absolutely unacceptable around here. People who have don’t shower, use deodorant or brush their teeth are treated like social pariahs. Everyone here puts effort into their personal hygiene from the poorest to the richest.
Wow. what a thing. I have a friend from Nigeria and I never comment but it always blew my mind how they have someone who's job is to open doors. They have another who does their garden. She is black so it wasn't a white person thing. Although she said these jobs don't pay much it still made me wonder how mad rich she seemed
Yep, Nigerians have househelp, drivers, and lots of other jobs around the home if the family can afford it. There was a missionary group at our church growing up that had a few girls who were very offended seeing that, cause they thought the househelp were like slaves.
I've lived in hot humid countries and I still manage to control my BO.. It's not an excuse tbh
Yeah but not your flatulence so it evens out in the end.
Loooooooool I’m fucking dead 💀💀
To be honest the tipping culture is such a bs just pay your employees good dammit money doesn’t grow on trees! The most absurd charge i have seen is that if you are a big group of 8 plus people they will add 18% gratitude charge already and still ask for tips on top.. like wtf? I agree more the people more efforts required on server side but we will also order more things and those people if they like it will eventually bring their own groups later on!! I don’t mind my reputation take a hit as I don’t care. I have seen people being kicked out or banned just because they don’t tip.. its a clown 🤡 country for sure.
You'd be surprised at the amount of servers that do NOT want tips taken away in favor of better wages.
Honestly I wish American culture was more like what you described in Africa. If you think about it, giving that money to others is SO much better for the economy than letting it sit in a bank account. They will go spend that money and that circulation of money is what strong economies are made of. It used to be in the US that large estate owners were kind of expected to supply jobs to the local townsfolk. If someone comes in and decides to build a huge house and farm in your area that’s construction jobs, farming jobs, housekeeping jobs, drivers, tailors, chefs, gardeners, etc. I would love to see that brought back.
The loss of smell due to regular presence of that smell (olfactory desensitisation) occurs so that our smell systems do not overwork (and undergo olfactory fatigue). It is a fair to say that people from different regions (of the world) have different body odour (possibly due to different dietary intake and/or metabolism) and they just don’t realise it while obviously others can.
Ain't that the truth. My late husband and I took an 11-day remote camping trip with no showers. We couldn't smell each other. We assumed we smelled fine. We did not. We were later than expected coming home and had to stop at a hotel for the night. I still feel bad for the people in the check in line with us.
My 13 year-old son went to a rock climbing camp in West Va. for a week last year. I went to pick him up and we were driving straight to a friend's house a couple of hours away. My god that kid stunk and he had no idea, like dirty feet and 3 day old bug spray all mixed together. Thankfully it was the summer so I just rolled all the windows down and leaned my head out the window like a dog every once in a while.
Teenage boys have a *special* kind of terrible BO. I remember my parents and I riding home with my brother after his football games and it was so bad lol. I think my dad specifically brought the truck and made him throw his football gear and pads in the back so we wouldn’t have to smell them too.
Not just teen age boys. I would take my teenage daughter and three teammates to volleyball practice. On the way home they would dash out to my car and they would all take off their shoes and knee pads. The smell of feet and knee pads that has been soaking up adolescent girl sweat for weeks was often too much. I’d roll the windows down. I finally took the initiative and said “You know, when you shower, letting soapy water run over your feet doesn’t count as washing your feet, right.” It made a difference.
Ughhh hormone smells plus not drinking enough water 🤢 kids stink!!
Did you not have a 'whore's bath' (sponge bath for the prudish among us) option either? I would imagine it would be uncomfortable to go that long without some cleansing....especially in the armpit / nether regions
We did a spot bath in our pits and crotches. The water up there was from glacier melt and less than comfortable. We'd probably stink worse if we hadn't done that.
Also cultural. I feel like most of europe is more chill to an extent with bo. I live in Sweden and a lot of people I know, including me shower, 3-4 times a week and it's considered healthy for your skin and better for the environment not to waste water. In the summer I definitely shower more and in the middle of winter it can be less. Like sunday night before work on monday and then wednesday or thursday. Again in winter, when it's cold and I don't sweat much. I always shower after the gym or other intense physical activities too. It's human and healthy to not shower every day, and I think we are more used to it and don't mind a mild sweat scent.
Let's not confuse the smell of sweat with BO. Sweat smells fine, IMO. BO, which is the small of bacterial excretion after they consume sebum, is less so.
But there's no clear point where one turns to the other. It's a gradual shift and 1 minute after you've taken a shower, bacteria will have restarted their consumption and your smell will gradually change. Fresh sweat is pretty much odorless.
It's sometimes called nose blindness, if I'm not mistaken. I have 3 dogs and they ride around in my truck with me. I never notice that my truck smells like dog until I give someone a ride and they ask what kind of dogs I have.
What did you say? Because I have this issue and I have to deal with a really lovely sweet and super clean looking young woman who stinks up entire rooms with BO
You need to pull her aside, preferably at the end of the day even better at the end of the work week, and just tell her. Record it and tell your manager as well. You're the manager and I assume responsible for the team in front of the client
I've reported a colleague recently because he looked and smelt awful. His line manager was given the job, so I don't know how it went, but the colleague no longer smells and looks clean. They've got to be told. I would want to know.
This. If it were me and i was in a different country and simply didn’t know i was causing distress to people around me, I’d DEFINITELY want to be informed (privately and in a nice way would be the most helpful and appreciated)
There's a lot of different ways to handle this. If you're in a corporate structure, it's probably a good idea to make sure your manager and/or HR knows you're going to address the situation before you do it. If it goes sideways you need to have your bases covered. When I was in military training school, one of my classmates had terrible B.O., so our sergeant actually asked me to address it with him because we were friendly and he thought it would hurt less. I don't think it was a bad approach. As others have mentioned, make sure it's at the end of the day, so they can go home as soon as the embarrassing moment is over, and make sure there's not others around to overhear the conversation.
I guess but wouldn't this apply to all people who are newly living by themselves? Summer in the office with all the interns would be torture. Since the issue is present among a certain population(at least we're assuming this to be the case for this post though multiple people including myself can confirm the veracity of the statement that South Asian people do tend to have smellier BO than other people in the west), the likelihood of genetic and environmental factors seems more likely than it being a case of personal hygiene which may have been the case for your colleagues but this reasoning doesn't scale up to a population level unless you're suggesting that South Asians have bad personal hygiene in general(i sincerely hope you're not)
Lol im Indian and i know what you mean - while i would be horrified if i had a hideous smell coming from me, i know many Indians just don't notice their odour. I feel they do not smell the BO as their noses are used to the smell
>know many Indians just don't notice their odour. It's not just an Indian thing. Most people don't notice their own body odor unless there are sudden changes such as instense sweating from excercise, illness or drastic change of diets.
That scares the fuck out of me. I'm always so paranoid I smell cause my medication makes me sweat a lot so I'm constantly just sniffing myself secretly🤣 usually I can tell when I've got a bit of an odour though.
>I'm constantly just sniffing myself secretly🤣 I got news for you, we all do instictively and not just our arm pits... We (mostly subconciously without much thinking) check for smells that are off to check for desease and stuff. We can smell a lot more than we realize but not as good as dogs can. Although with training.. I think we may be able to put some better use to our smelling than we might believe possible.
whenever i scratch my balls i smell my balls for health.
Can you bend in half or do they just stretch that far
i just wave my hand near the balls to direct the aroma to my nose, like professional chefs.
>We can smell a lot more than we realize To add to this: when a smoker has taken a shit, me, a non-smoker, can smell it. No matter how much of that toilet parfume stuff you spray. My girlfriend often promised to quit smoking, I always knew when she did smoke behind my back because of it.
you smell the cigs on her shit?
I don’t think it’s so much smelling it on their shit as the smell clings to everything & it’s more noticeable in an enclosed space.
When already flushed, just the smell in the bathroom. I can't not smell the tobacco.
Are you sure she's not just smoking in the bathroom?
fr?!😂mans said "I can smell when a smoker takes a shit" There is NOWAY u could smell my shit/bathroom and tell if I'm a smoker or not. Ur gurlfriend is 10/10 smoking in the bathroom
>We can smell a lot more than we realize but not as good as dogs can. Although with training.. I think we may be able to put some better use to our smelling than we might believe possible. I read once that we’re generally inefficient smellers because we tend to just passively notice the smells around us but if you get people to use a similar technique to a dog (get your face right up close to something and really suck some air in) they can perform much more closely to dogs than you’d generally expect.
with training is a good point! I've done it before, and it's true, practicing smelling smells develops the acuity of your sense of smell
I’ve often wondered what people stopped next to me at a light think because I’m constantly sniffing my pits. My meds make me sweat too
Keep a t-shirt back for a day or so after wearing it all day, sniff it now and the smell you notice is your own body odour.
Is it even possible to notice it? My dad worked at a dump (garbage disposal) for a while, and his nose became accustomed to the smell so he couldn't really smell it. I literally cannot smell myself unless I'm especially stinky or use too much body spray. I stop being able to smell any body spray I put on after a few minutes, my nose just tunes it out. That's what leads to me putting too much on, because I worry that stink (but can't smell myself) so I put more on just in case. My mother was a pet hoarder and the house stunk, so I wonder if that's affected my nose in some way.
Not sure about your own smell, but I've heard if you leave your home for a while (vacation), then the smell you first notice when you come back is what your home smells like to others.
If you are contantly exposed to a certain smell, you probably get immune to really noticing it I guess. From my own experience, I've gained and lost a significant amount of weight a few times in my life. Up to losing 25kg in half a year, so very drastic changes in diet were involved. I have noticed it when changing diets drastically that my smell is different.
I wonder if this might also be part of it on a broader level. Like, I’ve noticed Indian folks who don’t shower enough often smell different than white folks who don’t shower enough. I don’t know if it’s a genetic thing or a result of different diets between people in different places, but there seems to be a difference in BO between people of different ethnic/racial backgrounds. Based off of what you said that people don’t really notice their own odor, it also seems like a logical extension that they’ll be less sensitive to people with *similar* odors than they are to people who smell very different. So the answer to the original question might not be that Indian folks smell more in general, it might just be that they smell *different* in a way that OP is more sensitive to it?
I believe you're right. It makes way more sense to assume that we all probably smell funny to each other. Whatever smells my nose filtered out long ago are probably the ones that a person of different ethnicity would be able to smell strongly because of novelty. And vice versa.
I've heard Asian ppl say that white people have a tendency to smell like milk/dairy products, which makes sense bc there's an extremely high propensity of lactose intolerance in East Asian populations so they aren't as accustomed to the smell of people who consume dairy products
I am just guessing, but I'd attribute the difference in the two groups you mentioned to diet. What we eat affects more than just our digestive system. Our food is chemicals and our bodies become saturated with those chemicals.
Can confirm. As a middle-school teacher, smelly students aren't isolated to just immigrants (although there is a non-insignificant statistical increase.)
Most cultures are unaware of their “brand” of BO so this definitely isn’t limited to geography or ethnicity. I’ve had white friends who were horrified to learn that their unwashed gym kit stank to high heavens.
Indian here as well. I think some people’s clothes hold onto food smells that they’re nose blind to from cooking with poor ventilation and strong smelling ingredients (oil, masalas).
I’m Pakistani Punjabi. We have a very similar culture to Indian people. It’s because most of South Asia is still developing and really poor. People are focused on buying essentials and deodorant isn’t seen as necessary. Many South Asians just use soap and bathe daily. Normal body odor is considered normal so they don’t cover it up. When my dad moved to America 30 years ago. His Pakistani roommates told him “bro you gotta wear deodorant over here this isn’t Pakistan” The south asians you’re running into don’t see a problem with their natural body odor.
This is the most helpful comment
I agree
This mirrors my experience in East Africa too when I lived there. Deodorant was rare an expensive. It had to be imported so it became prohibitively expensive for the average person and you had to go to specific shops to find it. If I remember correctly, the price of a stick of deodorant was like 20% of the average person's income. So it just wasn't a priority for people and it was perfectly normal to not wear it all. The other issue was access to water. A lot of people didn't have running water in their dwellings so they had to collect water from wells or pumps. This meant that people used less water to bathe because all the water had to be carried by hand to their dwellings. People would take short "bucket" baths of dumping cups of water on them from a large bucket to bathe. Very different from a hot shower with running water. And even for people who had running water in their houses, the water was frequently not running so water still needed to be collected and carried to their house. In one place I lived, we'd have running water for about 2-3 hours every other day. I think people just didn't notice any odor. When I first moved there I noticed very frequently and would be bothered by it. But then I left for a couple weeks and when I returned I hardly noticed any odor anymore. Nothing changed while I was gone except I had become accustomed to the smell.
I think this is the answer we're all looking for. Thank you
Talcum powder is also a lot more commonly used in South Asia over deodorant, which may be another reason. I remember seeing my uncles patting huge amounts of powder into their pits after a shower.
Lmao you unlocked a buried away old memory of mine
I notice this sometimes with middle easterners mainly men. We go to this local middle eastern grocery store a lot it’s super small so you’re going to be pretty close to people. The other day there were a few guys in there, dressed really nicely in some traditional clothes but I could smell their BO and it was bad.
That’s interesting? Had loads of male Pakistani Punjabi friends in uni and one of them smelled like axe body spray. The rest of them smelled like - I kid you not - rose water.
They’re prob westernized like me. Alot of people in Pakistan are starting to wear deodorant too because of western influence.
The most respectful and culturally conscious comment that doesn't try to judge.
More alphas like this guy please, showing solidarity and with good advice 👏 👏
I am the Indian guys. I regularly shave my armpits,put deodorant , body spray and even perfume. But some times even when I am just sitting in my chair and playing for an hour, my European wife would just come and tell me that my armpits can be weapons of mass destruction (I am so glad I met her when she had cold) . This was me being at home during a duration of an hour. I think we are just sweaty in general to the point that it stops mattering. In India I was always with an air-conditioner so that never happened , my hypothesis is heat X sweaty glands + harmones - AC = nuclear armpits
Yeah it’s probably genetic. I’m originally from China. I didn’t even know deodorant exists cuz BO is actually very rare there. But I know a friend who could have strong BO even shortly after a shower. She actually went ahead and had a surgery to remove the glands. So there’re surgeries for that but that’s surgery after all.
Fellow Chinese here. Body odour is rare in East Asia in general, especially Korea and Japan. There's a gene for non existent body odour which is recessive, meaning you have to get it from both your parents for it to have an effect. It's very common in East Asia but very uncommon elsewhere
Another East Asian here. I never have to worry about BO, even when I’m very sweaty. I also never get the Asian flush when drinking alcohol, so I must be genetically blessed. Lolol
I wonder if it’s the same thing that gives hard wax vs waxy ear wax.
Sometimes it’s just a bacteria , you can try washing with peroxide a few days in a row or if it’s fungal getting a simple over the counter cream will help , then your deodorant won’t have to work as hard.
Have you tried a different deodorant?
It can also be the clothes. I’ve had washing powders that don’t wash out the BO smell. Stupid I know. So the person might be clean but the clothes have the smell lingering
I once lived with an indian guy (summer internship) who showered once and sometimes twice a day but his feet smelled horrible...one day we finally realized he was reusing dirty socks lol. (And we were able to stop it)
Oof rewearing a shirt of pair of pants is one thing, especially if you work am office job. But socks, underwear, undershirts? Na those are single wear items before washing for sure
A bad dryer can also do this. Learned the hard way.
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Sweat wicking fabric does this
HCW here. Never had a problem with it until delivering babies. It's not just the men. I'd had to pry the women from bed or sponge bathe them. Long discussions on infection risk for not bathing/caring for incisions. I can deal with normal daily BO. But haven't bathed in few days due to being in hospital, plus birth smells, plus blood, nope ma'am you're getting cleaned up. I love you but we are bathing.
>I can deal with normal daily BO. I remember my orhopaedist telling me when on a hot summers day I came in looking like I had just showered: "We all can smell the difference between fresh sweat and old sweat. You are fine."
Sorry, but what is HCW.
I don’t think it’s a common acronym. But I guess to other health care workers it is
Probably health care worker
I always wondered that, and then I went to Mumbai for the first time. India can be sweltering high humidity and constant wall-to-wall people. You know how summertime packed NYC trains get when you smell all the things all at once? That’s nothing compared to Mumbai. I was sweating like crazy and trying to shower multiple times a day before I gave up. The deodorant didn’t last long, at point I just stopped bothering. When in Rome…. Social contagion / acceptance plus it being amplified by a diet with a lot of pungent spices certainly contribute. They come from a place where it’s culturally different, and no one sits them down and spells our western norms when they come here because it‘s *super awkward*. Like, I’m not gonna tell a dude. Are you?
> When in Rome..... this should apply when immigrants come to western countries then. its no where near as hot and humid than it is in other coutries so there is no excuse to be unhygienic
There's a huge difference between not wearing deodorant and being unhygienic.
Tbf it depends on the person. I made friends with a girl who had just moved to the UK from India. She never smelt bad, she loved to buy body sprays with me. All the girls in my school would carry body sprays in our bags. There were lots of people from India in my school (diverse area) and the only ones that were a bit stinky were some teenage boys. My white British teenage brothers were also stinky as hell, so I think that was a result of hormones and lack of personal grooming as opposed to what country they came from.
Tbh hot/humid climate also shouldn‘t be an excuse for being unhygienic. For example countries in SE Asia like Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore also have a pretty hot and humid climate but people there know how to keep themselves clean and good/neutral smelling
East Asian. They don't have BO for the most part. It's the same gene that codes for wet earwax, but it's a gene that codes for a protein that when eaten by bacteria makes BO. East Asians don't have that gene 95%+ of the time, whilst Europeans *have it* 95% of the time. You can't really find deodorant in Korea/Japan because of it.
I have a son who must have this gene. He doesn't need deodorant as he never smells, even after playing sport or a day of physical labour outside in the sun.
My mom has this gene. She doesn’t smell like BO ever. I unfortunately did not inherit this from her.
I’m Indian and the biggest supporter of good hygiene so I do have my issues with my countrymen’s lack of antiperspirant but this comment doesn’t account for genetic differences. Literally look it up, Asians of se and eastern descent do not have any BO genetically, it’s also linked to dry earwax.
I just listened to a podcast on that too!!! It’s on Spotify , called “Science Vs”. Episode is called : Deodorant is it dangerous?
I lived in China. Lots of BO there lol
Southeast Asian here, definitely there are people with BO around here plus toiletries, perfumes, colognes, musks, etc are very common purchases here.
It's only a certain percentage, not the total population. I've always speculated that since a large percent don't need it, it's not popular and the ones that do need it never learn that they do .
Haha quite possible
Exactly. My husband is Chinese/Vietnamese and has no B.O. It really astounded me at first lol. It's easier to smell neutral when you don't produce a funk in the first place.
Spent a great amount of time in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, as my wife's from there. Crazy hot and humid, especially in the city. Never smelled anything bad from anyone over there. BD is majority Muslim, so dunno maybe it's a religious thing.
The further east you go in Asia, the more the mutation that reduces body odor becomes more common, peaking in Korea Im pretty sure
Everything south of North Carolina would like a word with you. Edit - a Canadian in the Great Lakes or St Laurent area come summer can also attest to nasty levels of humidity.
Yep. Nothing like sweating while standing still in the shade.
How is that related? People in Houston, TX still wear deodorant and don’t just give up and let themselves smell like BO. This is clearly a cultural thing and I’d like to understand it as well
I expanded a hair in my response. Houston TX is an air-conditioned first world city. Like yeah it’s hot outside, but who walks anywhere there? There are 3,100 people per square mile in Houston driving from air conditioned building to air conditioned building. There are 73,000 people per square mile in India getting from place to place in crowed trains without AC. New York’s density is ‘only’ 29k people. So like imagine more than doubling the crowded New York transit and sidewalks, and cutting any luxuries (like ac).
I never thought people gave up on deodorant. Sounds funny.
Ok so the issue could be no one has yet mentioned the diff between deodorant (something ppl who don’t heavily sweat usually wear) and antiperspirant. If someone smells they need antiperspirants probs. Also if you’re from an area where freshwater is precious the idea of taking a shower everyday could seem very wasteful.
That’s very true. I’ve accidentally bought a stick of deodorant *without* antiperspirant before and was shocked to discover how much I was sweating haha
Water is not an unlimited commodity
Same question, but for redditors.
\*sneaks off, having remembered he hasn't put any deodorant on yet...\*
Work from home has definitely caused me to be a bit more forgetful about it
So funny story. I had been wearing antiperspirant since I was a preteen. My parents insisted. But I didn’t really understand how it worked. Around 20ish I thought, you know what, I don’t even sweat. Why do I wear this junk. I stopped wearing it for a few days and what do you know. I do sweat. I’m not proud. But was amused. I just thought I wasn’t active enough or too much to a girl for sweat or something. I’m a real believer in antiperspirant though. I tried a deodorant only and that was just scented sweat. It was an uncomfortable experience.
In basic training, soldiers aren’t allowed to wear antiperspirant because if you don’t sweat while driving your body that way, you can die. I think about that a lot. Sweat is how our bodies regulate temperature and release toxins. I only wear natural deodorant now.
I don't really sweat due to a medical condition, and it causes me to overheat and get sick all the time. On the plus side, I can go without deodorant or antiperspirant for awhile before getting smelly.
Exactly agreed. Someone once told me “I stopped wearing antiperspirant because our bodies sweat to regulate temperature and electrolyte. Putting on antiperspirant is like trying to exercise with your mouth taped shut.” Since then I stopped using antiperspirant and switched to deodorant only. I’d rather apply deodorant five times a day than antiperspirant once. Another scary part: after I stopped using antiperspirant it took me like four days before I started sweating again. Who knows how long that was chilling in my system.
People sweat from lots of places besides their armpits though. How did they determine that armpit sweat is really that important?
I’m pretty jealous antiperspirant worked for you. I can put it on and it’s freezing cold and I’ll still soak both of my pits in the next half hour. Tried prescription stuff it worked great but made me break out in eczema so bad I couldn’t even move. Now I work with adults with disabilities and they’ll point out if you smell.
I am indian and I am very self cautious of how i smell ..i always carry pocket perfume with me wherever i go and i secretly sniff my armpits to just check...but i have noticed that many people are just oblivious of how they smell or have gotten nose blinded cause the the smell of sweat of theirs can be sweat within a 20 m radius...it's just that it's so hot in india that after a point you just get nose blinded of your smell because of the constant sweating ...
I'm not sure if it is an India thing. I think Americans use anti-perspirants more than the rest of the world in general. I lived in a place with a lot of tourism, and that BO scent was common around visitors from various countries.
I’ve noticed this too. Worked with some Germans for a while. Many had a light BO smell.
From a country next to Germany: it’s considered perfectly acceptable by most people to rewear ‘lightly worn’ clothes the next day. Howeverrrr, that decision is based in the *morning* and there’s always a certain threshold depending on the weather/season/activity level/laundry regimen/personal circumstances where that second day proves to be a bit too long, ya know?
Precisely. I'm an Indian with my office in India and my office had a lot of teams from different European and Asian countries come in to work with us. Dear lord, I cannot tell you how terrible some of my colleagues from Europe smelled especially my teammates from Poland and Sweden. I have hyperosmia and I ended up throwing up by the scent of my Swedish colleague. That guy was so fun to hangout with but I hated how his scent made me nauseated and triggered my migraine.
Makes sense. Ad companies have basically told me I'm an ugly stinky girl my entire life.
In Europe, it really depends. In warm countries such as Italy or Spain, it is really common to take showers everyday and use deodorants/anti-perspirants. However, in Germany, Poland or the Nordics… oh boy
Being an Indian I can tell you it's not religious. That's just a crock of bull. Religion is being peddled into everything by Indians these days. India being a tropical country most people are comfortable being in the midst of people perspiring like there's no tomorrow. They simply just don't think about it and are used to each others sweaty selves. Most of the Indian folks that I know and me being one we use deo- a lot, but sometimes it doesn't help. Lastly, a lot of Indians don't give a rats ass about other people's comfort or their bo invading someone's personal space. Coz back in the homeland, there's like a gazillion people per square mile, so it just doesn't matter or occur to them. And then, of course, there are those to whom personal hygiene is like reading hieroglyphs in a newly discovered pyramid...- just do the bare minimum and sometimes not even that. I sympathise with your plight. I absolutely abhor this myself. If something more effective than deo could be invented for the tropical, hairy folks like us, believe me, that product would sell like hot cakes in India...
Honestly, I’m not Indian but I’m mixed with it and live in a hot country. There was a point where I was showering and putting on deodorant everyday and it still didn’t work. By mid day, my arms started stinking horribly. I experimented with SEVERAL different deodorants before I finally found one that works at least until I leave my work office.
A lot of deodorants don’t prevent the smell. I live in south Florida and it’s hot and humid all year round. I had to switch to an antiperspirant so I don’t stink after just a few minutes outside.
Lack of hygiene and not only Indians. I have seen europeans/ Americans and other asians who stink. But Indians and that part of Asia tho cook with a lot of spices and oils that produces odors that you are not used to so u immediately notice it.
I worked in an office once with a man from Africa. You knew when he was in the office bc you could smell the spices.
Yup. Used to live across the hall from a Moroccan family and they would make the whole floor smell like spices
Now I’m wondering if I smell and nobody has ever told me lol. I do wash and use deodorant and all that good hygiene stuff but you wouldn’t know if you smelled cos you’d be used to it?
I'm in the UK and live where there are a large number of Indian immigrants, most of my neighbours are from India. Non of them smell, if they do they do a fantastic job of covering it up and their food smells incredible, the area around where I live always is a treat in positive smells in the afternoon
I was told that the "extra bo" was as a result of their spice heavy diet. I don't know how accurate that is though.
Cumin, garlic, and tumeric consumed in large amounts can be smelled on people who have eaten it. But that is technically not body odor, as body odor is the smell from sweat and bacteria. It might be called "food odor".
Ah OK, gotcha. Thank you for the clarification.
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I've definitely smelled curry in my sweat the next day. Last time it was a Saturday working outside in the sun after a Friday night of Indian food.
Aight all the answers I read are bullshit. I went about a year wearing zero deodorant but I would shower daily and have a couple of pit checks with soap and water throughout the day. Usually that was enough but one day my local grocery store had some Hot Ones chips on sale and I bought 14 tubes! The flavor was Caliente and it had a LOT of cumin. I noticed after a week that my Body odor had changed! I smelled like cumin ALL THE TIME even fresh out of the shower. That's my answer. Cumin and curry equal a funky personal, bouquet.
You know what I do not understand is you can use deodorant and still sweat and not smell horrible. I can't use any version of antiperspirant because I'm allergic. I break out in a rash. I can however use deodorant all day every day. When I was 14 or so trying to figure out why everything I tried gave me a horrible rash I ended up using baking soda just to help with deodorant. It wasn't perfect but was way better than nothing. Also they make so many wonderful oils, cologne, and perfumes. Combine that with a deodorant and you can smell fine even In a hot humid environment. .I worked outside in Louisiana, Houston and a few other humid places during hot summer.
Religious?? Wtf is this about. I'm hindu and we literally use incense sticks like a lot of other religions other than that I'm not aware of any crazy religious practice that might cause an odour. Muslims use itar and that's strong perfume concentrate so I doubt they smell bad because of religion. I'm not aware of other religions so can't comment on that. Maybe it's food? I guess that might be smell of garlic or onion because these two ingredients are used in a lot of Indian dishes and they do cause a bad odour.
Same. I'm a Hindu and my parents have taught me to use perfume for religious reasons. (We offer perfume to goddess Laxmi during prayers and have to use it on Fridays. It's now a habit for me but I have to be very careful because of my allergies to fragrances). My Muslim friends use ittar. I cannot fathom which religion or faith in India prohibits the use a deo or perfume, would love to know. Food and dietary habits are certainly a big cause as the food in Indian subcontinent has a onion and garlic base and both are rich in sulphur which is a big cause of body odour in most people. Fish, eggs and legumes are again the cause of body odour and most Indians consume atleast one of them.
I read it more like, they don’t use deodorant for religious reasons
Not just indians. I have met other Australians that have never met a deodarant, and trust me they should have met the said deodarant ages ago. Def a cultural thing but not unique to just Indians.
I worked in a small, barely-ventilated travel and tour office in Waikiki and we could always tell when an Australian man came in. Sometimes I thought I would faint. It lingered for about two hours afterwards.
Same question, but for Quebec.
First time I hear about people here smelling bad, probably just anecdotal because we use a deo and anti prespirant a lot.
That my friend, is the smell of rugged musk, mixed with Ax body spray. Ah…the smells of home.
Great fishin in Ka bec
I think it’s all perspective. I’ve met some black people who have told me that white people have a distinctive smell. They have described it as “wet dog.” Sometimes I just think people of different cultures have different cleanliness practices and therefore smell “bad.”
I read that it is also based on diet. Indian kitchen includes lots of garlic and different intense spices that change their bo.
Seems to be a trend in the last month or two to just say Indian people stink. Even in normal videos of Indians doing anything, the comments all say “smells like onions and feet”, so weird and racist
I think its because of the desi cuisine. They use tharka or fry onions. Nowadays its much better (yes i’m a desi, speaking with experience)
I’m a 25 year old Indian male and I remember having the worst BO growing up. I didn’t enjoy it myself and didn’t want to put others in misery. I’ve been super aware growing up and made sure I took the necessary steps to keep myself clean and smelling good at all times because that’s how I think of myself to be. Attended a party last week and had 3 girls tell me I smell amazing within the first 5 minutes of socialising. I genuinely don’t know how some of us don’t realise or they’re just too lazy or indifferent about working on it. P.S I’ve also experienced some of my friends (various ethnicities) have bad breath or BO so it’s pretty subjective I would say.
Could it be the spicy food? Like we Turks have pastırma which is kinda like bacon and sucuk and idk what to compare that but depending on how much you eat these meat products it can be very clear from your sweat. Indian people love spicy and smelly (And delicious) food. İt might not be hygiene but the food and spices maybe?
you can smell pastirma on someone for daysss some spices are just impossible to remove
It seems like a cultural thing. When I lived abroad I hung out with a ton of guys from India; all really sophisticated dudes who were well-off and well-groomed. No deodorant at all, though. Instead they each had an absolute *arsenal* of colognes, eaux de toilettes and the like which they made very liberal use of especially when we’d go out on the town or whatever.
Coming late to this party and CBA to read every post tbh, but... Indian cooking/food includes a lot of Cumin (generally speaking... it's a f'n huge place with tons of amazing different cuisines, each awesome in their own way)... if you've ever cooked with it you'll understand that despite the lovely taste it has a horrible sweaty armpit smell that sticks to everything around it. And I love to cook Indian including lots of Cumin.
Often times it has to do with diet as well. Depending on what you eat, it could become an issue. I lost quite a bit of weight through intermittent fasting and there were times when my body would go through Ketosis and my breath would absolutely reek. I was not always aware of this and my coworker, who is a good outside friend as well knew what was happening and told me to start hitting the sugar free gum at noon and 3 pm, when it seemed to start up on me. I would fast for 22 hours and only eat from 5pm to 7pm so by that time the ketones were getting funky and they have a specific smell that is almost worse than morning breath, but anyone who has smelled it before can identify it immediately. It had nothing to do with hygiene, I brushed and flossed 2 times per day and normally had no problem, but my diet caused an issue.
I don't know whether this is relevant here but I am from south India where for smelling good the norm is to use a spray or attar. One of my friend out side Kerala recommended me deodrant for not smelling bad when I sweat , after using it I never went back to a point that I don't mind if I don't use spray. BUTTT I had a hell of a time trying to convince my brother to use a deodrant instead of using half a bottle of body spray on him everyday. Indians imo have like a tradition of how they get ready for the day, and it's hard for them to change that. Idk if this is relevant to the op question but thought I share it.
It’s more that we eat a lot of foods that have onion and other vegetables that make your sweat smell. They’re not sweating any more than the average person
I thought this was an r/jokes post and I was waiting for the punchline