I am sensitive to body odor.. are you?

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Look, I get that not everyone smells like daisies or sandalwood. And I understand some people don't smell great due to medical conditions, lack of access to necessities, physical impairments, depression, or if they were working all day. But my God, if you have access to running water, hygiene supplies, and have enough time, PLEASE BATHE AND BRUSH YOUR TEETH! You don't need to scrub your skin off to be clean, but showing up in public spaces smelling like must or bad cheese is UNACCEPTABLE!


I take public transportation and some people smell so bad, I can smell them ten feet away from me. This is coming from someone with chronic nasal swelling. If I can smell you from a distance AND want to puke, you need to clean yourself. While people are noseblind to their smell, they gotta have common sense and bathe themselves.

I had one class years ago with one particular student who clearly never bathed the entire semester. He smelled bad enough the first day of classes, but he got progressively worse all semester. I always sat close to the front of the class, but the smell got so bad that I had to give up and move to the back of the class.

And this was a few years after I lost most of my sense of smell. Several years before that I had some kind of illness similar to the flu that left me with almost no sense of smell.

Prior to that, my sense of smell was so sensitive that nearly everyone smelled bad if they got very close. I didn't mind being around people, but only if they kept some reasonable distance. That is probably part of the reason for the end of several of my relationships back then.

I was also a picky eater because of the smell of various foods, and thus their taste. Some foods smelled good, but a great many smelled horribly bad and I didn't want to eat them. Any kind of aged food was something to be avoided at all costs. Also, anything with too many spices.

Then after that flu-like illness, my sense of smell was so bad that I could tell no difference in taste between different foods and texture became more important. I started eating Indian curries because it was about the only thing that had enough flavor that I could even detect the flavor. Prior to that, I couldn't stand to be there at all.

Due to sever long-term allergies & sinus problems that are not very well treated, I barley ever notice any body odor. The downside is that I'm likely to notice deodorant, perfume, & various other chemicals. Buses can be extremely bad for this. Some people think they need to bath themselves in strong chemicals in order for them to smell sexy or cover-up their body order & that can cause my nose to drip, make me sneeze, & cause sinus headaches. Cigarette & weed smoke are also very likely to bother me. I'd much rather sit next to someone who has strong BO & does not use chemicals nor smoke than sit on the other side of the bus from someone who just smoked or sprayed themselves with perfume before getting on.

I could've written the OP's message. I've always thought of my nose as being very "keen" or a "super sniffer." I now wonder, as a late diagnosee, if it's due to the autism. I work out at a gym. You don't know body odor til you've been in a gym. I can detect the difference between BO and dirty clothes; the odor is different between the two. I can detect foul breath from 10 ft away, even when wearing a double mask. The stench of human breath nearly drops me. Nobody else has this problem, so I'm tempted to think this is part of my autistic sensitivities rather than having the nose of a dog. I also easily pick up tobacco and alcohol on one's breath. Recently a man was talking to me (we were standing close because it was a loud environment) and every time he spoke, I got a waft of pepperoni in my face (he had just eaten pizza). My aversion to breath is one of the reasons I find lip to lip kissing revolting.

Yes, I am sensitive to body odors and it is true some people even out in the office do smell bad. I think it is for a variety of reasons including poor diet of processed foods without any raw fruits and vegetables. Most people, I have noticed simply consume donuts, chips and meat all the time without any concerns. That seems to be what people want, and fruits are regarded as a novelty. Our ancestors did not smell quite so bad as modern people can when they fail to bathe on a regular basis.

My brother rapidly begins to stink from even the mildest exertion and I believe it is due to his high sugar and high meat diet, and also failure to use antiperspirants. Modern people in particular must use antiperspirants to stop the stink at its source or else it is hopeless for them, they will become inundated with stink. Yet there are a number of people that rely upon deodorant alone, this is a fatal strategic error.