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submitted 11 months ago by Zahille7@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

Like, I travel around for work and I've met plenty of people from all backgrounds.

Why is there a demographic of people who don't seemingly bathe regularly, or at the very least wear something to cover up their BO? I could understand if it's an allergy, or even religious reasons (though the people I've met that smell bad are usually you're average American young adult man) but recently (like in the past week, recently) I've met a concerning number of people who don't seem to wear any kind of deodorant or possibly don't even bathe regularly; it's starting to become an issue for me, as I don't even want to interact with them when I can smell them walking up from 3+ feet away yet I need to for work.

Does anyone have any possible insight?

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[-] 13esq@lemmy.world 25 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

A lot of people simply don't know proper hygiene because they were never taught it.

A shower doesn't mean let the water run over you for a few minutes and then spray on some deodorant. Lather some soap in to a flannel and scrub every part of your body, and if you sweat badly use antiperspirant.

But it's recent thing you've noticed. People might be cutting back on things due to budget. Not many people would admit that they're not showering because of financial worries.

[-] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 37 points 11 months ago

I was that person as a kid. I‘m autistic and my proprioception (feeling of body stuff) is all over the place. I didn’t know back then but I do now.

My parents didnt tell me and I had to learn by being bullied for it at school.

Since its not always easy, I have a different take on cleaning:

  • if you can, shower at least every two days
  • if you sweat a lot or work manually, shower daily
  • no need to scrub your whole body, just clean your arm pits, genitalia and butthole, more if a spot is dirty
  • wash your hair according to your skin. Hair should not be greasy but if that can be achieved by washing 2 times a week thats fine

If you‘re in a bad mood/are broke and cant shower use a piece of cloth and spot clean mentioned areas.

Use deodorant daily, if you sweat profusely like I do, use stronger/prescription deodorant.

I hope that helps.

[-] charlytune@mander.xyz 13 points 11 months ago

I was brought up before showers were something that most people had installed, and we just washed at the sink with a flannel cloth. We washed face, pits, bum, and feet twice a day, and only had a bath once or twice a week. I still just do a wash of the important bits at the sink with a cloth if I'm feeling very apathetic.

[-] 13esq@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

Fair shout and well written post.

I work manual labour, so it's a full wash for me every day!

[-] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 4 points 11 months ago

Thanks. Appreciate the feedback.

[-] flying_sheep@lemmy.ml 16 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Lather some soap in to a flannel and scrub every part of your body

That's not recommended by dermatologists. Soap destroys the acid layer on your skin that keeps bacteria out. As a regular thing, you should therefore only lather on soap where the bacteria buildup is high enough, i.e. under your arms, in your butt crack and other skin folds.

Unless you got super sweaty, you shouldn't soap up your arms and legs every day.

[-] TimeSquirrel@kbin.social 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I can't stand the feel of human-produced skin oils building up anywhere on my body. I need to feel squeaky clean to feel clean. But that might be just my own personal mental problems. I never even use lotion. I just can't stand grease and oily substances. Seeing or feeling my own fingerprints on my devices sends me into a rage of wiping everything down with alcohol.

[-] SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social 6 points 11 months ago

For what it’s worth, scrubbing to get that “squeaky clean” feeling removes the protective layer of sebum between your skin cells. It dries out your skin, and hence, causes your body to go into overdrive producing more oils. As a result, you end up really greasy by the end of the day. After learning this, I backed off the temperature of my daily shower, switched to a pure Castile soap, less of it, and stopped scrubbing vigorously. Now I don’t leave oily smudges on my phone screen, except after sweating a lot. Also, no more itchy, dry skin and cracking knuckles in the winter.

[-] flying_sheep@lemmy.ml 4 points 11 months ago

Phones and keyboard are filthy, but it's more about people usually not cleaning them enough and not about people not being clean enough.

The amount of bacteria on thoroughly and often soap-washed skin very quickly rises high because of the missing acid and/or oil layer.

The “only use soap on armpits+groin+feet most of the time” recommendation is not made up.

[-] 13esq@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Fair point. When I said soap, I really meant a body wash, of which pH balanced versions are available.

[-] flying_sheep@lemmy.ml 1 points 11 months ago

You also have an oil layer that keeps certain kinds of bacteria out, so don't destroy that one. As said: most days, just lather pits, groin, and feet, simply rinse the rest with water.

[-] GutsBerserk@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

Everywhere around the world soap + shampoo should be free. And deodorant should be as cheap as possible. It should be a basic human right.

[-] Nisaea@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 10 months ago

Add tampons ans pads to that

this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2023
180 points (89.1% liked)

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