Get me a gas mask!

[Becks]

Another friend of mine knew a kid that was allergic to soap, so didn't bother to shower.

Surely that child and/or his (her?) parents could've asked a dermatologist to recommend something.

[NightAngel]

MOD HAT ON:

It's been said by Raps.
It's been said by Ree.

So, now I'll say it and if it has to be said again it will come with the closing of this thread and possibly infraction points:

DROP THE RACE ISSUE.

MOD HAT OFF

Surely that child and/or his (her?) parents could've asked a dermatologist to recommend something.

My Mom has sensitive skin. I've heard tell that when she was a child her skin was so sensitive she couldn't use regular soap either. My Grandma made oatmeal 'soap'- I'm not sure what that entails but that's what she had to do.

Also, oatmeal made thick and pasty relieves skin itching from fun things like Chicken Pox. You'll note that there are quite a few soaps and skin treatments on the market with oatmeal in them.

[Shabo]

Surely that child and/or his (her?) parents could've asked a dermatologist to recommend something.

Oh, he knew what he could use. He just didn't bother. He wasn't a child, he was a full-grown adult in college. And he knew he stunk. He just didn't care.

PS- I don't mind the smell of my friends kitchens too much. It reminds me of my grandma's kitchen when I was a kid. It's just a smell I don't live with, so I notice it. I've even talked to a friend of that decent, and he completely agrees that the kitchen stanks. In fact, Portuguese immigrants often have a kitchen built in their basement as their cooking kitchen, that way they don't stink up the rest of the house. They also have a full kitchen upstairs, like most US houses do, but that one is pretty much just for show. They are so happy to have nice stuff here that they want to keep it nice when guests visit and not make it smell bad for them. Just an FYI, so you guys don't think I'm trying to make a racist comment.

[ruffledbirdy]

Speaking of bus rides, the local bus near me has this one guy who gets on all the time, and he STINKS! (I'm not mentioning race, he is the same as me!)

Why?

"I WILL NEVER BATHE! IT IS NOT HEALTHY FOR YOU!"

Seriously, he went into a fifteen minute rant when a girl asked him why he smelled bad. It was crazy! All sorts of weird so-called facts. As an example, an open sore is healthier for you then soap because the sore shows where an infection is and that your body is fighting it.

Uh huh.

But seriously. He stinks. It doesn't help that he smokes some kind of weird cigar thingy which also doesn't help.

Rb

[Shabo]

As an example, an open sore is healthier for you then soap because the sore shows where an infection is and that your body is fighting it.

Uh huh.

Gangrene, anyone? How long do you think it's going to take before he becomes hospitalized from infection?

I don't really wash most small cuts simply because it's not really worth the hassle, but if it gets badly infected, I'll take care of it. But I do wash regularly... What a weirdo.

[Crazyredhead]

I remember when I was in the military, I had a Korean NCOIC (supervisor) and he stunk something awful. It wasn't BO but all the Korean food that he eats, like Kimchee. I also noticed when I am around Asian people, they have a smell about themselves, which is from the food that they eat. I have been told this by a little Korean woman, I finally got up the courage to ask. So I figured that Indian people would also smell this way, cause some of the foods are really spicy. I love Indian food and cannot eat some cause of the spicyness.

[ditchdj]

My wife and I both have something smelly in common: we both have bad breath because of our sinuses. Anyone here have that problem and any way to treat it? I asked my dentist about anything that can be done about it and he said there wasnt. Pretty much the only thing I can do is gargle with mouthwash and "gag it" as far into the back my throat and up the back of my throat as possible. But that only works for about a half-hour to an hour. I usually do that only when I want to get close to my wife and start kissing her.

[tendomentis]

I don't see why people get their dander up over race/cultural distinctions so readily. Here's what shouldn't be news:

All People Are Different

I've lived in so many places around the world and smelled so many different cultures. Each place has its own smell, and it's "mostly" caused by the people that inhabit it (I say mostly, because in some third world countries, livestock contributes to it too).

To be honest, the USA smells like burnt hamburger to me (weird, I know, but it speaks to the majority of the diet of most Americans). The USA, UK, Western Europe, Australia/New Zealand are populated by people who generally shower once a day, but the rest of the world has it's own schedule.

In El Salvadore, native people generally didn't shower more than twice a week. Northern Africa, maybe once a week (if that). Eastern Europe (at least down towards Turkey), maybe once every other day.

Local diet also plays very heavily into what people smell like. High meat/dairy diets tend to smell more while more vegetation/fruits diets tend to make people "smell" less potent.

Humans are like Cordon Bleu....we stuff ourselves with all sorts of different fillings and are quite literally cooking our own bodies every day....of course we'd take on different smells dependant on what our local culural "stuffing" choices are

[ditchdj]

I agree, but the only thing is that one of the mods is gonna 86 this thread for bringing race into the issue still.

[Tigress]

It's a very sad state of affairs when the most important rule of a convention is "SHOWER!" Seriously, by the second day of most cons, some of the con-goers start to smell pretty nasty. A lot of congoers stay at the con without renting a hotel room and either stay hopped up on Vault and Red Bull or sleep in their cars. And they don't bathe, not even grabbing a travel-sized bar of soap and taking a trucker's bath in the bathroom.

Same thing happens at Magic tournaments, but there's no excuse for that, since all but the Pro-level tournaments last for only a day. There's no way they couldn't take a shower the night before.

[Andara Bledin]

The worst part is that this is a culture issue (nd no, I'm not talking yogurt), not racial. But the line between making a distinction and making an unnecessary distinction is not fixed, and different for different people.

I have never run into anyone that so offended my sense of smell as someone who enjoyed a lot of curry. And it's not just eating it that does it, but being around while it's cooking. I've never tried curry, but I've been so overwhelmed with the scent that at this point I can't get near it without being nauseated.

As far as cigarette stench, it really matters what brand/tobacco type you're dealing with. I actually prefer stanky stale-smelling smoke to anything that's sweet. I can't stand sweet-smelling tobacco products. And with the flavored cigar papers that are so popular now, especially with the doper crowd, it's just awful. And cigars, as a whole, are vile. And they look like turds.

Pretty much the only thing I can do is gargle with mouthwash and "gag it" as far into the back my throat and up the back of my throat as possible. But that only works for about a half-hour to an hour. I usually do that only when I want to get close to my wife and start kissing her.

Mouth wash, unless you require it to stave off infection, will actually lead to bad breath as it kills off all of the helpful bacteria along with the bad, and some of those are there to specifically fight bad breath. I have chronic sinusitis, but I don't have breath issues as long as I brush regularly. If I don't have time or opportunity to brush, then I chew bubble gum. Gum is good in that it can help aerate the spaces between your teeth that don't often get exposed (many germs are anaerobic) and the saliva will help clear your mouth as well. And it doesn't matter if the gum has sugar or not; after ten minutes of chewing, it's all sugarless.

Local diet also plays very heavily into what people smell like. High meat/dairy diets tend to smell more while more vegetation/fruits diets tend to make people "smell" less potent.

Actually, more vegetarian diets lead to smelling like vegetation. You still smell largely as much as high-meat diets, but since there are vegetable scents all over already, it's much less notable. Even in fairly sterile office environments, you have potted plants, floral perfumes, and scented air fresheners in a panoply of plant-based scents.

Same thing happens at Magic tournaments, but there's no excuse for that, since all but the Pro-level tournaments last for only a day. There's no way they couldn't take a shower the night before.

Yeah. I don't know what it is about attending conventions that people don't think they need to "clean up" a little first.

But nothing I have run into in the 17 years of attending gaming conventions thrice yearly has ever come close to the unpleasantness in terms of overwhelming body odor, trollish behavior, and just general nastiness of the one time we were host for the regional Magic tournament finals. And that was just a one-day event that was over by mid-afternoon!

^-.-^

[Pagan]

I think the whole point was that certain other cultures don't have as much of a... thing... about body odor and cleanliness as the values shared by Canadian/American/British/Western European types, and race was being mention to suggest either a mitigating factor or a relevant hypothetical cause of said stinkiness.

i dont think that the op ment it to be a racial thing, i have noticed over the years that some cultures have a distinct smell, not nessisarily bo per se but maybe because of what they eat or the bathing products they use.

Thanks to both of you. That is all I meant.
I didn't realize that I dropped a few words from my post by accident! I have had other customers from India that don't smell, I was just trying to get a frame of reference for everyone. Gods only know that we have enough people of all walks that smell.

Mods, please close the thread and I'll just lurk from now on since I've seem to have offended unintentionally.

[Rapscallion]

Mods, please close the thread and I'll just lurk from now on since I've seem to have offended unintentionally.

I'll close it since you ask, but I don't want you silenced by this. You didn't act out of malice.

The fact is that we're very careful around issues such as race. Maybe a little too careful at times, but we've not seen a flamewar on these boards, and I want for everyone to be able to come on here regardless of race without having to reasonably take offence. This sort of topic is the type that really risks stability (politics and religion are another two classics).

Some people stink, others don't. Skin colour doesn't matter to me.

Rapscallion