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?
If you’ve never worn deodorant then you likely won’t need to wear deodorant as long as you bathe regularly. Once you start wearing deodorant it encourages growth of anaerobic bacteria which leads to foul smelling armpits. For those who have been wearing deodorant who want to get off of it, you can wash your armpits with an iodine rinse solution such as Betadine in the shower for a few days to a few weeks, then you should be free of that ridiculous need henceforth.
And there is your answer. Some people stink because they fill their head with pseudo scientific nonsense to rationalize not engaging in basic hygiene tasks.
Bingo. Why did I begin to stink when I hit puberty even though I showered twice daily and lived in a temperate climate? This person makes it sound like no one would stink if they simply never start using deodorant, when the reality is that people start using deodorant because they realize that they stink without it. For centuries, people around the world have used perfumes to cover their BO before (and after) deodorant became available. Why would they need this if they simply don’t use deodorant?
I also know a woman who swears that you never actually need to wash your hair. Your head will stop producing as much oil and you’ll naturally have beautiful hair. She is a lovely, smart, confident, and attractive woman, but her hair is greasy and stringy AF.
The beauty is that it’s a closed epistemological system, like a religion.
If someone smells when not using deodorant it’s because of the original sin of having used deodorant! They need to be cleansed with iodine baptism in order to receive the graces of the blessed bacteria.
That way you can always rationalize away smelly people you meet and not worry about your own odor.
It’s about managing your microbiome to outcompete malodorous species with those producing more favorable odors. If your armpits stink, try resetting your microbiome with an iodine rinse such as Betadine for a few days and you should be fine without underarm products provided you are in good health:
“… an increase in bacteria that compete with odour-generating bacteria may provide a means to reduce body odours without significantly affecting overall microbiota abundance, bypassing the need to use antiperspirants or bactericidal substances.” Reference: https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-014-0064-3
Additional steps which you can take to improve your microbiome and reduce your negative armpit smell are to minimize your meat intake and facilitate mucus in your digestive tract by taking turmeric and black pepper supplements.
The science behind this comment: https://time.com/4207846/deodorant-antiperspirant-microorganisms/
If you read it, you know it does not support your assertions.
The study referenced found that deodorants encourage anaerobic bacterial growth (i.e. Staphylococcus) while antiperspirants kill off most bacteria. Bacteria cultures of people who do not use armpit products are dominated by aerobic bacteria (i.e. Corynebacterium).
But the problem is, Corynebacterium colonies stink. They smell heavily of the smell we associate with body odor.
The article you linked even says so.
My issue is not whether people that don’t use deodorant have bacterium 1 or bacterium 2. It’s that they stink.
If you don’t use deodorant, you have smelly armpit bacteria.
There are different kinds of bad smells. The smell of sweat is not that of rancid undigested meat which is what Staphylococcus smells like. If you want to be walking around like a half-digested steak, you’re welcome to it.
That’s a wild exaggeration. And runs directly contrary to what is written in the article you proffered as evidence.
You are spreading pseudo scientific disinformation.
Corynebacterium is more of a fruity, vinegar smell. I don’t find that to be an offensive odor. It’s what fresh sweat smells like. Staphylococcus smells like decomposition which I find highly offensive. Try it out for yourself, rinse your armpits with iodine and see how the smell changes. If you haven’t done it then you won’t know.
Bacteria come from the environment. I don’t understand how the iodine treatment you recommend prevents future exposure.
You’re not preventing bacterial growth, you’re resetting your biome to encourage aerobic bacterial growth which is less likely to produce foul smells. Bacteria is everywhere, only some of it smells.
deleted by creator
Why do so many comments look like AI now.
Nah man. An LLM could never cook up something this disconnected from reality. This is a one hundred percent organic hallucination.