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People Who Don't Wear Deodorant or Seemingly Bathe Regularly, Why? (lemmy.world)

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

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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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[–] kakes@sh.itjust.works 63 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I was this kid all throughout my school years.

Parents never taught me any kind of personal hygiene, and my house was filled with a thick smog of smoke, so my sense of smell is still shot to this day. To give an idea how bad it was, I was asking for dentures when I was 14 because my teeth were literally falling out. The water in our house was spotty at best, on top of the hygiene thing, so baths were maybe once every 2 weeks or so. My parents always had a fridge stocked with Coca Cola, but almost never drinkable water.

Besides pointing at my parents, I don't really have an explanation for you, but I've definitely "been there."

It took a lot of effort, but I've come a looooong way since then. Like... unrecognizably so, thankfully - other than the dentures, at least.

If anyone is reading this, and in a situation where their home life or depression or whathaveyou is putting you in this kind of situation: Just know that things can and will get better. I know how difficult and embarrassing it can be when you're deep in it, but all you gotta do is be a little bit better than yesterday (when you're able). It takes time, but it's totally worth it.

[–] UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT@sh.itjust.works 20 points 11 months ago

Wow thank you for sharing. I grew up poor and grubby too, but my folks were health food nuts, so I think I got spared the worst of it compared to some people I've seen.

I'm so glad things have got better for you.