A smell that I can't stand

By Anonymous -
I like to consider myself a really big smell kind of guy. I have scents that I love and I have smells that I hate. But there is nothing that irritates me more than having to endure a smell that I do not enjoy. I consider myself a very clean person. They say your body is your temple, and I like to keep my temple clean. I shower frequently and like to make sure that my body doesn’t just smell clean but is clean. I use secret cologne that gets many compliments, more commonly from the ladies of course. I use deodorant every day to avoid to smell of body odor. I like to keep my feet covered because that may be the worst smelling part of my body, even though they really don’t smell that bad. But I use baby powder and socks to hide the slight odor that they may have. Regardless, its never anything to drastic.


There is just something about scents that smell good to me that make me comfortable. If I don’t like a smell, I’ll do whatever I can to eliminate it in order to enhance my comfort. My current roommate isn’t the cleanest of the bunch. He is young, almost childlike sometimes so I don’t blame him. He is a great kid but his feet stink. His foot odor usually infests our room and there is nothing more that irritates me than walking into a bad smelling room, especially when I reside there. My first roommate in college was really clean and my other years I lived by myself in a single. So this is the only time I’ve had to deal with something like this. The second I walk into my room, usually when I leave the room unattended for long periods of time, the foot odor dominates the smell of the room. I instantly open up all of the windows to let in some fresh air. I also light these two candles that I have. They are black bamboo scented. This scent has saved my life this semester. It is tough when my friends walk into my room and they are more affected by the odor, it makes me wonder if I’m actually getting used to it. This frightens me. Not being able to smell odors that are discomforting is one of my biggest fears because I wont be able to detect the smell. This would prevent me from addressing it and making sure that those who surround me are also comfortable with the way I smell and the way my room smells. In my mind if they are comfortable with certain smells that surround me then they will be more comfortable with me. That makes my sense of smell very valuable to me. 

Comments

  1. Jonathan Brumberg-KrausMay 8, 2015 at 7:33 AM

    Why do you think some people (like you) are very aware and affected by unpleasant (un-clean, un-fresh smelling odors, especially body odors), and others (like your roommate?) apparently oblivious to them? Because they're young? That suggests that recognizing bad and good smells and doing something about them is learned behavior (and our guest speaker Rachel Herz confirmed this). Apart from those people that physiologically have no sense of smell at all (anosmia), it's still striking to me that we have such different experiences of and emotional reactions (or indifference) to "bad" and "good" smells. To push the question even further, beyond your immediate gut reaction to bad body odor smells ("smelling bad things disgusts me, not smelling them makes me feel good"), how does it benefit you socially or pragmatically to surround yourself with "odorlessness" or good smells, and avoid or suppress bad smells?

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