Old People and B.O.

...things that annoy me...

Yep, this post is about Body Odor, 'cause someone's got to say something...and apparently that someone is me.

It's a strange phenomenon that happens as people age: they forget that B.O. exists.  They think they smell fine. They think that B.O. only comes from sweating and as they don't sweat, they don't smell.

They are wrong...so very wrong, and we're paying for this mistake.  'Cause the person with the BO doesn't know they have it...but the rest of us find out every time they lift their arms to wave, or a gust of wind blows those smelly particles into our nostrils. 

I've been having this problem with my own Grandma, whom I love.  But love doesn't deodorize the armpits.  One time my mom and I tried to tell her kindly and sweetly (with lots of love and kisses) that she had bad B.O. and needed to start putting on deodorant every day.

It did not go well.

You would have thought that we told her we just killed an innocent kitten, she was that upset.  She started to cry and refused to accept the fact that she smelled bad.  I can see her reasoning...she didn't smell anything, so the smell couldn't exist.   But B.O. doesn't follow the normal laws of nature.  Even if you don't smell it, the smell is still there - lingering and waiting for an unaccustomed nose to get close before *BAM* it hits you like a brick wall.  (Or a wall made of moldy old cheese, which is more likely as this is a smelly wall.)

This is something that all of us have to look forward to as we age.  A complete ignorance when it comes to body odor.

Old people seem to forget what it was like to be around smelly people, or how hard (and necessary) it was to get their 12 year old son to wear deodorant.

I remember when my youngest brother got to that 'smelly' stage. It took a bit of time and a lot of 'Did you put on deodorant today?'  But eventually he got the message and altered his habits so that we didn't have to suffer.  Did he ever smell a bad odor on himeself?  Probably not...but that didn't mean it wasn't there.

I've resigned to the fact that my Grandma will always have B.O.  I try to think of it as one of her quirks.  But what I try to do the most is not breathe in too deeply when I give her a hug.