Smelly Cloth Or Body Odour

[stander]

In the mid 80's we had a British site manager here in Thailand who had some real personal hygiene issues, bad breathe and BO and the Thais were really struggling to work with him.

Our Thai HR manager was not sure how to approach the subject, so I was asked to investigate.

Well the moment I stepped inside his office I was overwhelmed by the odour and I could not believe that he himself was not aware of it.

So I decided that I would buy deodorant and toothpaste, brush and mouthwash and when he was not in the office place them on his desk.

I returned to site a few days later and found there was no improvement, so I decided to take the bull by the horns and confront him.

As I was about to bring the subject up, he rather timidly told me that he was allergic to deodorant and he had some sort of stomach ailment that caused the bad breathe.

I then contacted my boss and we decided unfortunately with the Thai sensitivities to personal hygiene it would be best for all if we let him go, so he was reassigned to a project in China and he seemed to thrive there.

Edited January 13, 2011 by stander

[Latindancer]

OP.....you seem to be saying that you can not tell if the smell is coming from you or you clothes / towel.

Have a good smell of clothes and towel . Towels get smelly really fast in Thailand's tropical heat/humidity. It's fungus/ and/or bacteria, growing on the skin flakes in your towel.

Wash clothes with more soap.

To kill suspected fungus in smelly towels, boil them in a pot for 10 minutes.

Nappy soaking liquid works too, but the stuff with chlorine bleach in it tends to ( you guessed it ) bleach your clothes / towel.

Edited January 13, 2011 by Latindancer

[harrry]

OP.....you seem to be saying that you can not tell if the smell is coming from you or you clothes / towel.

Have a good smell of clothes and towel . Towels get smelly really fast in Thailand's tropical heat/humidity. It's fungus/ and/or bacteria, growing on the skin flakes in your towel.

Wash clothes with more soap.

To kill suspected fungus in smelly towels, boil them in a pot for 10 minutes.

Nappy soaking liquid works too, but the stuff with chlorine bleach in it tends to ( you guessed it ) bleach your clothes / towel.

Check you do not have any fungus (thrush etc) growing in the groin etc. This can smell a lot and is easily fixed with an anti fungicidal.

[TAWP]

Baby powder do wonders against sweat and odor. I am not joking and have myself recently taking up to using it after recommendation (and proven case) by my gf.

[longway]

If you have a cold water laundry machine, then put some dettol with your wash, you get it specially for laundry, it will kill the bacteria causing the stink.

[gravion]

If you have a cold water laundry machine, then put some dettol with your wash, you get it specially for laundry, it will kill the bacteria causing the stink.

thanx ill give that a go... also i have no access to drying under the sunlight. so small possibility the bacteria starts growin yo.

actually i dont give a <deleted>, ill force the public to smell me body :):) heeeheeeheee im lovin it

i know u ladies loove my smell dont ya???? :jap::jap::jap::jap::bah::bah::rolleyes::rolleyes:

[neverdie]

So after all that advice, you after all that you are just going to STINK anyway.

[JSixpack]

Although this thread was started by a troll post from a silly <deleted>, BO among the farangs IS an issue. It's an embarrassment to us all.

I'll share what I've learned.

First, it happens that clothes don't come perfectly clean in the wash. I figured this out after I often started stinkin' much too soon after putting on a supposedly clean shirt--here in Thailand.

Here's what to do: Buy a bottle of white vinegar, cheap at any supermarket, and a spray bottle. Mix in the vinegar with water, 50/50. Before you wash your shirts or send them out, spray the underarms, both sides, with the vinegar solution. Let it soak in for a while. Problem solved.

Then there's your person. Commercial deodorants don't work well, are poor value, and stain clothing. Toxicity? Well, it's cheap and easy to make a homemade deodorant, use it, and carry it with you. Here are two recipes:

http://www.syrupandhoney.com/2010/08/homemade-deodorant.html

http://innisrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/07/deodorant-alternative.html

I use the 2nd; works great, wish I'd discovered it long ago.

[Travel2003]

Mr. Gravion

How long have you been here?

Just trying to think how it must feel to suddenly know if one has been smelling for years.

You never had this problem back home?

Oh, make sure you solve your little problem before you go to a TV meeting (social meeting), as we all would know who you are when you walk in.

And for the girls, you were hopefully joikng, because most of them here are extremely sensitive to BO.

[astral]

It is better not to dry your clothes in the sun, it will rot them.

Hanging on a line on your balcony should be fine.

[DougLee]

Howgh, geriatrickid spoke right ! I just want to add my two Satang, avoid eating butter, buttery cakes and cream topped food ! On most of freshly arrived farang there hangs the smell of old butter and sour milk , I often notice. Joined with your own sweat, a heavy attack to non-sweating Asian's noses ! Take two showers a day, using the good old LUX soap instead of balmy,sticky shower foams ( they actually do not clean the pores deep enough as they should do) , you will notice it when soaping down the first time - your own smell becomes apparently noticeable for yourself then. Rinse, and then soap a second time , you will notice all the odor gone ! If you sweat a lot, why not shower on every occasion. Once in Thailand for a few weeks, the fat lumps of your skin will have been sweated dry . . and such your olfactory character will dwindle. And that 's then a good chance to shop for a decent deodorant and a flask of a manly Eau de Perfume

dam_n that does make sense.. I had girls tell me my whole youth that i smelled good when i used my mom's dove bar soap..

Every since i moved on my own with gel soap, if its warm at all i get stinky really fast.. i dont stink that much, but i used to smell great even when i was hot.

Time to switch back.

[MiG16]

I'm tempted to close this seeing the op does not really care for answers / suggestions.

However there seems to be good general advice about hygiene in tropical climate. So guess I can let this run.

Cheers

[Forethat]

It is better not to dry your clothes in the sun, it will rot them.

I hope you're not going to ban me if I ask where you got this misconception from?

Clothes rot if you dry them in the sun?

[happyrobert]

Geez, these posts are just like the news and magazines back in the States. Apparently we are all so mentally dull as to be incapable of wiping our b*tts without the advice - in detail - of the ubiquitous "experts." They have trained us over the last 30 years to depend on others for all the answers to life's complex matters.

Today, on TV, we've got a guy who can't shave without bleeding, and now a guy who can't solve his stink? What's next? A poster who asks how to boil water without it overflowing?

CNN tells us the proper way to use a Q-Tip (not too deep!). Oprah tells us how to forgive. Our dentists tell us how to brush our teeth. FOX NEWS actually had a piece about the proper technique of drying oneself with a towel after showering. "Starting from the head, work your way down..."

Apparently, we are lucky to even use our autonomic nervous system to take breaths without expert input.

If you guys can not figure out how to shave or how to rid yourself of a bit of BO, how do you manage to stay employed, raise children, and plan for retirement? And I sure don't want to be driving down the road going 120 when you're coming the opposite direction and, without advice, don't know what to do when a dog runs out in front of you.....

No wonder blow dryers come with the warning: "Do not use in bathtub."

[TAWP]

Today, on TV, we've got a guy who can't shave without bleeding, and now a guy who can't solve his stink? What's next? A poster who asks how to boil water without it overflowing?

I think you will find that it is the same hopeless guy...

[Forethat]

Geez, these posts are just like the news and magazines back in the States. Apparently we are all so mentally dull as to be incapable of wiping our b*tts without the advice - in detail - of the ubiquitous "experts." They have trained us over the last 30 years to depend on others for all the answers to life's complex matters.

Today, on TV, we've got a guy who can't shave without bleeding, and now a guy who can't solve his stink? What's next? A poster who asks how to boil water without it overflowing?

CNN tells us the proper way to use a Q-Tip (not too deep!). Oprah tells us how to forgive. Our dentists tell us how to brush our teeth. FOX NEWS actually had a piece about the proper technique of drying oneself with a towel after showering. "Starting from the head, work your way down..."

Apparently, we are lucky to even use our autonomic nervous system to take breaths without expert input.

If you guys can not figure out how to shave or how to rid yourself of a bit of BO, how do you manage to stay employed, raise children, and plan for retirement? And I sure don't want to be driving down the road going 120 when you're coming the opposite direction and, without advice, don't know what to do when a dog runs out in front of you.....

No wonder blow dryers come with the warning: "Do not use in bathtub."

I don't know about the rest of you, but this post did it for me!

[happyrobert]

Geez, these posts are just like the news and magazines back in the States. Apparently we are all so mentally dull as to be incapable of wiping our b*tts without the advice - in detail - of the ubiquitous "experts." They have trained us over the last 30 years to depend on others for all the answers to life's complex matters.

Today, on TV, we've got a guy who can't shave without bleeding, and now a guy who can't solve his stink? What's next? A poster who asks how to boil water without it overflowing?

CNN tells us the proper way to use a Q-Tip (not too deep!). Oprah tells us how to forgive. Our dentists tell us how to brush our teeth. FOX NEWS actually had a piece about the proper technique of drying oneself with a towel after showering. "Starting from the head, work your way down..."

Apparently, we are lucky to even use our autonomic nervous system to take breaths without expert input.

If you guys can not figure out how to shave or how to rid yourself of a bit of BO, how do you manage to stay employed, raise children, and plan for retirement? And I sure don't want to be driving down the road going 120 when you're coming the opposite direction and, without advice, don't know what to do when a dog runs out in front of you.....

No wonder blow dryers come with the warning: "Do not use in bathtub."

I don't know about the rest of you, but this post did it for me!

Thank you. And goodnight!

[Ricardo]

Are you sure its just not your clothes that smell 'musty'?

Caused by not enough (or no) softner. And drying overnight..

Yes, try changing your fabric-conditioner.

[transam]

Wear only cotton clothes, even your boxers. Man made stuff doesn't breath too well and incubates bacteria.

Bennets Vitamin E soap is great, the white colour one, not the yellow.

Lastly lots of body hair doesn't help, get your lady to remove now and again.

[mahtin]

Lastly lots of body hair doesn't help, get your lady to remove now and again.

Don't think the OP has a lady, let alone one who shaves her... oh, did you mean... wait for the nickadick posts.

[astral]

There may be more advice in the Health section.

//MOVED//

[transam]

The humid heat of Thai weather does not help westerners in terms of their BO. The cheesy smell emanating from your people's bodies is expected and unsurprising. Taking a shower a few times a day can help to some extent, but the profuse sweat that comes out is difficult to deal with even for the locals. Whatever you wear is going to absorb sweat and consequently your clothes will smell of your odour. Still, bathing yourself with perfume or formalin, whichever you prefer, might assuage the intensity of your rancid body.

What a jerk; I wouldn't be so obnoxious as to tell you what some say about "you people," assuming you are south east asian. Somehow I think you are not though, probably bred from a long line of trolls.

I think what I said is true and it is not nearly as obnoxious as your people's old sock-like odour. At least, we don't say that to your face or maybe you want the locals to do that next time.

Sounds like you should stay away from farang feet, change your fetish perhaps eh.

[mallyrd]

Sorry, Im not laughing at you, just at some of the posts that are yet to come.

Do you wear deoderant?

I've yet to see anyone that "wears deoderant"!!

[crazygreg44]

Amazing, I have experienced the same phenomenon with black and grey polyester shirts. While with polyester shirts in blue and white it never occured, the black ones started to expell a stinky odour really soon, and even after washing them 2 times, a few minutes of wearing would bring back the stench.

You must be right assuming that some organic pigments used in the dying process are sensitive to moisture of our bodily origin. The experience did never occur with cotton Tees or shirts , only with pigment dyed polyesters. It nearly drove me insane when I tried to track the problem down. Used different detergents and ende up handwashing carefully . Nothing helped.

You may know the experience when you start to smell yourself. It a bloody red flag experience !!! Normally, you don t smell yourself as others do. Other will always be the first to point out that your odours are downsizing your 'handsome' aura. Given the fact that we never realize ourselves how raunchy lurid we actually are, the moment when you start to smell yourself is like being already lightyears away from the person of possible love. I call it simply " too late, pal, she doesn t like your smell" !

I don't know you personally so can't speak for your personal hygiene only my own. But actually pay attention to the clothes you're wearing when they comment. I have a few shirts, 3 are blue in color and 2 are yellow and they smell almost immediately after wearing them.

I keep very clean as is my clothes and I do have a lady to clean them though I cleaned my own clothes for more then 30 years previously and there is most definitely something in them likely the dye but possibly the material that sets off a terrible body odor type smell within an hour or so whether I sweat or not even though we use color bleach...

None of my other shirts have this problem it's distinct and after some thorough investigation I finally narrowed it down..

BTW a fan works really nicely to air out and dry your clothes indoors without exposing it to the nasty smells outside and making it all stiff. In the absence of a dryer we've been drying our clothes quite quickly that way for years especially when we wash at night when they can get stale smelling and as quick or quicker then outside too. Definitely use some softener too, but in the past I've had a host of issues with some of the softeners available here too so only use Downy now...

[Wrong Turn]

OP, Gravion

I'm chiming in late as I just read the entire thread.

I had this problem of "smell." I was told by close friends (more than one).

In my case it was because my apartment was musty. I actually found mold spores a couple of times in my apartment. I did not like the cleaning/laundry services for my clothes because they didn't do a good job and were hard on my clothes.

So, I started washing my clothes by hand. Over several, several months, my clothes had the smell of a "mildew" or mold smell.

There is a "freshening" liquid you can buy, to add to the water you wash your clothes in, whether it's it's machine wash or in wash bucket (washing by hand).

Dry cleaning, I don't know about.

And also, as noted in this thread, let your clothes air out. For many, many, hours. Hanging in the closed is not good for them in South East Asia, IMO.

[gravion]

omg help me... the stuff u ppl were talking about such as detol bacteria killer werent in the shops...

ive used softner, bleech and used more powder. but this smell of like rotten sausage wont go away.... oh jeezuuuz

:jap:

i do sports, and there are many ladies too

[Sheryl]

You're in the health forum now, guys, and we have a zero tolerance for flaming and the like.

Several posts have been deleted accordingly. please read the health forum specific rules.

The heat and humidity in this part of the world do indeed cause increased sweating for most farang and that in turn will lead to bad odour unless balanced by more frequent bathing.

And indeed closets are prone to mildew and odor. There are simple dehumidifing things you can buy and place in them that help (brand name Fawcet or something like that -- little beads that absorb the moisture). They do help but need frequent refilling or replacing as you'll be amazed at how much water they trap.

And must be sure to get clothes 100% dry before putting them into the closet/wardrobe. May also help to leave the doors open for at least a few hours a day.

Laslty there are some medical conditions that can cause bad odors.