BO

Men and teenage boys seem to have a particular smell.My husband never has smelly armpits or feet but his bald head makes his pillow and case smell and it stains them too.I have tried all sorts of ways of getting rid of the smell to no avail so now i wash his bedding seprate from mine as it does transfer to other items.Any ideas anyone???

No-one has mentioned BO from the other end (apart from Jacky above.)
This can be more difficult to deal with, especially young girls just starting to menstruate. Though I can't say I noticed it with our girls.

I have an older one, too. My DS2, let's call him P, age 34, doesn't shower as often as he should (and then only showers in the evenings, not in the mornings. ) His sweat is particularly pungent, and as he is a teacher, I worry that this will undermine his authority, as the kids may not take him seriously.

I am hoping that his wife is working on it - I have dropped a few hints, and always wash his clothes as soon as he takes them off if he is staying with us.

Once, DS1 and family were to sleep in the same room as DS2 had just vacated, and DiL1 came downstairs with an armful of bedlinen, which I hadn't changed yet. She had taken it off, wrinkling her nose and commenting that it smelt of P!

As a child, I thought my Mum made an awful fuss about me washing my neck (amongst other things like airing your clothes, not wearing a vest one day and leaving it off the other, etc, etc).

Arriving at school one day, having been caught in a downpour, one of my classmates was drenched, with water trickling from her hair down her neck. I watched, fascinated, as on its journey down her neck the water left several wobbly lines of clean skin. Suddenly my Mum's apparent fussiness made sense.

Referring to an early post: I remember a rather pretty girl at school who had BO - it didn't put the boys off one iota!!

Thankyou - with a gran like you I'm certain all will turn out well.

Absolute ‘gold star’ post, grankind!

I used to find that at Primary school it was the washing part that alot of the class felt they could miss out on. The boys especially used to compete with copious amounts of deoderant, usually Lynx, but things did improve when the school nurse came in and did a whole programme on personal hygiene, which could be followed up by the class teacher. It was certainly needed by some of the girls who were starting puberty very early. It was a bad day when she stopped coming in due to 'cuts'. But equally, however much one talks to children about the subject, it's not much good if their clothes are not washed regularly. There were alot of very grimy shirt collars and food stained sweatshirts in each class, which was down to lack of parental responsibility. Not all the children were like that of course and whereas some of them would arrive looking pristine, they would invariably return home looking unkempt. But their parents would make sure they turned up again in clean clothes. The school nurse was a godsend because she was viewed as someone impartial, and the children listened. I used to keep a supply of clean clothes and sanitary products in a cupboard just in case. But children need to be taught how to wash, just like everything else. So don't give up - keep talking!

Halo sports wash will take really properly bad BO smells out of sports kit. If clothes are super bad its worth a go. You can get it in Sainsburys or online.

PitRok is a brand name. I think there may be others similar.

BBbevan, I think you'll need to take the tough love approach with the parents and tell them their daughter will be the subject of nasty comments and maybe bullying, if she keeps being smelly.

Also tell your DGD the same thing and ask if there's a particular reason she hasn't been using the deodorant.

Is that the brand name?
I have been thinking of getting one of those deodorants, but wanted a recommendation.

I found that deodorants and anti-perspirants started to make my armpits itchy.
I guessed it might be because of the aluminium.
Now I use PitRok. It's made of natural crystal, isn't sticky and stops me ponging.

At one time I had a very physical job and hoped to get by with just a good wash every day - it wasn't enough, but the PitRok sorted me out.
Sorry to sound like an advert.

get someone else to tell him …..

Some deodorants for men contain silver - whether that is a sales gimmick or not I don't know, but it does seem to work

Good answer girls. This is my way forward.... I will try the detox liquid (? Available in supermarkets I hope). And hopefully this will help to reduce the BO trail.

Thanks for raising this topic. But mine is slightly older.......
DH. Smells of BO. I wonder if it is the medication he is on....he to showers each day and when you walk into the bathroom emidially after it smells. Of his BO ...I brought him deodorant soap (shield) to no avail. .........
People have mentioned the smell to me ....why me and not him? I have learned to stand down wind from him.......... I have woken at night to his smelly armpits..........he refused to use a deodorant when I last raised the subject saying they are sticky! .....................
He can be unreasonable at the best of times leaving me reluctant to mention his BO.............

Good idea OldMeg I can't understand how they can let her leave the house smelling bad. My DD and an aunt have already remarked on her smell. I just don't want her to go back to school like that

BB perhaps you could say a friend was telling you about her granddaughter who has this problem and who found x x x worked. So it made you think of your GD and did they think x x x would work for her too?

Thank you ladies. I have read all your replies. I feel that I can do no more for my DGD. It is now up to my DS and DiL to help her. They have always been very loving and 'soft' parents, and will talk endlessly about any problem but not actively tackle it. I think they need to take DGD in hand , show her what to do and insist she does it. Asking ' Have you used your deodorant?' is not going to get us anywhere. But how can I get this a cross to them without them taking umbrage. I will have to think of a way, but really would dare anything for DGD

I wouldn't advise an anti-perspirant - there have been health risks associated with it. A deodorant should be sufficient.

Apologies if this has been mentioned before, haven’t read all the responses properly. I was wondering if your granddaughter drinks enough in a day. We found with ours that she was dehydrated and that made the odour so much worse. Worth checking perhaps.

My son can pong but he refuses chemical deodorant but uses pit rok and other natural stuff and that seems to work so if chemicals is the issue there is a lot of natural stuff out there instead

Back in the 60s we had an elderly customer in the cafe I worked in who explained that at the end of the summer she would sponge the collar and armpits of her summer frocks before she put them away. It did explain why my grandma's bedroom always smelled so weird. Good old days with no washing machines or maids to sort it all out for you.

My 10 year old grand-daughter has the same problem. She is obviously starting puberty early being tall for her age. She is very embarrassed by BO despite showering every day and wearing clean clothes daily and has said to her Mum, my DD that she is scared of her friends noticing. She uses a very gentle deodorant recommended by her GP, not sure what it is called. I don’t think it’s anything to do with how often clothes are laundered or how often she showers but just part of body changes. Most girls at this age are very active through the day which won’t help if they are sweating (or perspiring to be more ladylike!)