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[Stabby McSter]

It takes like two days of not showering and constant sweating for me to finally build up a smell.

I think it's only happened once, and that was over the summer during my high school years. D:

 

[Hidden One]

Funky

 

[Eidan]

This thread is fascinating. No BO. Ear boogers. Tell me more my Asian brothers.

 

[Red Hood]

OP says he showers daily, what's the point of deodorant then? I don't use it myself, I think I'm allergic to it or whatever. Every time I used one, I'd get little lumps on my arm pits the following day.

Shower is enough.

 

[Stereogatari]

Most Turks are descended from the Anatolians that were already there when the Turks arrived,

Spoiler

smelly

.

Of course. That's why we're smelly ass Muslim Greeks that speak a Siberian originated language.

 

[CharlieDigital]

Last night was the first time I've ever heard of wet earwax. I've always wondered why my wife constantly uses q-tips given its total ineffectiveness at removing ear wax in my experience.

 

[Al-ibn Kermit]

thats some fucked logic. i dont have fat rolls, but if i did, i probably wouldnt apply deodorant to them

I'm assuming you only mean the second part but to be clear, I definitely don't think anyone picked a partner mainly due to their sweat smell. Except maybe for Napoleon, he had a fetish for that.

I've probably met people of all races and definitely all body types that have smelled bad but you hear a lot about fat people smelling worse than everyone else which I thought was a stereotype until I read an article about bacteria growing in the fat creases of some morbidly obese people. Even if you go to the most overweight countries, there might not be so many people with that issue that the deodorant industry would exist there just for that reason. And for the record, I'm not east Asian (I'm middle-eastern) and I shower everyday but don't wear deodorant so maybe I'm getting some anecdotal evidence into my argument but it could be true as far explaining why apparently no one in China is buying deodorant.

 

[Zoe]

I'm assuming you only mean the second part but to be clear, I definitely don't think anyone picked a partner mainly due to their sweat smell. Except maybe for Napoleon, he had a fetish for that.

I've probably met people of all races and definitely all body types that have smelled bad but you hear a lot about fat people smelling worse than everyone else which I thought was a stereotype until I read an article about bacteria growing in the fat creases of some morbidly obese people. Even if you go to the most overweight countries, there might not be so many people with that issue that the deodorant industry would exist there just for that reason. And for the record, I'm not east Asian (I'm middle-eastern) and I shower everyday but don't wear deodorant so maybe I'm getting some anecdotal evidence into my argument but it could be true as far explaining why apparently no one in China is buying deodorant.

He's saying it's not normal to use deodorant anywhere other than your armpits (something like talc powder would be more common). Lack of obesity is not going to preclude people from using deodorant if they feel it's necessary for their armpits.

 

[lawnchair]

Last night was the first time I've ever heard of wet earwax. I've always wondered why my wife constantly uses q-tips given its total ineffectiveness at removing ear wax in my experience.

if you have dry earwax and you add water, say, through showering, it becomes wet .. right

 

[CharlieDigital]

if you have dry earwax and you add water, say, through showering, it becomes wet .. right

By nature of it being waxy, no, it doesn't. It's hydrophobic.

 

[RumblingRosco]

True/False: Asian people have a higher number of sweat glands in their hands, on average, than Europeans.

 

[SixMachine]

True/False: Asian people have a higher number of sweat glands in their hands, on average, than Europeans.

I think that is false. From experience usually white people have the sweatiest hands when I go for a handshake. My hands are usually pretty dry.

Edit: SE asian though probably due to me not getting any sun, I'm mistaken for chinese/korean/japanese.

Edit2: might sound really offensive to say this but I also asked other minorities about this but some white people (not all, there a lot of different ones) have a wet dog smell. I wonder if this sweat gene is doing that or they might be werewolves.

 

[tensuke]

Which has nothing to do with this science-based thread, but was constantly being derailed.

Sure, a guy not taking showers has nothing to do with a guy not using deodorant.

It's only science-based smellz.

 

[linsivvi]

Sure, a guy not taking showers has nothing to do with a guy not using deodorant.

It's only science-based smellz.

Another poster who didn't read the OP or fail to comprehend it.

Got it.

 

[jorma]

Mind blown. I've always wondered why people were so obsessed with how their armpits smelled, because mine never did. I'm clearly part of the 2%!

I do still use deo though.

 

[dragonflys545]

Never put on deodorant. No complains from my SO or friends.

 

[tensuke]

Another poster who didn't read the OP or fail to comprehend it.

Got it.

I read the op, some asians have less sweat glands than the rest of the world, and some lack the gene/chemicals that end up producing underarm odor. Doesn't mean you should go "well, I'm asian and or nobody has ever said anything to me about my smell, so I'm not going to ever wear deodorant." (or in the case of the other thread, "I'll just shower when I feel up to it because nobody complains, except my wife sometimes")

 

[Stinkles]

I find the BO in different countries to be fascinating. Not gross stinky BO but general human smells. Japan for example has a slightly vinegar smell on the train. Not unpleasant. Just there.

India was rough.

China - Shanghai was all perfumed and Beijing smelled oily and dusty.

 

[linsivvi]

I read the op, some asians have less sweat glands than the rest of the world, and some lack the gene/chemicals that end up producing underarm odor. Doesn't mean you should go "well, I'm asian and or nobody has ever said anything to me about my smell, so I'm not going to ever wear deodorant." (or in the case of the other thread, "I'll just shower when I feel up to it because nobody complains, except my wife sometimes")

Except that is not what the thread was about until people who brought up the thread about people who don't shower, which like I said, has nothing to do with this thread.

Nobody said people don't need to shower in this thread. So try again.

 

[tensuke]

Except that is not what the thread was about until people who brought up the thread about people who don't shower, which like I said, has nothing to do with this thread.

Nobody said people don't need to shower in this thread. So try again.

You really can't see any reason why people would bring up a thread about not taking showers that was posted on the same day as a thread about not wearing deodorant?

 

[Skellig Gra]

Shit gets humid as hell down in South East Asia so it wouldn't surprised me if people there evolved some way to sweat less/handle heat better.

 

[Eos]

They may not have BO but they can smell bad. This Korean guy I work with the smells terrible.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Yep. Yours looks like this, right? This is dry.

https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/gor...-your-ancestry

That article is far more interesting than I thought it would be. I love science!

Also explains why my American friend living in Korea was baffled by the lack of deodorants in store (and his claims that his co-workers there often had no idea what deodorant even was).

 

[linsivvi]

You really can't see any reason why people would bring up a thread about not taking showers that was posted on the same day as a thread about not wearing deodorant?

Yes, I keep seeing people who don't read the OP and just shit posting using an unrelated thread. That's the reason.

 

[phinatic]

you hear a lot about fat people smelling worse than everyone else which I thought was a stereotype until I read an article about bacteria growing in the fat creases of some morbidly obese people.

Never heard of that but all the fat people I know smell like good greasy food that I can't touch, or smell fragrantly good.

 

[PandaShake]

Am asian. Am not stinky unless I sweat from exercise. Ear wax is dry too. So I'm geussing people who doesn't have dry earwax never got their ears cleaned with a utensil shaped like a microscopic spoon? It's literally ear orgasm when someone scrapes and cleans out your ear. I remember when I was a kid at school in US, we we're playing with a stethoscope. This girl pulled it out her and that ear piece was stained yellow. Fucking glob of diarrhea yellow on that thing. I didn't know people could have wet ear wax, I though she had a disease.

 

[jmood88]

Sometimes the subway can be bad here in Beijing. Also, from my experience, each race has their own kind of smell. I don't know why, but my nose can tell the difference between them, especially black people, which are very distinct but not bad. Asian's are a little odd, but ok, and Turks are delicious. I'm white, so on that I can't tell.

Are you Wolverine?

 

[Lesath]

Shit gets humid as hell down in South East Asia so it wouldn't surprised me if people there evolved some way to sweat less/handle heat better.

I can't fucking handle the heat at all. I don't sweat unless it's very robust cardio, and even then it mostly accumulates in the back (no pit stains whoo). I'm guessing it might have been some sort of evolutionary advantage to sweat less because it does jack shit for you in humidity.

 

[HardRojo]

I have a friend who never wore deodorant until he was 20 or something, and probably doesn't wear it often to be honest. He never smelled and is probably 1/8 chinese lol. It was hard to believe at first lol.

 

[hirokazu]

I read the op, some asians have less sweat glands than the rest of the world, and some lack the gene/chemicals that end up producing underarm odor. Doesn't mean you should go "well, I'm asian and or nobody has ever said anything to me about my smell, so I'm not going to ever wear deodorant." (or in the case of the other thread, "I'll just shower when I feel up to it because nobody complains, except my wife sometimes")

You missed the part in the OP's link that said deodorant is redundant for said people who lack the gene.

 

[Wolfe]

You missed the part in the OP's link that said deodorant is redundant for said people who lack the gene.

Yeah I try to stear clear of threads like this in the same way I don't like talking about my lack of sweat/BO and non deodorant use in person as most people just wave it off as me being unaware of my stench.

I still shower regularly (if I sat around the house all day and didn't do jack shit I might not take a shower till the next day, oh no!), brush at least twice a day and generally have good hygene. But no, the real answer just has to be that I'm a stinky bastard like everyone else and I'm just oblivious to it and living in la la land.

Oh and that I need to go take a shower, which is especially amusing having someone tell you over the internet.

 

[inked_illusion]

In the Philippines, personal hygiene is very important so yes I do wear deodorant everyday

 

[jerry113]

I think the thing with the people who keep bringing this up is that, yes there are some Asians who don't have this Asian gene variation. Just like non-Asians, they will have really bad BO, and since deodorant isn't really available, they get used to it and don't think there's a problem.

And it really only takes a few of these people to stink up the entire train.

That is supported by the article and isn't evidence to the contrary. The 80-95% off people who don't smell bad on the train are automatically discounted because there are people who do.

I think I have a new theory.

80-90% of East Asians don't emit BO due to the lack of this particular gene. Deodorant isn't commonly sold or used as a cultural norm as a result in East Asian countries, because the market isn't there for it.

That leaves 10-20% of East Asians who DO have this gene and do emit BO. Problem is, since deodorant isn't a culturally normal thing to use and is difficult to find in stores, they don't end up using it. Therefore, that 10-20% of the population end up stinking up the trains and workplaces.

This causes confusion about whether East Asians smell as much as everybody else or not, because 10-20% of East Asians who do have the smelly gene is still millions of people.

Aka. confirmation bias. You notice the smelly ones but you don't notice the non-smelly ones (most of whom don't actually use deodorant and don't smell anyway).

 

[Atraveller]

Jeez some of you are really salty!

 

[345triangle]

I think I have a new theory.

80-90% of East Asians don't emit BO due to the lack of this particular gene. Deodorant isn't commonly sold or used as a cultural norm as a result in East Asian countries, because the market isn't there for it.

That leaves 10-20% of East Asians who DO have this gene and do emit BO. Problem is, since deodorant isn't a culturally normal thing to use and is difficult to find in stores, they don't end up using it. Therefore, that 10-20% of the population end up stinking up the trains and workplaces.

This causes confusion about whether East Asians smell as much as everybody else or not, because 10-20% of East Asians who do have the smelly gene is still millions of people.

Aka. confirmation bias. You notice the smelly ones but you don't notice the non-smelly ones (most of whom don't actually use deodorant and don't smell anyway).

exactly. the people in this thread going "dude put deodorant on, you will objectively stink otherwise whether asian or not" should try going to a japanese drugstore and think for more than three seconds about why there's no deodorant on the shelves in a super-advanced country where people generally take far more effort to be presentable in public.

 

[Shmuppers]

Stinky-ass hairy-ass Greek here.

We need deodorant.

 

[pitcairn55]

I'm one of the two percent of Europeans with this gene. In my mid twenties my childhood eczema briefly returned and I was advised to stop using deodorant by my doctor. I warned my family and immediate coworkers of the situation (bloody embarrassing) but my pits never smelled. When my skin cleared up I went back to using deodorant because that's the automatic thing to do here in the UK.

A couple of years ago I read an article about the link between body odour and dry earwax, which I also have, and I stopped using deodorant again. My pits don't stink.

 

[longdi]

I'm Asian and I use deodorant, I smell like shit when sweaty armpit kick in, can't imagine a country without deodorised people

 

[linsivvi]

exactly. the people in this thread going "dude put deodorant on, you will objectively stink otherwise whether asian or not" should try going to a japanese drugstore and think for more than three seconds about why there's no deodorant on the shelves in a super-advanced country where people generally take far more effort to be presentable in public.

It's these small things that create culture shock when someone visit a country for the first time. No matter how much you read about it on travel guides you will never be fully prepared for it.

 

[Wolfe]

I'm one of the two percent of Europeans with this gene. In my mid twenties my childhood eczema briefly returned and I was advised to stop using deodorant by my doctor. I warned my family and immediate coworkers of the situation (bloody embarrassing) but my pits never smelled. When my skin cleared up I went back to using deodorant because that's the automatic thing to do here in the UK.

A couple of years ago I read an article about the link between body odour and dry earwax, which I also have, and I stopped using deodorant again. My pits don't stink.

For me I just never really started using it. Was always a bit awkward if it somehow came up, everyone's reaction is always "you don't wear deodorant?!" because most people use it here.

 

[i_am_ben]

I never knew people could have dry ear wax.

I'm legit shook.

 

[Insaniac]

nope, never stunk in my life.

 

[fawaz]

How can we apply this gene to all humanity. Not drinking without the use of deodorant is a superpower.

I know that eugenics is controversial, but I genuinely believe that Asians are the best race on earth.

 

[Chilikar]

Guys.... There's such thing as wet earwax? I had no idea.

On topic with OP, I don't use deodorant actually. I don't smell at all for some reason, unless you actually take your finger and wipe the sweat onto it. Even then it has to be nearly touching your nose to smell the odour too

 

[Atraveller]

I'm Asian and I use deodorant, I smell like shit when sweaty armpit kick in, can't imagine a country without deodorised people

Try.

Though you are already better than those "why don't you all conform to our social norm (even though the situation is totally different)" people in this thread.

 

[Uhyve]

I'm assuming you only mean the second part but to be clear, I definitely don't think anyone picked a partner mainly due to their sweat smell. Except maybe for Napoleon, he had a fetish for that.

I've probably met people of all races and definitely all body types that have smelled bad but you hear a lot about fat people smelling worse than everyone else which I thought was a stereotype until I read an article about bacteria growing in the fat creases of some morbidly obese people. Even if you go to the most overweight countries, there might not be so many people with that issue that the deodorant industry would exist there just for that reason. And for the record, I'm not east Asian (I'm middle-eastern) and I shower everyday but don't wear deodorant so maybe I'm getting some anecdotal evidence into my argument but it could be true as far explaining why apparently no one in China is buying deodorant.

I used to be considerably heavier (I assume I would have been considered morbidly obese) than I am right now and can confirm that obese people have to put in way more effort to stay BO free. I can see why it could be seen as a stereotype though, it'd be easy to assume that an obese person is lazy and therefore can't be bothered to put the effort into personal hygiene. But seriously, in my experience, a shower a day will not keep the smell away when severely overweight.

So I mean, weight could certainly play a factor in a countries deodorant usage.

 

[Wolf Akela]

Ive experienced Asians and Europeans with BO but it's not always there.

Indians very often smelled for me. They either have this weird wet powdered detergent smell, or curry.

Middle Eastern was 50/50. Similar smell to Europeans when it's bad.

Im probably biased because Im Asian, but I found Asian BO to be most tolerable. I always use deodorant though. I can smell myself after sweating. I can't sweat during winter in colder countries. Even if I hike a mountain I cant smell anything.

 

[Deleted member 284]

Azn master race?

I know it was in jest, but don't do that.

 

[zxcvbnm]

A term used by professional armpit sniffers to refer to this lack of odour is called 'fragrance'.

A TV series called Embarrassing Bodies on Channel 4 in the UK a couple of years back touched on this.

Unfortunately can't find the clip online but pretty much lend credence to the study. The participants were advise to shower as usual before the experiment but not apply any deodorant. They were then told to work up to heavy sweat before a trained sniffer assess the odour emanating from their armpits. The result 0 being no odour to 5 worst. The Chinese subjects were all rated the lowest at 1, 2-3 for the white Caucasians and 5 for the unfortunate Indian guy who quipped that his future children may have a chance if he hooked up with one of the Chinese girls.

This is only link I can find on that piece.
http://storify.com/CO90s/sweaty-gene-item-on-embarrassing-bodies

 

[Cow Mengde]

I never knew people could have dry ear wax.

I'm legit shook.

Dry ear wax is just kind of flakey. It's not gross or unpleasant to touch like boogers.