I just learned about Nonenal Odor - the Old People smell - and sniffed my shirt

[Ronni]

That’s fascinating to know the science behind the old people smell!! Thanks @Murrmurr!

A similar, but related phenomena is nose blindness, also known as olfactory fatigue or adaptation. It’s the temporary inability to detect familiar, constant, or intense scents in your immediate environment. It occurs when the brain stops registering, or "tunes out," a continuous odor—such as perfumes, pets, or household smells—after prolonged exposure. The brain just desensitizes itself to ongoing scents so it can remain alert to new threatening odors.

That nose blindness makes it difficult to detect odors on ourselves, housemates, or the home itself because we’re constantly exposed.

Because of that olfactory fatigue, I’m meticulous about hygiene, fresh and clean clothing, change our sheets every week etc. I feel the same way about our home, especially because we have dogs. I clean weekly and when my daughter comes over we have an understanding between us that she’ll tell me if the house smells anything but fresh. I do the same for her.

My kids and my grands say I always smell good. When I give away some item of clothing or linens or whatever to my daughter, she and the kids will often comment “it smells just like Bee!” (Bee is my grandma name) It’s a combination of the laundry products I use, along with the overall fragrance of my home. And on my clothes it’s all that plus whatever fragrance they’ve absorbed from the Japanese cherry blossom body lotion I’ve used for years.

I don’t at all mind having a signature personal fragrance, as long as it’s a good one!

 

[IrishEyes]

I have noticed also my hair gets oilier now than years ago, it seems dry but oily near the scalp.
DH's hair lays flatter than it used to also. Is that maybe a sign it's beginning you think?

Hard to figure out a right shampoo for the mix of hair texture going on now and I will not
chop my hair off, DH and I will have the same style if I did that
It is thinner than years ago but the root area won't fluff up like it used to.
Nothing stays the same, I keep telling myself.

 

[Raven]

What a depressing topic. Sounds like discrimination against seniors and the elderly.

 

[gamboolman]

Thanks OP. I learned something today.
The more you know, the more you know you don't know - ha !

I remember growing up as kid that I noticed the Old Folks smell but I did not know what all I now know - ha !

I was surprised to find out from consulting with "Dr. Google" that Nonenal Odor "Old People Smell" can start as early as age 40

All I have ever used since I was a kid is Bar Soap and a long handled scrub brush. Working in the Oilfields as a young man starting at age 18 - I would get filthy and would pretty well scrub the "hide off" all over when Showering - and it has been a habit for almost 50 years.
I guess I'll add a bar of this Old Folks soap to the Bar of Soap in the Shower and/or Bath Tub.

Thread Drift follows:
When our Son was a Toddler he had some of the "Cafe Au Lait " Brown Colored skin spots under his arm. ms gamboolgal and I still laugh about today that I told her to: "Scrub that Boy and get the Dirt Off ! " ha - turns out it was brown spots but he got a helluva scrubbing....

My Grandparents Cure All on the Farm was to put some Bleach in the Bathwater for us boys to bathe in to get rid of Ticks, Chiggers and general filth and to help wash off Poison Ivy/Oak before it sat in too bad. I have used this since I was a kid but ms gamboolgal does not "believe" - ha !
I wonder if it will help with the Nonenal Odor since Dr. Google says it's an Oily condition and my own lifetime experienc with Poison Ivy has been to wash and scrub real good with Soap and Bleach when I get exposed to the Satanic Evil Ivy as it is Oily. One time I had got all scratched up really good on my arms and hands by Briars and I had got into the Poison Ivy pretty good also. The Blisters that came up from the Poison Ivy were shaped and formed along the scratches from the Briars - they was funny looking and they all got the Bar Soap and Bleach Treatment.

Off to consult with Dr. Google....

Order placed with Amazon.....

 

[hollydolly]

I can imagine that this would be quite a shock for you, since you look very beautiful and not even remote near your age.

I think the "old people smell" is an exaggeration. I always could sense odors very well and was in my youth often in company with old female and male friends of my parents. I never smelled it.

thank you for the compliment, however my body is almost 71 so even tho' I look younger for my age my internal body is not.....

I do believe in that smell of old people.. it's not exactly offensive it's just distinctive... I've smelled it not on my own grandparents, that I remember because to me they just smelled as they always did.. but I've smelled it on other older folks... I just didn't know what it was specifically... just a kind of old musty smell, and I always put it down to their homes being overheated perhaps, or their clothes not being cleaned often enough..

 

[DebraMae]

I don’t doubt that there is some truth and probably science behind this phenomenon but IMO it has more to do with getting too tired to keep up with personal hygiene, laundry, cleaning, etc…

We’ll see!

I agree. I remember my father's insistence that he did not need to shower because he didn't "do anything" all day. I made a note to myself back then that when I got old I would shower daily whether I though I needed to or not.

 

[Murrmurr]

I agree. I remember my father's insistence that he did not need to shower because he didn't "do anything" all day. I made a note to myself back then that when I got old I would shower daily whether I though I needed to or not.

Years ago, I bought a liquor store up in the Calif foothills that came with a food truck...you know, like a mobile restaurant, except this one didn't go anywhere; I was only interested in the shop. One of my store customers was a guy who'd recently immigrated from Spain, and he asked me if he could sell food out of that truck. I let him, and he did pretty well.

Anyway, I got to the shop a little late one morning and he was waiting there for the key to the food-truck and to get supplies, like napkins and stuff.

I said, "Sorry, man, we didn't have hot water last night, so I had to wait til this morning to shower."

He looked at me as though I'd just told him I was abducted by a UFO last night, and then he goes...

"Ah-huh. You Americans, you shower every day, yes?"

A few hours later, when he came into the store to take a break and shoot the breeze, he told me most people around the world don't shower every day, and that Americans are the only people he knows who do. And he asked me why.

I laughed and said, "Dude, you been thinking about this all morning?"

"But is very strange to me," he said, "an' yes, I am thinking all morning; Why Americans they shower every day? An' I want to say to you, is not good. Not healthy. Is bad for the skin, is bad for the hair..."

And then he looked up at my bald spot and said, "Maybe is why you hair fall away when you are still the young man. Where I come from, all the old mans, he have all his hair the same. Only is go to white, you know?...when he is very old."

 

[hollydolly]

Well I can assure you, that more nations than Americans shower every day..and that goes for the Spanish as well

 

[MarciKS]

so next time i see a bald spaniard i will know he showers every day?

 

[MarkD]

How would you even know you smell? Most people aren't aware of it unless it is tactfully brought to their attention.

I had the same question and I have such a weak sense of smell I will always be the last to know.

 

[katlupe]

I never heard of this till just lately. All over the internet. Probably because of my age. I worked in nursing homes and never heard it mentioned. I will order the soap just in case.

 

[Murrmurr]

Well I can assure you, that more nations than Americans shower every day..and that goes for the Spanish as well

Both he and his equally Spanish wife insisted that twice a week was sufficient.

She immigrated to the US a year or so before him, and had a pretty decent business going pimping out her 2 registered Schnauzers, a white male and a black female, and selling the white or black puppies for $350 ea, and the white and black ones for $150.

When they had a litter of black puppies, his wife said I could have one for half-price, and he got really mad at her and told me I could have it for free. I said I'd take it, but I had to know, "Is it American? I mean, how often am I gonna have to bathe it?"

 

[Murrmurr]

I never heard of this till just lately. All over the internet. Probably because of my age. I worked in nursing homes and never heard it mentioned.

Same here. I'm thinking we just recently started importing it.

According to a study conducted in Japan that used a fairly large pool of people divided into 2 age groups, over 40 and under 40, science backs up the efficacy of the persimmon extract in that soap.

 

[Michael Z]

I notice that I sweat a lot less than when I was younger, and also, the “work” tshirts that I wear for multiple days hold up fairly well. Better than when I was younger in fact. I think the “old people“ smell might be associated with nursing homes or people having a difficult time keeping their clothes, their home, or themselves clean. And yes, I wear clean clothes when I go out and shower every evening, as I always have.

 

[Murrmurr]

I just started using Old Spice scent of Bergamot body wash. Maybe I should reconsider. Old Spice is old guy stuff isn't it? D'OH

Bergamot scent is new, though. I love the aroma of Bergamot.

 

[Murrmurr]

I notice that I sweat a lot less than when I was younger, and also, the “work” tshirts that I wear for multiple days hold up fairly well. Better than when I was younger in fact. I think the “old people“ smell might be associated with nursing homes or people having a difficult time keeping their clothes, their home, or themselves clean. And yes, I wear clean clothes when I go out and shower every evening, as I always have.

Research says the Old People Smell is a natural process that starts occurring at around 40. It also says diet has a lot to do with it, and its specific odor isn't related to hygiene at all. That's a whole 'nother stink.

 

[Murrmurr]

What a depressing topic. Sounds like discrimination against seniors and the elderly.

While I was looking into this, no one said the Old People smell was repugnant or offensive, only that it was distinct.

But that's irrelevant. Doing research to find the cause or origin is certainly not discriminatory. Neither is my posting about it.

 

[hollydolly]

I never heard of this till just lately. All over the internet. Probably because of my age. I worked in nursing homes and never heard it mentioned. I will order the soap just in case.

I heard about it maybe 4 years ago....but then I read about things to do with older people now.. whereas I never before...

 

[horseless carriage]

Never heard of it, over here, they used to say that,
"old men smell of PEE", so, just in case, I shower
and wear clean clothes every day.

Mike.

An old man goes into a pharmacy and asks for heart medication, circulation medicine, rheumatism cream, suppositories, vitamins, and arthritis cream. The pharmacist asks: "Is that all?" The old man replies, "Wait, let me check my list, yes, I think that covers all my smells."