An Insensitive YouTube Video on Smelly People

by bodyodorpsych

Today, I had the urge to do a quick search on YouTube for videos on smelly people, and I stumbled upon one that was made fairly recently (about 4 months ago). For people who suffer from body odor, this is not a nice video to watch as Rachel, the girl talking in the video, shows a lack of empathy and does not seem to be currently open to the possibility that she is just simply wrong. However, if you can handle it, have a listen to what she has to say in order to better understand what I am quoting as I comment on her video below.

Whew, had to watch it again just to remember the things she said, and her words stung even more than the first time I watched it.

She is a young adult anyhow, so I am not surprised she has not had enough insight and experience to understand that people who smell unacceptable to her do not necessarily aim to offend her. Nor does she understand that, sometimes, chronic body odor can be an issue beyond the control of the person suffering from the odor. She makes certain rash promises that are pretty much empty promises for many of us who know we smell bad, hate that we smell bad, and have gone out of our ways to try to stop smelling bad.

After exclaiming that smelly people piss her off, she remarks that it is very rare for her to smell bad because she takes care of herself. Rachel, if you have chosen to read this, may I add that this is exactly what many smelly people do anyway? Do you know that there are many young attractive guys and girls who look clean and neat yet smell bad regardless … and on a daily basis? It does not seem likely that every single one of them would take good care of their appearance yet fail to maintain proper hygiene.

And even if it is the case that every single one of them fails to maintain proper hygiene, it still does not absolutely mean that the reason they smell bad in the first place is because they don’t take showers or baths on a regular basis. It could be that they have given up on taking showers or baths regularly because, no matter what they do, they always smell bad.

In addition to showering, Rachel also mentions that lotions, deodorants, and perfumes help eliminate the odor. And this here is when she makes her first big promise to us “ignorant” smelly people that we will stop smelling bad if we adopt a couple of these approaches. I must say, Rachel, this is a BIG promise to make, and I hope you are willing to own up to the mistake of making such a promise. Why? Because it is utterly false that we would all stop smelling bad by adopting any combination of any number of the approaches you mentioned or had in mind. You see, I (and many others like me) have tried different approaches in an attempt to get rid of the odor only to realize that none of the approaches were working.

You then say you don’t get why people apparently don’t take these measures and why they think it’s ok to smell bad. Well, after what I have said above, do you still believe this is a fair pondering statement to make? We do not think it is ok to smell bad. For many of us, we smell bad because we have each been struck with some disease (known or unknown) that causes the chronic odor so that no amount of water, soap, or any product of concern is going to effectively treat it. And until medical researchers discover the proper means to combat these diseases, we have no choice but to live with what we have. Sure, there may be a couple of known diseases that cause chronic body odor yet could be treated to an extent with strict unhealthy dieting, but they are just two among various diseases that could cause body odor. Some of us may suffer from a known disease called trimethylaminuria (TMAU), but not all of us do. And for those who do suffer from TMAU, such strict dieting is not always an ideal option to combat the odor (due to other medical and health reasons).

And, no, Rachel, most smelly people who know they have a problem do care about the people they are unintentionally offending around them. I am sorry that you feel offended by the smells emitted by people who happen to be smelly. But what I have been trying to make clear throughout this post is that we happen to be victims as well, and that having empathy even for smelly people makes one a more pleasant person than attempting to shame us for something that is beyond our control.

I will concede that you did make a brief comment stating that you understand some people cannot help how they smell, but then you go on ranting about the same stuff you said earlier, forgetting all about that comment. It is as if you only said it for a fleeting moment so that you would not come off as more rude and disrespectful than you actually did.

Do keep in mind that body odor disorders are not as rare as some people seem to think. Sure, they may be rare … but so is cancer. Also, this could happen to anyone basically. So before you judge people around you who happen to be smelly on a daily basis, just hope or pray, if you are a believer, that you would never have to go through the things we have to go through. I would not wish this on anyone, including you.

I had a lot of other things to say, but I think I have said enough. So I will end my post here. Feel free to check some of my other posts here as well.