Personal hygiene – a victim of the recession?
Are some people using less soap & deodorant due to the economic conditions?
It’s ruining my shopping (and driving) experience!
I realise it’s been a very hot start to the year up this way with temperatures around the mid 30s, but is that any excuse for people to stop washing? It seems that everywhere I go lately there’s a lot more body odour than usual, and I’m not just talking about the milder version brought on by a bit of perspiration on a hot day, this is real haven’t-washed-your-body-in-days stuff. You know the type, it smells like someone has smeered themself in ‘Dynamic Lifter’ and it really hangs around.
Last night at the supermarket I had the misfortune to walk past two of these ’mobile cesspits’. The two blokes were not dissimilar in appearance to the guy in the photo and I’m not kidding, their B.O. was so bad it hung around the aisles long after they’d moved on and there was no way of escaping it. About the only aisle that was ‘B.O. free’ was (you guessed it) the toiletries section.
(FREE CAR! Read on)
The car is nearly 4 years old but it's only done 40,000 kms and (until recently) it still had that 'new car smell' about the interior.
Over in Albury the other day it was much the same. We had our car serviced while we went shopping and they even vacuumed the inside. Nice touch, the only problem being that whoever did it mustn’t have washed for several days either and now there’s an odour in the car that I just can’t get rid of no matter how much I spray. It’s like that episode from Seinfeld where Jerry just ends up giving his BMW away due to the smell of the ‘valet parker’.
So if you want a free car and you don’t mind driving around in a sewer just come and pick it up!
I’m not sure what the major cause might be of this increasing personal hygiene ‘crisis’. Maybe it’s because some people are trying to ’save the planet’ by conserving water and showering less, or maybe there’s a certain sector out there that regards things like soap, shampoo, deodorant and even tooth paste as ‘luxury items’ and, due to the tougher economic conditions, they’ve decided to cut back on their use of such ‘non-essentials’.
Well, then again, maybe it’s just sheer laziness and sloth on behalf of people who just weren’t brought up to be clean.
Contact: ray@grevilleagardens.com
Click 
Hi Ray and Happy New year to you and your family,
Perhaps you aussies are taking a leaf out of the poms book and hiding your money under the soap, as I’ve been told sooo… many times us poms do.
But then again soaps so expensive at the local supermarket they’ll wait till they get home.
Thanks Spiv, happy new year to you too. Funny thing is, they’re still buying beer!
Well I guess the smell would be that similar to a smoker. Unwanted smell!
Well, a smoker is only a real problem if he smokes inside and none of them do these days. But these guys take their B.O. with them everywhere they go … and then leave it behind. Besides, smokers have an ‘excuse’, they’re addicted. What’s an excuse for vile B.O. – an allergy to soap?
Yeah, gross, innit? I’ve noticed an increase in BO around Sydney recently. What’s their excuse? A little bottle of deodorant easily fits in a bag, or just puts lots on in the mornings. Better still, have a bloody shower every morning, not once a week!
Ewwww. How hard is it to utilise soap? Your poor car!
soap?
Well, in your case Baldrick, maybe a bit of charcoal would do the trick?
Here from Iain Halls,where he claims you are a Lefty of some main way. I think you are confusing cause and effect,making no notice of building design temperature and light conditions, and, as a person more than once called smelly I reject what your main point is. I think is necessary to think deeper and longer about olfactory matters,because ,it simply cannot be BO if it malingers,it is ex body and attaching as smell to positive ions..the same phenomena as in dangerous lightning conditions before they occur.Aisles maybe not wide enough and air conditioning making the problem worse. And it could of been you alone,after some distress previous to experience,like feeling the heat. Suggest you take a look at Nexus Magaine Editor Duncan Rhoads and the Queensland designed Negative Ion Generators.Obviously I haven’t touched on every causal link,and I doubt yours holds up to scrutiny.
Yes, thanks for that view, Philip.