I feel ambivalent about BO.
BO as defined by Body Odour emanating from bacteria produced in the undeodorized sweat glands of the human armpit.
Unlike the faecal/tooth decaying halitosis smell, which is 95% repulsive (think of Mouchoir de Monsieur or Jicky if you need to think again), or the largely male – quite foul actually – sweaty/pissy that afflicts so many unwashed individuals on any given day but which, while noxious, can still be oddly stimulating – at the very least fascinating –
unadulterated accumulated sweat, something I try assiduously to avoid giving off as my smell on busy summer workdays -but which I sometimes let fester at weekends – I enjoy luxuriating in the feral rankness, so unique to each individual – we smell entirely different left to roam naturally
is always shocking to experience in a public place (when this person got on the bus in either the seat directly in front of me or the one before that )
I was completely flabbergasted they hadn’t realized that their naturally broiled out aroma was filling the ENTIRE BUS.
Was it one of the youths I often see travelling home together ? ( one of my students told me yesterday that on top of lessons at school plus cram school lessons he does TWENTY FOUR HOURS a week of tennis on top, with temperatures in the low to mid thirties -no shower, just a change of clothes ( he smells immaculate )
Surely it wasn’t the woman sitting in front (not pictured; I took a picture tonight – illegal – because the idea of writing about this suddenly occurred to me ).
Whoever it was, my bodily arousal, quite intense – horror, in a way, as so OBVIOUS, but also like a dog, working out their inner workings, felt entirely inappropriate. It felt like an internal map; the person smelled healthy, well; hormonal,; sexed.
BO is such a personal thing (understatement of the year).
Always amazes me that some people smell absolutely rank when unwashed- raw onions, cumin, skunk, urine, ketones, sulfur, even fishy.
Some people smell kind of pleasant and sexy when unwashed -musky sweet, salty sharp, honeyed, almost apricot, even vanillic.
Seems to be an even distribution of stinky males and stinky females. You’d think males would smell worse due more sweat glands but I’ve smelled some powerfully goaty armpits a good 20 feet away from some local teenaged girls.
( It’s me Bibi)
Hi
In fact , the smell was the woman – I worked it out.
Powerfully sexual – I didn’t dislike it
I am truly horrified when I realize I have the slightest bit of odeur from under my arms, which only rarely happens on days when the temps soar above 33° and I have been doing housework. Otherwise, I smell fresh and lovely.
I don’t doubt it !
Oh, Neil, I liked this one… Back in my “relationship days,” I had several “luvvuuhhs” whose armpits I would DEMAND to sniff as part of foreplay. (Please forgive the TMI.) They just smelled so damnned good to me – – very arousing. Of course, every one of them wore deodorant (&/or antiperspirant), but my pit-demands were usually in the evening, when some of their natural pheremones seeped through the chem-mask. Yes, some people’s body odor can be revolting, yet others’ can be divine…
I’m wearing Misia EdP today, the very antithesis of BO, but this post has made me plan to put on DS & Durga’s Lilac City this evening after showering. Although at first, it’s like plunging your face into a cedar closet filled with blooming lilacs, it transitions to a frighteningly realistic drench of rave-orgy-induced sweat in its later stages. It’s definitely not for work…or is it? 😉
I love the sound of it !
It’s wild, to me. Others may not smell sweat in it, but I get a drench in the mid- and latter-stages.