Old person Smell

Apparently medication seeps through the skin and hair and onto furnishings. It can actually damage fabrics. I think in the same way illness, or the medication given for it, causes odours too. Keep healthy!

I'm sure it's often other things that transfer their smell to us. I knew a man who spent most days in a library full of musty old Victorian books and he spelt very strongly of them. Probably didn't wash his clothes as much as he should. I also knew a young man whose mother was constantly cooking roast dinners and he stunk of roast dinner! It was even on his coat hanging in the hall. Cooking, tobacco etc. transfers to our hair and clothes so don't forget room smells.

DH is a volunteer driver who takes older people (mainly ladies) out for day trips. All of them seem to wear vast amounts of perfume but no two wears the same. Imagine the smell on a minibus with all the windows closed because they feel the cold and don't like draughts. It's worse than being in a class full of Lynx wearing 14 year olds lol.

Apparently it's chemical, so sounds like it unavoidable if you happen to live that long. Something else to look forward to then.

Soaps with persimmon extract are the cure apparently - discovered by the Japanese (most seem to be made in Japan or Korea). Only persimmon cuts through the deposit on the skin and removes the smell - and yes, it seems to start from about 40, as we age and our hormones change.

I have a friend who buys a lot of charity shop clothes and she definitely has a slight whiff of old clothes about her even though I know she is scrupulously clean. Funnily enough I even heard her own DGD comment about it a while ago.

You'd think that once the clothes were washed they'd lose the smell but they don't.

I don't remember my grandmothers smelling any different from the rest of the family and my mum, who died at 73 really never got old enough. Now I'm 79, and this thread has made me feel self-conscious. At the moment, I smell of Vicks as I woke up coughing last night and anointed myself lavishly.

My late father in law did not wash his outer clothing very often so his shirts trousers and woollens would smell a bit fousty as well as coats& jackets. His towels &bedding were always washed and changed frequently by the family but he couldn’t see the point in washing clothes for the sake of it. His sofa and curtains were a little smelly too as he had the heating on like the tropics and hardly opened windows. He would fry lots of food too so that used to permeate through the house and on his clothing. My own mother is almost 80 and I have never smelled anything unpleasant on her as her own house is spotless and she is very hygienic personally. She has nothing wrong with her sense of smell either & would comment should anyone else smell unpleasant, like her teenage next door neighbour who smells badly of body odour.

Buy strong expensive perfume I say. Clearing out a very glamorous rellies home 10 years ago, I was saddened to discover her beautiful clothes smelt of BO because she had not the energy to wash them nor take them to the dry cleaners.

In my area some older citizens still believe in the Saturday night bath.

Buy easily washable clothes, wash them and yourself regularly, I say. Air your home with windows wide open at least once a week, I’d say.

Might this soap help if anyone is worried? Family persimmon soap 2 Kopakku www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003C2RQLE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_quifEb6T8Q3HW?tag=gransnetforum-21
There are loads of different things that affect how you smell, as well as basics such as washing self and clothes. Diet, illnesses, there are medical detection dogs that can pick up illnesses on people, and smells of a home, if clothes go away unwashed they have a distinctive smell, and if even if you put away bedding after being washed and dried if left long enough it needs rewashing if you go into an old church that often has a distinctive musty smell, some people who have dogs have houses with a very doggy smell, that makes you gag, but others you'd hardly know that a dog lived there. Neither mum nor dad had the old person smell, and their wardrobes didn't have the charity shop smell, and again not all shops have it, just a few. I read recently that many mediaeval people just smelt of wood smoke, they sat at a wood fire and cooked over it too. The smell of cigarette smoke lingers on clothes and hair too, I remember how horrible it was when my husband came back after an evening in the pub, pre ban and it clung to his hair. Babies smell lovely though, don't they

I don't care if I get old and smelly, and I'm sure I probably will.
At least it will keep teenagers away.

My father and stepmum are 84 and 82 respectively.
They definitely DON'T smell - my father would be horrified if he ever did!

The smell of wet dog is best counteracted by the delicious smell of a bacon sandwich.

Me too 4timesagran three dogs here.

It whiffs of a marketing scheme by the Japanese company(and Amazon) to sell the very expensive persimmon soap to me! maybe incorporating eating actual persimmon into the diet would help then? Ive seen them on market stalls and supermarket fruit& veg aisles.

I am forever walking our large dog in the rain. So no doubt I and my home smell of wet dog!!

Just reading this thread makes me want to strip off all my clothes and throw them in the washer!

I’ve spent the morning with nine women aged between 72 and 94. I honestly can’t say that any smelled in any way unpleasantly. It seems there is hope for us .

What a revelation, reading this thread! I don’t think the ‘old people’ smell is as prevalent today as it used to be from childhood memory. My mum is 92 and doesn’t smell old. She airs the house, whisks round the bathroom, bathes every day and changes the bed at least once a week. She has a cleaner for two hours a week to do the heavy stuff. She doesn’t use any air fresheners or anything as she doesn’t like them. My dad was almost 92 when he died and he was always fragrant, too.

I’m pretty sure Dh and I don’t smell, either. When we return from holiday, the house always smells fine so I hope that means we are fine too.

I have noticed when out and about, though, that there are more people who smell of urine. It’s often younger people who, at a quick glance, look as though they might be self-neglecting, which is very sad.

When we were young most "old" people didn't use deodorant or perfume, many only had a bath once a week, making do with a flannel wash for the rest of the time. These days we shower or bathe every day, use deodorant and perfume so I think this "old people smell" is less prevalent. I certainly haven't noticed it amongst my friends

And yes i agree some teenage boys rooms are sweaty! My youngest(16) is same! My elder 1 never was though he showers once,sometimes twice a day!

Yes cause that smell is often in charity shops- so its definitely the 'old clothes& books' etc as its similar when you go to library too- and old antique shops from the old wooden furniture- its nothing to do with the old persons body odour,its from the items they've kept for years!

Have you noticed that charity shops always have this 'old' smell too - I'm fairly sure it's to do with the age of the clothes and other possessions. My mother died a few months ago, age 95, and I have been clearing out all her clothes. Most of them clean, but just stored in cupboards, drawers etc for years, to give them all a musty smell. My father, 95, still lives in the house, and their house still smells a bit like an Oxfam shop, but not quite as bad now that I have cleared out so many clothes.

There's an article in Huffpost about a cure for old person smell. As others have said it's called nonenal and due to hormonal changes as we age. The Japanese call it kareishu. More noticeable in confined environment & on pillowcases, shirt collars etc. Ordinary soaps don't neutralise it. They say a company called Mirai Clinical have a range of soaps containing persimmon extract (tannin) which is effective & shiseido have a specific perfume. Mind you that article was dated 2017 so one would expect modern products would have caught up - especially as there are so many of us potential smellies - what a market opportunity!!

As the mother of sons, although now grown men, absolutely nothing compares to the smell of a teenage boys room.