I have a theory that people with different diets might find each other smelly (especially if it’s a drastically different diet than yours). The foods we eat can affect our body odor and if you’re not used to someone else’s diet, you might notice their natural odor more than usual.
I had a friend who was an exchange student from Japan and she told me that she thought Americans smelled like milk. We definitely eat more dairy than the average person in Japan so I think your theory is spot on.
@@muscratgravy Even when my loved ones eat foods high in spices (Indian, Chinese, Japanese), I can smell it on their skin, and to me it doesn’t smell great because it smells like spices and stuff that we don’t eat every day. Same with someone I met who was vegan. I thought he smelled like a walking asparagus even before he told me he was vegan 😂
Yes, there's a group of people that eat pickled foot and they smell like vinegar, I worked at an outlet mall and I'd smell it all the time when they were shopping on holiday.
I have always said the “life lesson” I learned from working at a big bank in my town is that people stink. And this applies to people of all walks of life and all levels of “class”, people just stink.
Apparently, the food you eat affects your natural body odour. Because of this people from different parts of the world where diets are vary regionally I.e more spice, more fish, more dairy etc. have a different natural smell. Because within our own cultures we often share these dietary similarities we become attuned to people smelling a certain way which means that when we visit areas with different diets we smell them more clearly. I’ve heard it said that to people on other continents, we Europeans often have a slightly off milky smell because our diets heavily feature dairy.
This yup. My mother loves garlic in her food. She bathes twice daily.... My father hates garlic he's told her ' I think you need to see a doctor because you smell sickly' ... 😅. So she doesn't cook with it anymore
European from Spain here. I've been tought to shower daily, however most of the days I do it twice + due to gym etc. This is all ridiculously based on ignorant judgement
Oh dear, as someone who lives in Europe (the Netherlands) and doesn’t use “traditional” deodorant, but a weekly topical, I am very interested in how this turns out 👀 edit: it is called Nuud, and it neutralises your odour. My armpits just smell of nothing, no scents or smells
Be careful with that brand of deodorant though! I read that some deodorants of that brand had to be taken off the market because it made cyst (?) (like the small bumps that hurt a lot) appear for certain people :/ One that I can recommend that works a lot for me is from Mixa (a French brand): it is a small pink and white deodorant made for extreme sensitive skin! I used it a lot and I don't sweat nor have an after smell from it ^^
Smell is not just about hygiene. I know people whose sweat never stinks and could definitely go without showering for a few days and still not stink (not like they actually do that). And then I know people with perfectly good personal hygiene who start stinking when doing sports and end up sweating heavily
I think there’s also a difference in laundry habits in some European countries vs the US. So sometimes the smells are just different and not necessarily bad.
I’m loving this series!! 😂 I myself use deodorant but not anti perspirant. Anti perspirants contain aluminum clorhydrate and are a know to be linked to certain cancers. Breast cancer case in point because the arm pits are close to the breast. My mother died of breast cancer so I’d rather be safe.
As a Brazilian living and traveling in Europe for over 16 years, I can confirm it: the smell is there. Especially when you go to concerts and festivals, people are stinky before the show starts 😢
One of my favorite childhood memories is when we went to go visit my step dads family in St Louis and we were on the train coming back from a Cardinals (baseball) game. The train was packed, and my step dad is like 6ft 5in, his brother is bigger, and the whole family is just...big guys with REALLY deep voices (this is relevant i promise) Well we are a few stops in, and suddenly the whole family starts gagging and everyone else on the train starts gagging cuz it legititmately smelled as if someone went #2 in their pants....like a week ago. So my uncle (the biggest brother, i think hes like 6ft 7) looks at me and laughs to himself, then he clears his throat and with the deepest voice he could make he said "Next Stop, duuuuump station. If its you that stinks, this is your stop" and it was the one time ive ever experienced where everyone actually started laughing in unison😂 everyone who was on the train (in the family obviously) still talks about it cuz we all thought it was so funny. The person didnt get off at dump station, they stayed with us the whole way. But it was still funny for us😂🤷♀️ So i say all that to say....trains everywhere are stinky. 😂
@@SquintyBubbles haha yeah my family still cracks up about it. My uncle and family were visiting this summer and on the light rail into Seattle we started talking about it and waiting for someone to fart or be smelly for a round 2😂🤷♀️
7 місяців тому
im always surprised when topics like these get a lot of attention online
Regarding the "showering everyday is bad" thing ... while I'm not an expert on the topic, as someone with OCD who showers everyday for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, with hot water and an extreme amount of showering lotion (or whatever it's called) my skin doesn't get overly dry or anything ... like the only area that I have dry skin on, are my hands and forearms, because I also wash my hand like an insane person ... so in my unprofessional opinion, I'd say showering everyday, even with hot water is fine, especially since most people shower less than 30 minutes ...
@Swinara and in public transport you have to sit in a metal tube with those people. Public transport is great but throws those with poor hygeine into sharp relief.
@@leobeboop4944true, and the maintenance/cleaning aren't always done. Starting this year when the bed bug scare took off in France, all tramways and metros were cleaned in the morning and since I got up earlier at the beginning of the year, I couldn't smell anything. But at the end of the day, the smell would be back. Ig it'd be hard to keep constantly moving vehicles as clean and nice smelling as possible without consuming extra energy. Better ventilation systems would be great but it will become another issue we'll have to deal with once it gets popularized. I guess we can just bear the stench for a bit...
I have a very simple theory on this. Europe is a place where public transport is very common and very convenient to use for everyone including tourists. People who visit Europe from North America are usually on the wealthier side, so therefore they are accustomed to using private cars for any sort of minimal trip around the town/country. And when they come to Europe they, for the first time in their life many times, experience public transport. And however much we'd like, said modes some with more smells. And that's a shock to the system I would guess
This makes a lot of sense. public transport is awful no matter where you go but it's bound to be worse where it's more heavily used. it's bound to be a shock if you're just not used to PT
As an American/Texan who often travels abroad this could be the culprit! I don’t use public transport at all in the states well unless I’m in NYC and NYC smells to me too!
Exactly and adding to that: People work. So many construction workers take the bus here in Switzerland cause the distance isn't that big to need a car, plus cars are expensive. Students take the bus, they also smell, hormones ,baby. I don't know how the rest of Europe works, but in Switzerland you can't get loans for school or houses etc. if you don't put in 1third of what you want to be payed off and you need a steady income to be approved. So we have way fewer cars compared to the US, also cause of the lesser distance.
@@TrissTess i'm also from switzerland (zurich) and i agree. 🤗 i really don't think people smell here more or are less hygienic than in the US. and also overall is switzerland *very* clean.
As a brazilian who's been to France, I can imagine why some people don't go around taking three showers a day in there. Winter in Europe is HARSH, it HURTS, and even washing hands in some specific places seems scary because you know you'll FREEZE so it's understandable that people don't take constant showers twice or three times a day-However, I felt like european's relation to hygiene was a bit... different? IDK, a girl I've met in there said it wasn't a big deal for anyone in her family to take a shower if you use tiny napkins (IDK the name of that thing) to clean your body once a day. Is also very common to see people wiping their noses using their hands, (not washing them after doing so) and NO ONE reacted as if it was weird or kept a safe distance. Is really a reality check 😅
I saw TikTok’s of Americans complaining that Italians don’t drink water. There are water fountains pretty much everywhere, depending on what region you are in. Rome has hundreds of taps where you can refill your bottles. I come from northern Tuscany and many villages, mine included, have these “water huts” where you can fill your bottles with filtered water for free or have it carbonated for 20 cents a litre. In my area at least you can always find water fountains, or shockingly, buy bottles in shops or cafes
The thing with smells is that they rarely "balance" each other out. So a bus full of clean people may still smell like that single person who hasn't showered for a century. Just like the toilet - if you spray pine air freshener in a smelly toilet, it's just going to smell like poo in the forest. It can also be really hard to wash off odour if something's been contaminated several times or for a prolonged period. And I can't see governments regularly bleaching stations and bus stops (cause let's be honest, people won't stop pissing anywhere they want anytime soon).
Some people have a stronger odor when they sweat than others. This is genetic. There are also people that rarely sweat and carry a mutation that does not allow the odor-causing bacteria that causes BO to grow. All of us should do our best to be hygienic and not be judgemental.
I had a friend in college who just had a strong odor. Straight out of the shower it was noticable. She was a wonderful person, so it didn't impact her life. Some people just smell and sometimes, its our own genetics that make other people smell bad. If you think someone stinks, just accept that you shouldn't make babies with them and leave it at that.
I used to work in a small firm and one of my co-workers was the brother of my boss and oh my lord he must be the most worst smelling person I have ever met. If I was sharing car ride with just my boss I would smell "nothing" = nothing out of the ordinary that you would think a person would smell like after a day of work. But whenever his brother was riding with us dear lord! And he really was not dirty filthy smelly looking person at all and he loved to go to sauna all the time so I have no doubt that he was neglecting his hygiene... his BO just was sometimes almost eye watering to me even before work. Super chill and nice dude and I loved to work with him but that BO... 😬
My dad says he doesn't stink even if he sweats a lot. I always thought he was bullshiting me but now that I grew up kinda think he's right? I inherited the european stink gene tho. I'm cursed.
@@felinemoonchildsome of the ADHD meds I’ve been on have really impacted my BO because of the stimulants. Thankfully now that I’ve changed it’s better, but it’s not something anyone warned me about
I wonder if its because there's so much public transport in all of Europe, Americans usually have to drive themselves, so there's less collective stank outside of highly populated cities. Also, do people forget emissions are a thing? I grew up in Sulphur, LA (US), and there is a sulfur plant when you drive into the city, hence the name. You'll definitely smell it before you see it.
Savannah, GA smells like rotten eggs because of the International Paper Mill. First time my family visited the city that aroma was an unexpected surprise. LOL
This is exactly what I was thinking. Also when people visit another country they usually are using public transport where in their home country, most don't. You'll be in places of collective stank more.
I’ve lived in Belgium, England, Morocco, and the US. No one stinks like the Europeans. I take the metro in DC everyday and the only stink people are homeless. My European friends said it’s because they don’t shower everyday.
Americans generally use more more AC in the summer, too. I had a french art teacher explain how seldom she had AC units in her apartments back home. It's expected that in the summer, you leave the windows open and nobody is judged for visibly sweating(a totally natural way to cool off), but in America she'd noticed that having a little under-boob, underarm or lower-back sweat soaking through your shirt was far more rare in public and seen as a "trashy" thing to be avoided. Every store and vehicle cranks up the AC to 11, to try to avoid even a little perspiration. And if someone sweats and their skin is warmer they're going to emit a stronger scent, even if they wear deodorant and bathe just as often as other countries. Obviously Europe isn't the only place where sweating and higher indoor summer temps are expected. Everybody prob smells a little stronger to an American who's used to not smelling sweat/skin on warmer bodies. Additionally, diet changes and even regional bacterial types are likely to make fresh foreigners stand out. We become nose-blind to people with a similar smell to our own, but new scents grab our attention.
All very good points. Smoking indoors in now banned in the UK, smokers never really bothered me before but now if I go to a country where it’s still allowed it smells awful to me, the smokers smell awful. It’s noticeable to me because it’s now novel.
I also wonder if it's because most Americans visit Europe during the height of summer. Everyone gets a little bit stinky on public transport in summer. Also, any garbage will start to rot and stink much sooner in hot weather.
I'm an American and have been to several European countries and never thought the people there smelled. Even in France. LOL! The bottom line is that humans smell if not washed. It takes only 1 smelly human to stink up a room, metro, tube, etc. It is inevitable that in largely populated areas that someone/something will smell. Honestly, I thought New York City stinks more than Paris.
I've also been to numerous places in the US (as an American), and 12 European countries. The people everywhere never stunk, nor did any of the public transport... except for the subway system in Paris. It reeks of rot and mold so badly that I'm surprised the walls are still standing. It's in desperate need of renovation/remodeling.
Eu sou do Brasil, aqui tomamos banho todos os dias no mínimo, a maioria toma de 2 a 3, questão de cultura, quem não toma achamos que a pessoa é porca e sem higiene, todos os brasileiros que conheço que vão ao exterior, comentam do cheiro de cc insuportável dos europeus
I have noticed that what you eat can affect how you smell. If an American goes to another country, they will notice a different body odor because of the foods that are eaten.
I was looking for someone to make this point. I'd also add that if people eat alot of junk and processed foods, or take certain medications that effect hormones, that will create slightly "unnatural" body order even if the person has good hygiene. Also people from one region tend to have similar diets, creating similar orders which they get accustomed to. So outsiders may smell different, and that alone can be interpreted as a 'bad' smell. Furthermore, larger cities tend to have air pollution which can lead to stinky smells on skin hair and clothing.
Don't forget old people smell too. That combination with food diets adds to it. High meat intakes, high spice intakes, meds, processed food, and the genetics of how much you sweat matter. If you cooked at home with some strong spices, the scent lingers in your clothes and hair as well!
This! If I eat curry, my sweat smells spicier than if I eat salad. Also, I smell different in winter to summer, where I exercise more, spend more time outside and drink more water. Xxxx
@@Robert_Reacts For people with menstrual cycle, it totally depends on wich day of the cycle. It' s a National Geographic situation😅. Sorry if it was TMI🫣🤭 🧛🏻♀️🖤
Lol right!? Saying that all of Europe stinks is like saying that all of America stinks. To me, most public transport in Europe smells terrible, but isn't that the case everywhere?
Infelizmente no meu país, Brasil, a gente diz esse tipo de coisa, mas realmente sentimos que os europeus tem um cheiro ruim no metro, e bo Japão não tem esse cheiro ruim por ex, quando eu era criança e voltava da rua minha mãe dizia: "vai tomar banho, tu tá com cheiro de gringo", gringo é uma palavra pra estrangeiro, ou seja, ela queria dizer que estava fedida 😅
To me, it’s the same thing as if someone comes to your home or you go to someone else’s house and think it smells. We all get used to the smells we are around everyday so what is considered “stink” to you may not be “stink” to someone else. Obviously public transportation is going to smell no matter where you are. You get that many bodies and people crammed into small spaces, doesn’t matter how much people have showered, it’s going to have a smell.
As a Canadian that went to Europe, the only thing that comes to mind is how many more ppl smoke cigarettes in EU and that’s the only bad smell I’ve noticed. As for France, I thought it smelled too much of perfume and cigarettes together lol
Bom, eu sou do Brasil, nós temos uma impressão diferente, sentimos que os europeus tem odor fedido de cebola muito forte nas axilas, como vocês canadenses tem praticamente a mesma cultura que eles (imagino que vocês não tomem banho com frequência, não usam desodorante e usam a mesma roupa por dias, acertei?), então o nariz de vocês devem estar acostumados ao odor ruim, a maioria dos brasileiros reclamam do odor ácido de cebola, urina, roupa suja e cigarro dos europeus, aqui é raro alguém fumar, devido a uma campanha contra isso bo século passado, nos anos 80 sei lá, então aqui é raro alguém fumando na rua, as pessoas olham feio, enquanto na europa esse hábito fedido é visto como descolado
@@JoursEtrangesyeah the couple times that I’ve been to Canada I was very aware of the pot smell 😅. But that’s just because pot is illegal where I live so I barely ever smell it normally
I’d rather live on the NYC subway than get on an elevator for 10 minutes in Paris. France people don’t wear enough deodorant in the summer and just adds perfume . Perfume on top of pits still smells like pits.
I think we have gotten a little too carried away with being “clean” I personally don’t think it’s crazy and disgusting to skip a day… people will legit bully you for it even if you don’t stink… or they think you stink just cuz you don’t wear 50 sprays perfume, a matching body lotion and body wash
Exactly, you don’t need to shower everyday. If you didn’t do much and didn’t sweat all that much there’s no need. It’s just a waste of water. I feel like the reason a lot of people are such sticklers for showering everyday is because they don’t have a bidet. Everyone should have a bidet. They’re so useful! On days where you don’t need a full shower you can just wash your feet, private parts and the like instead of wasting water on a full shower. Also, people often underestimate how much clothes matter when it comes to BO. A lot of people smell not because they haven’t showered but because they’ve been wearing the same shirt for the past 4 days
I agree. People need a good antiperspirant rather than a body spray on the armpits. Wash and brush your teeth twice a day, showever once a day or every other day and wash you hair when needed.
@@Mikinaak2023 yeah but it wont be THAT bad that the smell will migrate everywhere and others can smell you. Sure, you're not CLEAN clean but you're not filthy. It's not the end of the world.
I think the Hygiene Olympics, privilege, classism and our own biases have a huge role in the way we perceive smell within our culture and others'. Interlexual Media has a great video essay on this topic, I highly recommend watching it!
As a brazilian I can say we have the culture of taking many many baths because of the heat and when I went to europe there were many times where I felt like there was a smell I had never smelled before. omg so difficult to phrase it but I feel like it was not only that people didnt shower as often as us brazilians do, and also that theirs coats were smelling. Maybe because the temperature out is cold and inside places there's air heat or because of how some seasons work like I went on spring so in the morning it would be SO COLD and around noon it would be SO HOT out. so you walk out wearing this super warm coat and then you sweat inside it a lot and it's not an easy piece of clothing to wash so often and it keeps smelling. and then sometimes the perfume scent all over it worsen it.... And here in brazil if you take the public transportation people also do smell. again sometimes you worked the whole day on a 37c heat and didnt have a chance to reapply your deodorant or take a shower, you definetely will start smelling. also there may be some cultural background on how used we are to our natural body smell and I dont think we are that used to it here.
As a Malay Singaporean, i concur! Interestingly enough, it’s not only a climate thing, it’s also a cultural/racial thing. Where i live, it can get as hot as 37c (like in Brazil), but for some reason, most Chinese people here only stick to one shower a day, and it’s not a morning shower, while the rest of us Malays and Indians usually take 2 showers a day.
The word cheroisa. When I Google the meaning I receive the word fragrance. There is the company Sol de Janerio, who makes some of my favorite scents. If you are unfamiliar they are all given the name Cheroisa and then a number . According to their site, they say that the word " is so Brazilian, there is no one word to describe it..." and that as many of us know it means " to smell incredibly delicious ". I love Robert's content. I figured asking you if this is indeed accurate or just marketing would be a good way to leave him some engagement!
@@annacolombo3025 OMG I LOVED THIS INTERACTION!!! I hardly ever get a question about Brazilian portuguese. Here, the neutral words for smell are "odor", like in English, or "cheiro", so if you smell good you would be a "cheirosa" woman. Or "cheiroso" for man. On the other hand, a bad smell is "fedor" so if you smell bad you would "fedida" or "fedido". There's also the word "perfume" for a smell that is nice, so like if you got your perfume on and smell very good you would be a "perfumada" woman!
I shower maybe every 2-3 days, because I am from Finland. It is -30°c, honestly I miss sweating atm 😂 also using deodorant and natural breathable fibers in summer is a MUST. Sweat doesn't always smell, it really depends on the person, hormones, type of sweat, hair, material, diet, etc. Nothing smells worse than protein-only eating men at gym that don't use soap or wash at all 😅
Yeah I think it all depends on the person and the climate you live in. I’m in canada and I shower every 1-3 days and use deodorant and other nice smelling things. If it was the summer I’d shower more, or if I had a busy day I’d shower. You don’t NEED to shower every day. But again its personal preference, and we should be promoting good hygiene but like holy this is a stupid conversation idk lol.
That smell from carnivores and keto people is from ketones they form. When people do long fasts they get bad breath they can't brush away and that's from the same thing, they're exhaling ketones and burning fat and you exhale 85% of the fat you break down into ketones. (You pee out the rest.)
Anxiety sweat is the stinkiest, and no deodorant can stand up to it. Maybe you're standing next to someone having a panic attack just trying to keep it together.
I've definitely had anxiety sweat during air travel.. Not European, shower every day, use deodorant.. And I still felt (and was) very stinky and uncomfortable because of the stress.
Everyone smells bad in the subway because the subway smells bad! It's hot, it's crowded, people's cologne, aftershave, perfume, deodorant, sweat, hair products, garlic & onion breath, take-out containers, spices are all mixing together, and seriously, HAVE THE CLOTH SEATS EVER BEEN DEEP-CLEANED? The answer may not surprise you. Everyone smells a little bit sometimes. We're made of meat, after all.
Just saying this for anyone else who felt a little bad about themselves when hearing that "people should definitely shower everyday": As someone with severe mental health issues including C-PTSD, anxiety and depression, I struggle with daily self care. It's a good day if I manage to do my skincare before I go to bed. Not to mention doing so when I wake up, doing a full face of makeup (or even lazy makeup), brushing my hair, brushing my teeth, flossing & showering. Some days I can only manage to do the absolute bare minimum. Times where it's been really bad and I was mostly bed bound, I would go up to 3 weeks without a shower. If you're also struggling with your self care due to mental illness/mental health concerns, please know that I am so proud of you for trying your absolute best and surviving. Sometimes surviving the day is all we can do. You're not "bad" or "gross" etc just because you're struggling with something. Your struggle is valid and I see you.
I understand. During my worst times my showers were ... basically a quick ass & face wash, stuck in same clothes and bathrobe for a week. Fortunately no-one else was subjected to it - the dogs don't seem to mind.. If I had to leave my cocoon I brute-forced myself, for my own comfort - but mostly not to inconvenience anyone. There are plenty ways to stay hygienic, daily showers really are only a necessity for very physically active people and even then it's just to avoid developing acne. If you stay in bed all day, you really aren't 'gross' or 'bad'. Moistened wipes, bidets and mouthwash are depressed people's friend.
My parents were lucky to live near a candle factory. Every night the entire neighborhood would smell like whatever scent of candles they were making that night. It was disappointing when the factory closed down. 🙁. Contrast that to my friend who lived near a ketchup factory. He could barely stand to sit at a table with someone putting it on fries.
my dad grew up near a neighborhood that had a chocolate factory in the city. Everyone loved the smell and it became this well known thing across the city. though someone did complain about the smell over a decade ago to the EPA. but you can still smell chocolate coming from the factory
My dad and I made candles for years and when he passed away I opened a small business making candles. Candle days are my favorite!! There's perfumes that make me nauseous but I can use those same scents in a candle and they smell amazing!
People will smell different based on the food they eat, the water(quality), humidity and temperature of your environment. If you visit it will smell strange or bad to you, but if you live there you and your clothes will eventually start smelling the same and you will notice it less. As someone who has lived in several different countries on different continents, this has happened to me quite a lot (parents pointing out a different smell to me/ my things when visiting f.ex)
I will now forever worry that I smell bad 😂 Never heard of this before, or that people in Europe don’t wear deodorant... I don't know anybody that doesn't. This seems to be the same thing as when people from Europe call Americans stupid - just a stereotype
Same. I learned about this a few years ago and it made me so paranoid. Even though I don't smell. I barely sweat. But it made avoid consuming garlic, onions or asparagus just to be sure 🤦♀️
I think it's just a cultural shock. I'm french and someone wearing a pungeant deodorant is considered awful, I recently read about a school banning teens from using lynx/ax deodorant because it gives people headaches. I guess to us a bit of natural body odor is considered more bearable than a strong chemical smell. (and if you gather people at the end of their shift who smell a little, well... Our subways are also notorious for being poorly ventilated) And people who do wear some go for neutral sents, I use deodorant everyday, but you'd need to have your nose on my armpits to tell, it just neutralise the sweat. Same for showering, we even have a common expression "to have a cat toillette" meaning having a quick wet glove wash. Not showering everyday doesn't mean people don't clean themselves at all.
I'm all for criticizing colonialism, neo-colonialism, politics... But this just seems like the newest trend to stigmatize a group of people, mostly white people. I'm not convinced that Europeans smell any more than asians, latin americans, africans... do. Maybe different places have different food regimens, which might infuence body odor? and being exposed to a different smell, you think it's *the other person* who's the weird one... You know the same way you go to other people's houses and they always have a distinct smell, but only to you, not the people who live there and are used to that smell.
I'm from Sweden and I'd heard this stereotype before, it's ridiculous. Obviously public transport anywhere is going to smell first of all. And people are going to smell anywhere (trust me I'm aware as somone with autism I'm very sensitive to those things). But what I don't understand is this obsession with showering every day is the only way you are "clean". People are too scared of their own bodies and obsessively clean themselves. Any bit of sebum/oil in your hair has to be removed, everything has to be perfumed etc. Obviously I don't mean don't be hygienic, it just feels a bit excessive sometimes. We're all human and humans have natural smells. And there's a difference between smell and stink. Ofcourse to each their own though. I'm not policing other people just saying my personal opinion. You do whatever feels best for you.
I think this showering everyday argument has a point often overlooked: if there are bidets in your country or not. I gotta say, I do use the bidet everyday and for that reason I don't feel like skipping a day of shower is dirty. Your skin is prepared to last 3 days without a shower, and as long as you don't sweat on that day, you're good to go. But the fact that I wouldn't wash my ass everyday makes me disgusted. If he is from the UK, I understand why he thinks that not taking a shower daily is dirty, as they don't have bidets. But if you do, you can still mantain basic hygiene without a shower a day.
I'm Brazilian. It's funny for me to see these kinds of reactions to "Europeans smell bad" because the discussion went from public transport stations, to showering habits and to so many other places and no conclusion at all. What I can say is: the average Latino/a person will pride themselves in taking showers daily (sometimes more than once per day) and will think that anyone who showers less than then will smell bad. Historically, people in European countries will shower less (because of weather, season, water availability, cultural habits etc.), and - so goes the running joke around here - they'll smell bad. Sometimes this is regarded as a "revenge of the colonized": "you Europeans may be rich, but at least we here in the South smell better than you!" ([edit for clarity] Please have in mind that I'm trying to explain this from a perspective that was not mentioned in the video, since it only addressed Americans' opinions. Not judging individuals' hygiene habits. You do you!)
Smelly people can be found in every country 😂 I once had an ignorant friend of another non-white ethnicity thought he was complimenting me when he said he was shocked that I didn’t ‘smell’. I’m black and African. Diet has an effect on one’s smell, as do genetics. Some people don’t shower as much as they should. Some people don’t wear deodorant when they should. Some diseases cause unpleasant body odors as well. Homeless people in my city get on public transit with strong smells of pee and poo 🤢 It sucks for everyone else but public transit is for the public…
This has been an age old issue. People from different places smell different from each other. I had a cousin who grew up in Manchester, and when he visited here in the Philippines in the '90s he told us that we smell so salty. Being young and immature, I took offense to that a little because Filipinos have been famous for showering at least once every day, so I told him that he actually kind of stinks. To be honest, he didn't smell bad, but he just smells different. So this triggered a whole lot of discussion that actually it's most likely what people eat and not necessarily their hygiene (although some people DO have bad hygiene). Now that I'm much older and met more different nationalities, yeah, people do smell different depending on where they come from. You just don't smell it because you're so used to your scent.
there's also a thing where you can't truly smell yourself!! so unless someone says something, you won't normally smell your own scent as strongly as others do
As someone who has severe eczema, showering everyday for me is bad for my skin so I do it every other day, but on the days I don't still wash my armpits, feet, etc.
Generalizations are never true. I think some people smell and some don't. Some shower frequently, some wear fragrance, some wear clean clothes...and some just don't. And that's everywhere. 😂
I have two theories about this "trend": (1) Europeans use public transport everywhere, plus walking and cycling is massively popular, so they probably do work up more of a sweat during the day, unlike Americans who take cars everywhere and only exercise at gym. (2) OR, it's just a way of bullying Europeans, because they are unpopular all over the world for various reasons (colonialism, wealth/affluence, at times ther own attitude). TikTok is basically a Highschool cafeteria where Becky is jealous of Georgina and starts the rumour that she stinks. Soon, everyone agrees that Gerorgina is smelly and the bullying train is off at full steam.
Tbh this is such an odd generalization, but I've heard it before. I'm Mexican European as well and this made me think of something my abuelo always used to tell. How when the Aztecs met the Europeans they would light incense sticks to mask their bad smell. And then he would always end it with how Europeans smell bad, which was a bold statement from a chainsmoker.
Girl...they came on a boat with no water to clean (the water was to drink/to survive). A travel that last prob for MONTHS. Of course they stink, but that doesn't mean the Europeans didn't wash at home. Also, don't showering/bathing doesn't implies don't cleaning at all. Europeans have bidets and wash stands for centuries....they absolutly clean themselves...
Honestly my dad and grandpa are Native American and my husband is of European decent and they eat similar diets and my dad and grandpa rarely smell and my husband sweats out what whatever he eats in a couple of days lol 😂 He’s stinky but I don’t care. I’m mixed mostly white and I stink too. 🤷♀️
@@evalozano2942 well I think there may be a genetic factor to this and supposedly you can see it in your ear wax. Those of European and African descent have wet ear wax and don’t have the gene that keeps them from smelling more. But East Asian populations have a gene that keeps them from smelling as much as the ones who don’t have the gene. Their ear wax is dry and flaky. Indigenous people which are descendants from Asians can also have that trait. So maybe some people smell less musty than others but in the end I think every ethnicity has a specific scent probably because of their food. I can even smell when someone is sick.
Don't even get me started on the Toronto subway or buses. Every country has its stinky people. Every country has its nice pheromone people. These TikToks hurt my brain.
I think people underestimate A) how much just unfamiliarity contributes to stuff like this. Not just with smell but feeling like the local food is less tasty in comparison to back home (not talking about dishes but stuff like the taste of water or milk) B) how much Cuisine has an impact on how people smell
As someone from London who uses the tube a lot. The people complaining are also they people who BATHE in an entire bottle of perfume and have that horrific smell to them that burns your nose. You get used to the tube having a smell to it sometimes, it's the nature of having millions of people in a single place, there's no way to clean it perfectly all the time.
True. Like believe me I'd rather experience neither, but some people douse themselves in perfume so much that it literally gives me a headache when they enter the room..
I mean, im also from london and would much rather smell a strong perfume than strong BO any day??? Im very conscious of smelling nice and find myself wondering all the time how people can't smell their own pungent stink... if you have the opportunity to shower and are able to, both physically and mentally but choose not to, thats lowkey disrespectful to everyone who has to be around you.
@@abigailxmary I also prefer people to smell nice, I never said that I want people to smell of BO, more that I also find that people who bathe themselves in perfume to be just as bad. BO smells awful and makes you feel sick, but perfume just causes smell sensitive people (like myself) to have headaches, so it's bad in a different way. It's not hard for people to know they only need a little bit of perfume and not to use tones of it.
I have regular customers that smell terrible. It's 100% because they don't shower or clean their clothes. I always sanitize my hands after I ring them up & spray air freshener after they walk out.
Look, I get sick/anxiety sweat. When it’s happening there is no amount of soap, water, and deodorant that will cover it up or eliminate the smell. I’m not saying I smell 24/7 but it happens, everyone smells sometimes. We don’t have to like it, we don’t have to be an asshole about it either.
I lived in London and did not notice any particularly bad smelling people. I will say Americans tend to shower A LOT I feel for people trapped next to someone who smells… I am so sensitive to bad odors. I agree that most likely there are stinky people everywhere lol
There are definitely smelly train and bus stations in England (looking at you, Peterborough), and the Underground can be very strong smelling in the summer on the Northern line, for example. Not always smelly, but sometimes. Everywhere can be stinky, though, given any number of circumstances. 🤷♀️
i’m from the countryside and to me london smells lovely! whenever i’m there i’m in awe of how everyone seems to be wearing perfumes and leaves a trail of beautiful scent behind them. i’ve never noticed it smelling bad, but noticed it smelling good haha
Swede here👋 Been to a few countries in Europe and also USA and in my opinion most of the time people don’t smell bad. People are always going to have a scent (because we are alive after all) and depending on the person that differs but I wouldn’t go so far to generalize and say that so many people smell bad. And I know what bad on people smells like because I work with men who sometimes sweat a lot (the key is to breath through the mouth)😅 Btw, I do not smell bad. I smell fucking amazing.
Peruvian living in the UK here! 🙋♀️ Guys it is the deodorant and anti-transpirant. It took me 3 yeara to find a deodorant in the UK that does not make me smelly. The brands that I used in Peru didn't work when purchased in the UK because they were free of aluminium! As a biologist and future to be ecotoxicologist, I know that aluminium is not bad soooooo please do not take it out of the deodorants, please I beg you! Now the one that works is Mitchum (it does has a form of aluminium salt) I don't smell for the whole day, love it!
Could it be fabric aswell? I've never been outside of Europe and i don't know anyone who doesn't wear deodorant but i have had to throw away some shirts some times because they smell after a couple of hours on... I think the U.K has different ingredients laws than the rest of Europe tho .. i remember when i was living there the brand Lynx which in the rest of Europe is Axe didn't work the same and that was before brexit
I love mitchum. But watch out one time I thought I was buying something with a different scent, the bamboo scented one, and it had no aluminum in it. Didn't realize for a few days and thought something was actually wrong with me. I had to run back to the store and buy the original formulation.
I just discovered Dove The 1 that is black + white 4 some reason No other deodorant works 4 me I start 2 reek after 3-4 hrs I never did b4 Got so desperate I started Spraying my Under Arms with a very light perfume Which Believe it or not DOES work
Most deodorants in the UK have anti perspirant aluminium in them? I actively look for ones without and there are only a few available without aluminium. 🤔
The water consumption is just… I hear so many stories of Americans not liking their vegetables and then moving to Europe to find out that the vegetables here taste so much better and more natural and more fragrant than in the US. Which leads to my point - we eat more fruit and vegetables and that’s also a form of water intake. Especially fruits like oranges, grapes and such. And the climate does also play a role in how much water you actually need in a day. For northern Germany it’s much less than let’s say southern Spain or Greek.
That’s because we Americans only have access to industrially farmed produce. The produce taste terrible because it’s gmo’ed to death and has no flavor. As someone who grew up on a farm with a endless summer supply of every fruit and veg I can tell you what we have now is God awful.
I feel like the underground subway is a soup full of people in an airtight container that has been locked away from sunlight for so long, that all good and bad smelling people form a chemical reaction that smells like the fumes of hell.
I think it's more 'you acclimatise to the normal smells of your home and are hyper aware of differences elsewhere'. Obviously body odour can be very noticeable but even in a place where folks are very attentive to personal hygiene, the normal smells of the place will attach to your clothes and linger in the air. Sydney smells different to Glasgow. Paris definitely smells different to Mexico City. Houston smells different to New York. Rural Wyanad smells different to Bangalore. You're totally correct - the world stinks, that's life! As for deodorant, I find in humid areas or active occupations it it doesn't work for loads of people. I know plenty folks who shower and apply deodorant/antiperspirant but sweat a lot and start to smell a bit by mid afternoon if they've had to use public transport a lot or have to wear synthetic uniforms all day because those formulas can only do so much! It's happened to me a few times, every time I find something I think works it loses effectiveness eventually and then it's off to hunt for a new one.
I notice that it’s okay for people to make fun of European or Western countries and perpetuate nasty outdated stereotypes (Britain is the biggest victim of this) but god forbid we have any sort of negative opinion about any other part of the world.
Trump literally called non western countries shit hole. And became president of the US . Y’all such losers you can’t handle when you get the same energy you put out. Stop tryna make yourselves victims. You’re not.
I’m a self proclaimed stinky person ! I sweat so much but I go out my way to use wet wipes every couple hours and refresh my deodorant to not subject others to it! Not hard to be self aware and be clean 😌
Im exactly the same. If i cant bath i hoe wash or carry wet wipes and fresh antiperspirant. I have a slight smell after a day of sweating however clean i started it out as. Even if in full clean clothes.
Omg,I am happy to hear you're ethnicity,I'm Mexican American (Hispanic).I don't judge people just because they have B.O.We don't know what the situation is.I remember going to school with a Indian young lady,from India.She smelled because of her cultural customs & foods.I would always let her sit with me on the bus,people would be so rude and let her & her brother (who also rode the bus)know that they smelled.It always bothered me.I am know an adult and I just can't believe how mean & rude kids & high school students were.
Yeah, some people will still smell right after a shower and no matter how many times a day they shower. I don't have such a extreme problem, but I do sweat a lot more than the average person no matter how little physical movement I do, and I constantly worry that I'll smell. There's things one can do to help, but a lot of times it's not enough.
Some people just smell. My poor nephew has a strong odor even after getting out of the shower. It’s probably his diet. Also people use different types of deodorant. I’m sorry but those natural deodorants do not work for me. Anyone who has been to Bourbon Street can tell you that the whole area smells.
Omg I went to bourbon street and the smell was exactly like some parts of London on a night out like beer and wee 😂 also for the nephew, there’s a soap by a brand called Megababe and they make a neutralising soap that amazing for underarms !
I have been around Europe, and been in a few places in north and central America, and I can honestly say the worst place I’ve been to for smells is the New York subway. Do I judge all Americans by the smell of the subway? I’m not that stupid. For comparison, I lived in London for 4 years and still found the ny subway worse. European cities are just cities and people bathe a normal amount to not stink in my experience. I’m quite sensitive to smell so I think I’d notice.
This intro got me 😂 “and I don’t eat beans” lol then you having to pause and think if you’ve peed on a train before 😂 I’ve met some real stanky Americans, my high school friend had BO so bad that the shirts she handed down to me STILL smell of her armpits over 10 years later 😬 Also from my experience working with Hispanics (a lot of Mexicans in particular) the men tended to wear A LOT of cologne. We always knew where the maintenance guy had just been because we could smell his cologne for the next 5 minutes 😂
We had a kid in class whose BO is so bad- and I dont think from his armpits (I think he did it on purpose because he would find it funny snd deny help from students/teachers/etc. he wss very much an incel) and eventually it was so bad the class was getting nauseous being in the same room, the professor was great lol, he brought in a can of febreeze and lysol and told us to use it for the obvious reason
As someone who has lived in both the us and Europe I too have done that hand sanitizer trick 😂 I think *generally* Europeans don’t seem to have the same obsession with strong deodorant as Americans. But at the same time in all large cities public transport doesn’t smell like roses.
Ever heard the phrase "cleanliness is next to godliness"? Americans, whether consciously or subconsciously, use this to "other" people. Its why you might hear a racist call a certain groups/races/ethnicities "filthy".
Is there any culture that doesn’t conflate immorality with being physically “dirty”? By using the same words to refer to both moral and physical “filthiness” for example. I’m not saying there isn’t. I just wonder. I’m no linguist, so I have no idea. Would be a little interesting to know what percentage of languages do this.
@@alanna620 I am doing my Masters Degree in Global History and for my thesis I came across a thing that is called American Exceptionalism. In a nutshell, it's the historical term for the holier-than-thou attitude some Americans have and how this is rooted in its "American Dream" history. And this whole debate kinda reminds me of that.
4:25 My mom, who is from Mississippi, calls that a “spit bath”. I have heard people call it a “hobo bath” or refer to it as the type of bath a sex worker would take. Whatever you call it, it’s clean. 🤷🏻♀️ When I was a kid, I have a distinct recurring memory that every time I visited a friend’s house for the first time, the way the house smelled was different to me. It was never bad-just different, and I never commented on it. Why? Because I was a visitor, graciously welcomed into this new home, and that would’ve been rude.
I'm from south america and I've lived in England and France. I have to say we do shower a lot down here, specially during summer, that's just the way it is. Now, a lot of people have turned the conversation to public transport and, sure, it is not the best smelling place but for the most part it's not unvearable. You have to understand that if someones BO is too strong it will most likely be addressed in school or at work. I remember having one particular clasmatewhen I was in Highschool and we asked out teacher to talk to him because he would stink up the classroom. During my time in England, I didn't have any particular experiences; France on the other hand.... I have literal horror stories. I wish there was a nicer way to say it but the body odor in France was insane. It may come down to diet, higene or just simply geneticts but is not a smell I could ever get used to. That being said, I'm pretty sure if you ask people from other countries they will find that we smell different too so let us try and be kind about it because we are not all the same.
Hello. I've read multiple times that the French are supposedly the most "fragrant" of all nations. I have frequented France but only during the colder months so I've no horror stories. I have encountered horrendous BO whilst queueing in London (having lived there for over 35 years, though no longer) however, the offending odour was never being emitted from a European Caucasian🤢
Robert describing a “ho bath” lmao 😂 I’ll tell ya, as stinky as the subway, or tube, and public transportation can be, it doesn’t hold a candle to liquid manure 🤮 yup, I live in a very rural town in northern NY. Lots of farms (God bless our farmers!) But when they spread that liquid manure it literally gags you when you drive by it. As for B.O. a lot of Amish around here and they are some of the foulest smelling people I’ve ever come across. And they MAKE their own soap for crying out loud! Use it more than once a month! I think the Europeans are fine and don’t have anything to worry about. I’m sure you smell lovely Robert 🖤
I’m from New Zealand and the bigger cities definitely have some “waste” smells from people (generally drunk or so) in the main city area pubs/public bathrooms and side streets at nights during the weekend especially. People aren’t afraid to drunkenly pee outside a pub or something. But our public transport is usually pretty good with hygiene in general. When I went to France, the underground metros definitely stunk. I think it’s a combination of population density, homelessness, drinking & drug culture, as well as actually being underground whereas NZ transport is mainly above ground. I thought it was obvious that smells underground are going to stick around more than they would overground 🤷🏻♀️
I'm from England and heading for 60yrs old. The washcloth method was known as "a strip wash" when I was growing up. As a child it was normal to wash everyday but it was "bath-night & hair wash" on a Sunday to be nice and clean for a new week back at school. My parents had grown up without indoor plumbing. They had to heat water on a stove or fire and use a tin bath in front of the fire to have a proper bath. There is no wonder they were used to doing it once a week.
i hope that the guy that said he’s travelled to most European countries never comes back. he was so rude for no reason and came off completely prejudiced
This reminds me of a video discussion about how Americans smell to the Japanese. There were several interviewed. Some said we over did it with the perfume and cologne. Others said they contributed our stink to meat sweats because we eat too much meat, and well in general we do.
I think the biggest problem with public transportation is that alot of people don't wash their coats and scarves regularly. ( talking about colder months) people don't realize how many odors a coat picks up and lingers. They get nose blind to their own outer garments. Alot of people on public transport are going to and from work, so, you get the smell of everything that person has been doing for weeks..I work in a kitchen, I'm guessing that people can smell what I made that day..unfortunately. Even tho my coat is in a separate room there is no way to avoid it. I live in the midwest, United States. We do have homeless people that also use public transportation, they usually smell like the outside..like deeply of being mostly outside. I've also lived in Europe. Germany to be specific, and never noticed anything that was any different than what I'm describing here. If your in " the public" your gonna get " the public " so pretty much deal with it, or stay home. People are ridiculous. 😂
I’m German living in Spain for 18 years now and I have to admit, that every country has its typical smell. It doesn’t necessarily mean that people don’t shower on a daily basis. It depends partially on the specific diet people follow in a country. And on public transportation there are always lots of smells. It’s hot, crowded and people mix. Some come back from their jobs and don’t have a possibility to shower there, others use too much perfume and others just had some smelly food before catching the subway because they were hungry.
I don't understand some people's unwavering belief in the power of a deodorant. It covers smell but doesn't help with sweating and when someone's body odour is very strong it creates this smelly combo (we can also include fragrance from fabric softeners and cosmetics). But I don't like scented things like perfume in general.
@@timmysleftnutsack5075 no, you are wrong. I smell very well, i like to take my shower everyday, i do my skin and body care, my clothes are always clean, actually i'm always so clean, i'm even a little bit obsessed with being clean lol.
If you go to the Mediterranean you may notice a lot smell very good, because they are drenched in lemony or herbaceous cologne, especially the babies, and know the frequency one must shower to stay fresh in their climate. I hear that people in Thailand and Philippines sometimes shower more than 2 times a day due to the humidity. In London, I don't think people smell bad, but the underground stations and buses aren't cleaned very well, I feel like overground smells fine on weekends however.
Australians shower at least once a day, most twice. Their public transport never smelled. Now with the amount of Indians here, the smell is beyond unbearable.
I'm from Barcelona (so very Mediterranean) and I work in a public/touristy place and while locals sometimes (but not often) might smell bad, usually it's tourists who often stink, specially from northern countries (and France), I think they are just not conscious of the weather or the temperature in here.
Pretty sure genetics are a cause. I've read that especially east Asiens and almost all Koreans lack a gene (ABCC11) that produces BO. I don't think ppl showering on a regular basis (3-4 times a week, so not everyday) are the problem. Not only the bill but u also use a lot of water showering; were i live we all got a warning not to over use. anyways i saw a comment ab the smell lingering ''if you spray pine air freshener in a smelly toilet, it's just going to smell like poo in the forest.'' and one ab the sheer unfamiliarity of other countries smells, I 100% agree. Things ur unfamiliar to are always more noticeable. anyways i don't think the US should talk 😂 edit: omg yes a filled subway on a nice hot day 🤢
Ah, Europe, my favourite country... I do wish some people would realise that Europe is a continent made up of 45 different countries, and MANY different cultures! There does seem to be a lot of generalisation of 'Europeans' as a homogenous culture, it's quite annoying. I know this was mentioned by one of the videos, but, like he said, it is the metro stations, but is that really just European countries? In the videos used in the video, people are pretty much saying European people smell, the implication being that those from the country the creators are from don't...
I was going to say in Ireland we call that washcloth wash 'a lick and a promise' or 'pits and bits' but I'm actually not sure if that's an Irish thing or just with my family and friends 😅.
It reminds me of when I was growing up in North Wales (not too far from Ireland, when you think about it); if we had very noticeable deodorant on, someone might ask 'are you on a promise?', meaning 'have you tarted yourself up for a night of nookie?' 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@justamakeupdude ahahahahaha yes! Maybe we share some similar approaches 😁. That was the same for us! Hahaha or any effort at all to look presentable, the slagging we'd get 😂.
Ahahah, seriously, people don't know what to say anymore in this silly contest of "my country is better than yours"😂😅. Never heard of any part of EU not using deodorants, probably it is just a perception tourists have while visiting Europe (especially if they do it in the scorching hot summer🥵♨️).
I have spoken to many Europeans and they don’t shower daily. Are they not breaking a sweat each day to warrant a shower? It is such a quick and easy think to do, showering. It is beyond lazy not to
@soullessnight6539 as a European myself I can assure you we wash😂 we just don't take a full shower every day if there is no reason to: it is beyond wasteful! We are more mindfull of water consumpion here. It is a US belief that showers once or multiple times a day is the only way to get clean. And obviously if you sweat or do sports, if it is hot and you are sweaty, you wash completely. So, really, it is just a cultural difference: the same results "get clean and don't stink" different methods.
@@soullessnight6539 you're may be surprised but when half of the year temperatures outside stay below 0°C people don't tend to sweat every 5 minutes like it's tropical summer, especially if they don't have physically demanding job/do sports every day. That being said I don't believe every single person on earth smells bad enough that 1 day of not showering will make them straight up STINK. For those less fortunate antiperspirants exist - they pevent sweating in the first place instead of masking the smell. For some showering daily is not only wasteful but also harmful to their skin and hair
@@soullessnight6539 I'm 'European', or, as I call myself, English, and I shower daily, as do the overwhelming majority of the people I know... The climate in the UK isn't the warmest but I tend to sweat at night, so I do need to shower daily, but there are a lot of countries in Europe that have regular temperatures of -0, so, if the inhabitants are not sweating, why would they need to shower every day? They won't smell bad...
I’m assuming most of these people complaining about Europe being smelly have never been to NYC. The subways all over NYC smell like piss and poo. Times Square, a very popular tourist attraction, smells like piss and poo. Also, lots of middle eastern people do not wear deodorant. I have no idea why, but it’s something to do with their culture. America doesn’t smell like roses 🌹
Something else we need to consider, especially with public transport or flights, is that people are running to catch transport, sometimes people work long shifts, and sometimes people get very stressed and these can cause people to smell or smell stronger. It doesn’t always have to do with wearing deodorant or washing everyday. It’s real life circumstances that can affect us physiologically.
i think this mainly comes out of just people and places smelling DIFFERENTLY, which when you're not used to you can interpret as smelling "bad". that and the fact that big cities anywhere tend to stink. my city stinks so bad it has a nickname about it 😅
imo something else that could be playing into this is that a lot of these are touristy places. when travelling, people are often in a different climate or environment than they’re used to and don’t adjust their normal hygiene routine, or are doing a lot more physical activity than they usually do and therefore are sweating more, or, in warmer climates, are often wearing sandals or flip flops which means you’d be able to smell sweaty feet more than you would in normal shoes. that and the other things people have mentioned, like different diets, different standards of hygiene for different places, cities and public transportation just being generally gross in a lot of places, more people in cities meaning there’s likely more people who don’t have a great standard for hygiene, pollution, all just kind of adds up on top of each other, and even if not every one of these applies, i think enough of them probably do or are different enough from where you live that it’s noticeably bad to you in comparison
Quite honestly, I agree with you on taking on a wash cloth and wiping down if you’re not able to enjoy a bit of a long shower or if you’re feeling kinda lazy. People should want the best for themselves in regards to showering or trying to smell decent.
As an Eastern European (Belarus and Poland) I've had hyperhidrosis since puberty fist hit. I literally suffered for 10 years until I discovered Perspirex stuff. And now I have BURNT fucking armpits for like a year straight because nothing else helps with overproduction of damn sweat. I have to take shower often twice a day, use the most intense antiperspirant on the market, change shirts, but as soon as summer hits - I FUCKING SMELL no matter what I do. It's a nightmare and noone really is safe from some genetic misfortune like that.
I love some of the Irish words and phrases I've heard! My favourites are 'your man' for 'whatsizname' and 'the yoke' for 'thingamyjig'. Go and give the yoke to your man!
I believe that the Vietnamese claimed they could sniff out the US soldiers from their stink ( in the Vietnam War…because of US meat consumption). I think its an antiperspirant thing. And probably somewhat a food(s) consumption thing. Ps- Im American and yes our public transportation system hubs can really stink from urine etc.
That's funny, I'm Asian American and I can actually smell a distinct difference in body odor with my Vietnamese friends. I think it's the type of foods they're eating, not due to hygiene. And I feel like a lot of countries have distinct smells depending on the climate and local foods
I remember someone once saying that to Japanese people, the rest of the west give off a “dairy” smell. They said it’s because dairy isn’t such a big part of their diet it’s a noticeable smell on those who do eat it. I don’t know if that’s a myth though 🤷♀️
On a side note, I absolutely love the reference to the refillable water bottles carried around, because it's something I (from Poland) fell in love with when I went to Italy! So it's not just the United States, even within Europe there are differences in small things like this.
Omg … I meant let me know if you smell down below in the comments 😭😭 😂😂😂 not … down below!!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
😱
Omg 😂😂😂😂 I literally spit laugh at this
NOOOOOO!!!! i cant believe you have to explain yourself😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
God i love your sense of humour. ALWAYS smells amazing😂
I have a theory that people with different diets might find each other smelly (especially if it’s a drastically different diet than yours). The foods we eat can affect our body odor and if you’re not used to someone else’s diet, you might notice their natural odor more than usual.
There might be something to this
I had a friend who was an exchange student from Japan and she told me that she thought Americans smelled like milk. We definitely eat more dairy than the average person in Japan so I think your theory is spot on.
@@muscratgravy Even when my loved ones eat foods high in spices (Indian, Chinese, Japanese), I can smell it on their skin, and to me it doesn’t smell great because it smells like spices and stuff that we don’t eat every day. Same with someone I met who was vegan. I thought he smelled like a walking asparagus even before he told me he was vegan 😂
Yes, there's a group of people that eat pickled foot and they smell like vinegar, I worked at an outlet mall and I'd smell it all the time when they were shopping on holiday.
Yep this is a good point
I have always said the “life lesson” I learned from working at a big bank in my town is that people stink. And this applies to people of all walks of life and all levels of “class”, people just stink.
Apparently, the food you eat affects your natural body odour. Because of this people from different parts of the world where diets are vary regionally I.e more spice, more fish, more dairy etc. have a different natural smell. Because within our own cultures we often share these dietary similarities we become attuned to people smelling a certain way which means that when we visit areas with different diets we smell them more clearly. I’ve heard it said that to people on other continents, we Europeans often have a slightly off milky smell because our diets heavily feature dairy.
This yup. My mother loves garlic in her food. She bathes twice daily.... My father hates garlic he's told her ' I think you need to see a doctor because you smell sickly' ... 😅. So she doesn't cook with it anymore
I think this is a big factor yes
European from Spain here. I've been tought to shower daily, however most of the days I do it twice + due to gym etc. This is all ridiculously based on ignorant judgement
Oh dear, as someone who lives in Europe (the Netherlands) and doesn’t use “traditional” deodorant, but a weekly topical, I am very interested in how this turns out 👀 edit: it is called Nuud, and it neutralises your odour. My armpits just smell of nothing, no scents or smells
Oh I want that! That sounds good!
I neeeeed it!
Be careful with that brand of deodorant though! I read that some deodorants of that brand had to be taken off the market because it made cyst (?) (like the small bumps that hurt a lot) appear for certain people :/
One that I can recommend that works a lot for me is from Mixa (a French brand): it is a small pink and white deodorant made for extreme sensitive skin! I used it a lot and I don't sweat nor have an after smell from it ^^
Nuud didn't work for me. It was horrible to notice in the middle of the day how I smelled of PO 😐 And yes I did try it for a longer time.
@vermillin I use Lume. I am in the United States of Texas 😅 never heard of NUUD but Lume works wonders.
Smell is not just about hygiene. I know people whose sweat never stinks and could definitely go without showering for a few days and still not stink (not like they actually do that). And then I know people with perfectly good personal hygiene who start stinking when doing sports and end up sweating heavily
I think there’s also a difference in laundry habits in some European countries vs the US. So sometimes the smells are just different and not necessarily bad.
I’m loving this series!! 😂
I myself use deodorant but not anti perspirant. Anti perspirants contain aluminum clorhydrate and are a know to be linked to certain cancers. Breast cancer case in point because the arm pits are close to the breast. My mother died of breast cancer so I’d rather be safe.
As a Brazilian living and traveling in Europe for over 16 years, I can confirm it: the smell is there. Especially when you go to concerts and festivals, people are stinky before the show starts 😢
“sometimes you get on a bus :) and someone’s left a bag of poo in it :)” lmfao
One of my favorite childhood memories is when we went to go visit my step dads family in St Louis and we were on the train coming back from a Cardinals (baseball) game. The train was packed, and my step dad is like 6ft 5in, his brother is bigger, and the whole family is just...big guys with REALLY deep voices (this is relevant i promise)
Well we are a few stops in, and suddenly the whole family starts gagging and everyone else on the train starts gagging cuz it legititmately smelled as if someone went #2 in their pants....like a week ago. So my uncle (the biggest brother, i think hes like 6ft 7) looks at me and laughs to himself, then he clears his throat and with the deepest voice he could make he said "Next Stop, duuuuump station. If its you that stinks, this is your stop" and it was the one time ive ever experienced where everyone actually started laughing in unison😂 everyone who was on the train (in the family obviously) still talks about it cuz we all thought it was so funny.
The person didnt get off at dump station, they stayed with us the whole way. But it was still funny for us😂🤷♀️
So i say all that to say....trains everywhere are stinky. 😂
That's hysterical! 😂
@@SquintyBubbles haha yeah my family still cracks up about it. My uncle and family were visiting this summer and on the light rail into Seattle we started talking about it and waiting for someone to fart or be smelly for a round 2😂🤷♀️
im always surprised when topics like these get a lot of attention online
Regarding the "showering everyday is bad" thing ... while I'm not an expert on the topic, as someone with OCD who showers everyday for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, with hot water and an extreme amount of showering lotion (or whatever it's called) my skin doesn't get overly dry or anything ... like the only area that I have dry skin on, are my hands and forearms, because I also wash my hand like an insane person ... so in my unprofessional opinion, I'd say showering everyday, even with hot water is fine, especially since most people shower less than 30 minutes ...
Let’s just face it: public transportation can be stinky. Don’t judge a group of people based on that.
Yea absolutely!
Yes, public transport can be smelly. But all the people on it using cars would produce a lot more nasty air so I‘m more than happy with the trade-off.
It doesn't help that public transport doesn't have the best ventilation so any smell lingers for ages
@Swinara and in public transport you have to sit in a metal tube with those people. Public transport is great but throws those with poor hygeine into sharp relief.
@@leobeboop4944true, and the maintenance/cleaning aren't always done.
Starting this year when the bed bug scare took off in France, all tramways and metros were cleaned in the morning and since I got up earlier at the beginning of the year, I couldn't smell anything. But at the end of the day, the smell would be back.
Ig it'd be hard to keep constantly moving vehicles as clean and nice smelling as possible without consuming extra energy. Better ventilation systems would be great but it will become another issue we'll have to deal with once it gets popularized.
I guess we can just bear the stench for a bit...
I have a very simple theory on this. Europe is a place where public transport is very common and very convenient to use for everyone including tourists. People who visit Europe from North America are usually on the wealthier side, so therefore they are accustomed to using private cars for any sort of minimal trip around the town/country. And when they come to Europe they, for the first time in their life many times, experience public transport. And however much we'd like, said modes some with more smells. And that's a shock to the system I would guess
This makes a lot of sense. public transport is awful no matter where you go but it's bound to be worse where it's more heavily used. it's bound to be a shock if you're just not used to PT
As an American/Texan who often travels abroad this could be the culprit! I don’t use public transport at all in the states well unless I’m in NYC and NYC smells to me too!
Exactly and adding to that: People work. So many construction workers take the bus here in Switzerland cause the distance isn't that big to need a car, plus cars are expensive. Students take the bus, they also smell, hormones ,baby. I don't know how the rest of Europe works, but in Switzerland you can't get loans for school or houses etc. if you don't put in 1third of what you want to be payed off and you need a steady income to be approved. So we have way fewer cars compared to the US, also cause of the lesser distance.
@@TrissTess i'm also from switzerland (zurich) and i agree. 🤗 i really don't think people smell here more or are less hygienic than in the US. and also overall is switzerland *very* clean.
As a brazilian who's been to France, I can imagine why some people don't go around taking three showers a day in there. Winter in Europe is HARSH, it HURTS, and even washing hands in some specific places seems scary because you know you'll FREEZE so it's understandable that people don't take constant showers twice or three times a day-However, I felt like european's relation to hygiene was a bit... different?
IDK, a girl I've met in there said it wasn't a big deal for anyone in her family to take a shower if you use tiny napkins (IDK the name of that thing) to clean your body once a day. Is also very common to see people wiping their noses using their hands, (not washing them after doing so) and NO ONE reacted as if it was weird or kept a safe distance. Is really a reality check 😅
I saw TikTok’s of Americans complaining that Italians don’t drink water. There are water fountains pretty much everywhere, depending on what region you are in. Rome has hundreds of taps where you can refill your bottles. I come from northern Tuscany and many villages, mine included, have these “water huts” where you can fill your bottles with filtered water for free or have it carbonated for 20 cents a litre. In my area at least you can always find water fountains, or shockingly, buy bottles in shops or cafes
The thing with smells is that they rarely "balance" each other out. So a bus full of clean people may still smell like that single person who hasn't showered for a century. Just like the toilet - if you spray pine air freshener in a smelly toilet, it's just going to smell like poo in the forest.
It can also be really hard to wash off odour if something's been contaminated several times or for a prolonged period. And I can't see governments regularly bleaching stations and bus stops (cause let's be honest, people won't stop pissing anywhere they want anytime soon).
That’s such a good point!
Poo in the forest lol. That tickled me.
@@missp498oh you got to it before me LOL.. I was thinking the same exact thing.. I’m dying 😂
lmfao ahahaha "smelling like poo in a forest"
piney poo 😂 that poo in the forest part made me giggle
Some people have a stronger odor when they sweat than others. This is genetic. There are also people that rarely sweat and carry a mutation that does not allow the odor-causing bacteria that causes BO to grow. All of us should do our best to be hygienic and not be judgemental.
I had a friend in college who just had a strong odor. Straight out of the shower it was noticable. She was a wonderful person, so it didn't impact her life. Some people just smell and sometimes, its our own genetics that make other people smell bad. If you think someone stinks, just accept that you shouldn't make babies with them and leave it at that.
There are just a lot of factors to BO. Stress, medications, what you eat, any medical conditions you may have. All of it can affect BO/sweat.
I used to work in a small firm and one of my co-workers was the brother of my boss and oh my lord he must be the most worst smelling person I have ever met. If I was sharing car ride with just my boss I would smell "nothing" = nothing out of the ordinary that you would think a person would smell like after a day of work. But whenever his brother was riding with us dear lord! And he really was not dirty filthy smelly looking person at all and he loved to go to sauna all the time so I have no doubt that he was neglecting his hygiene... his BO just was sometimes almost eye watering to me even before work. Super chill and nice dude and I loved to work with him but that BO... 😬
My dad says he doesn't stink even if he sweats a lot. I always thought he was bullshiting me but now that I grew up kinda think he's right?
I inherited the european stink gene tho. I'm cursed.
@@felinemoonchildsome of the ADHD meds I’ve been on have really impacted my BO because of the stimulants. Thankfully now that I’ve changed it’s better, but it’s not something anyone warned me about
I wonder if its because there's so much public transport in all of Europe, Americans usually have to drive themselves, so there's less collective stank outside of highly populated cities. Also, do people forget emissions are a thing? I grew up in Sulphur, LA (US), and there is a sulfur plant when you drive into the city, hence the name. You'll definitely smell it before you see it.
Collective Stank - band name! 😊 I lived in a town that had an odor because of a processing plant.
Idk I live in NYC which obviously uses a lot of public transportation, and certain areas smell, but the city doesn't generally smell.
Savannah, GA smells like rotten eggs because of the International Paper Mill. First time my family visited the city that aroma was an unexpected surprise. LOL
This is exactly what I was thinking. Also when people visit another country they usually are using public transport where in their home country, most don't. You'll be in places of collective stank more.
I’ve lived in Belgium, England, Morocco, and the US. No one stinks like the Europeans. I take the metro in DC everyday and the only stink people are homeless. My European friends said it’s because they don’t shower everyday.
Americans generally use more more AC in the summer, too. I had a french art teacher explain how seldom she had AC units in her apartments back home. It's expected that in the summer, you leave the windows open and nobody is judged for visibly sweating(a totally natural way to cool off), but in America she'd noticed that having a little under-boob, underarm or lower-back sweat soaking through your shirt was far more rare in public and seen as a "trashy" thing to be avoided. Every store and vehicle cranks up the AC to 11, to try to avoid even a little perspiration.
And if someone sweats and their skin is warmer they're going to emit a stronger scent, even if they wear deodorant and bathe just as often as other countries. Obviously Europe isn't the only place where sweating and higher indoor summer temps are expected. Everybody prob smells a little stronger to an American who's used to not smelling sweat/skin on warmer bodies.
Additionally, diet changes and even regional bacterial types are likely to make fresh foreigners stand out. We become nose-blind to people with a similar smell to our own, but new scents grab our attention.
Body odour forms from bacteria. If you smell that bad after 8hrs, you didn't wash or something medical is going on.
All very good points. Smoking indoors in now banned in the UK, smokers never really bothered me before but now if I go to a country where it’s still allowed it smells awful to me, the smokers smell awful. It’s noticeable to me because it’s now novel.
I also wonder if it's because most Americans visit Europe during the height of summer. Everyone gets a little bit stinky on public transport in summer. Also, any garbage will start to rot and stink much sooner in hot weather.
I'm an American and have been to several European countries and never thought the people there smelled. Even in France. LOL! The bottom line is that humans smell if not washed. It takes only 1 smelly human to stink up a room, metro, tube, etc. It is inevitable that in largely populated areas that someone/something will smell. Honestly, I thought New York City stinks more than Paris.
I've also been to numerous places in the US (as an American), and 12 European countries. The people everywhere never stunk, nor did any of the public transport... except for the subway system in Paris. It reeks of rot and mold so badly that I'm surprised the walls are still standing. It's in desperate need of renovation/remodeling.
Eu sou do Brasil, aqui tomamos banho todos os dias no mínimo, a maioria toma de 2 a 3, questão de cultura, quem não toma achamos que a pessoa é porca e sem higiene, todos os brasileiros que conheço que vão ao exterior, comentam do cheiro de cc insuportável dos europeus
Not to mention underground PT isn't going to be the best ventilated which means strong smells pile up more easily and take longer to clear out.
I have noticed that what you eat can affect how you smell. If an American goes to another country, they will notice a different body odor because of the foods that are eaten.
I was looking for someone to make this point. I'd also add that if people eat alot of junk and processed foods, or take certain medications that effect hormones, that will create slightly "unnatural" body order even if the person has good hygiene.
Also people from one region tend to have similar diets, creating similar orders which they get accustomed to. So outsiders may smell different, and that alone can be interpreted as a 'bad' smell.
Furthermore, larger cities tend to have air pollution which can lead to stinky smells on skin hair and clothing.
Don't forget old people smell too. That combination with food diets adds to it. High meat intakes, high spice intakes, meds, processed food, and the genetics of how much you sweat matter. If you cooked at home with some strong spices, the scent lingers in your clothes and hair as well!
Exactlyyyy
Mhmm
This! If I eat curry, my sweat smells spicier than if I eat salad. Also, I smell different in winter to summer, where I exercise more, spend more time outside and drink more water. Xxxx
“Let me know if you smell down below” ..bit personal, Robert 🤣🤣🤣
😭😭😭 omg I’m going to be cancelled!!
@@Robert_Reacts If I could have it as my ring tone I would. haha Love you, Robert.
@@Robert_Reacts For people with menstrual cycle, it totally depends on wich day of the cycle. It' s a National Geographic situation😅. Sorry if it was TMI🫣🤭
🧛🏻♀️🖤
Stop 😂😂
Where did this come from?! LMAO I've never assumed others from different countries smell bad. Such an odd generalization 😂💜
I have no idea!! 😂😂😂
Right?!! I’ve never heard this.. ever lol
Lol right!? Saying that all of Europe stinks is like saying that all of America stinks. To me, most public transport in Europe smells terrible, but isn't that the case everywhere?
@@Ania-on9le Literally. I used to take transport to get to school a lot, when you get on transports it's not gonna smell great no matter what.
Infelizmente no meu país, Brasil, a gente diz esse tipo de coisa, mas realmente sentimos que os europeus tem um cheiro ruim no metro, e bo Japão não tem esse cheiro ruim por ex, quando eu era criança e voltava da rua minha mãe dizia: "vai tomar banho, tu tá com cheiro de gringo", gringo é uma palavra pra estrangeiro, ou seja, ela queria dizer que estava fedida 😅
To me, it’s the same thing as if someone comes to your home or you go to someone else’s house and think it smells. We all get used to the smells we are around everyday so what is considered “stink” to you may not be “stink” to someone else. Obviously public transportation is going to smell no matter where you are. You get that many bodies and people crammed into small spaces, doesn’t matter how much people have showered, it’s going to have a smell.
As a Canadian that went to Europe, the only thing that comes to mind is how many more ppl smoke cigarettes in EU and that’s the only bad smell I’ve noticed. As for France, I thought it smelled too much of perfume and cigarettes together lol
YESSS I was thinking the same!! the cigarette smell is A LOT
Very true ! But to be fair, as a French that lives in Canada (and doesn't smoke), here I think it smells too much of pot 😅
Bom, eu sou do Brasil, nós temos uma impressão diferente, sentimos que os europeus tem odor fedido de cebola muito forte nas axilas, como vocês canadenses tem praticamente a mesma cultura que eles (imagino que vocês não tomem banho com frequência, não usam desodorante e usam a mesma roupa por dias, acertei?), então o nariz de vocês devem estar acostumados ao odor ruim, a maioria dos brasileiros reclamam do odor ácido de cebola, urina, roupa suja e cigarro dos europeus, aqui é raro alguém fumar, devido a uma campanha contra isso bo século passado, nos anos 80 sei lá, então aqui é raro alguém fumando na rua, as pessoas olham feio, enquanto na europa esse hábito fedido é visto como descolado
@@JoursEtrangesyeah the couple times that I’ve been to Canada I was very aware of the pot smell 😅. But that’s just because pot is illegal where I live so I barely ever smell it normally
@@nataliearaujo3095 funny because we think the same way about the US and other American countries or at least in my region in Europe
Any American complaining about EU smells has clearly no been on a NYC subway train.😂😂😂
Omg im travelling to NYC in a month. Is the subway really that bad?
That is the truth! Lol
I’d rather live on the NYC subway than get on an elevator for 10 minutes in Paris. France people don’t wear enough deodorant in the summer and just adds perfume . Perfume on top of pits still smells like pits.
Im an American and work in nyc and this is so real
@@hanajsay sike rn😭😭😭 nyc subways smell like a safety hazard. I love the city but that preference is crazy
I think we have gotten a little too carried away with being “clean” I personally don’t think it’s crazy and disgusting to skip a day… people will legit bully you for it even if you don’t stink… or they think you stink just cuz you don’t wear 50 sprays perfume, a matching body lotion and body wash
Exactly, you don’t need to shower everyday. If you didn’t do much and didn’t sweat all that much there’s no need. It’s just a waste of water. I feel like the reason a lot of people are such sticklers for showering everyday is because they don’t have a bidet. Everyone should have a bidet. They’re so useful! On days where you don’t need a full shower you can just wash your feet, private parts and the like instead of wasting water on a full shower.
Also, people often underestimate how much clothes matter when it comes to BO. A lot of people smell not because they haven’t showered but because they’ve been wearing the same shirt for the past 4 days
I agree. People need a good antiperspirant rather than a body spray on the armpits. Wash and brush your teeth twice a day, showever once a day or every other day and wash you hair when needed.
If you skipped your armpits and down there, you bet you produced the bacteria to stink.
@@Mikinaak2023 yeah but it wont be THAT bad that the smell will migrate everywhere and others can smell you. Sure, you're not CLEAN clean but you're not filthy. It's not the end of the world.
Girl stfu. Being clean is not only something you should do for yourself but for the general public. This is nasty. 🤮
I think the Hygiene Olympics, privilege, classism and our own biases have a huge role in the way we perceive smell within our culture and others'.
Interlexual Media has a great video essay on this topic, I highly recommend watching it!
As a brazilian I can say we have the culture of taking many many baths because of the heat and when I went to europe there were many times where I felt like there was a smell I had never smelled before. omg so difficult to phrase it
but I feel like it was not only that people didnt shower as often as us brazilians do, and also that theirs coats were smelling. Maybe because the temperature out is cold and inside places there's air heat or because of how some seasons work like I went on spring so in the morning it would be SO COLD and around noon it would be SO HOT out. so you walk out wearing this super warm coat and then you sweat inside it a lot and it's not an easy piece of clothing to wash so often and it keeps smelling. and then sometimes the perfume scent all over it worsen it....
And here in brazil if you take the public transportation people also do smell. again sometimes you worked the whole day on a 37c heat and didnt have a chance to reapply your deodorant or take a shower, you definetely will start smelling.
also there may be some cultural background on how used we are to our natural body smell and I dont think we are that used to it here.
I am from El Salvador and I love to take showers. At least two times a day.
As a Malay Singaporean, i concur! Interestingly enough, it’s not only a climate thing, it’s also a cultural/racial thing. Where i live, it can get as hot as 37c (like in Brazil), but for some reason, most Chinese people here only stick to one shower a day, and it’s not a morning shower, while the rest of us Malays and Indians usually take 2 showers a day.
The word cheroisa.
When I Google the meaning I receive the word fragrance.
There is the company Sol de Janerio, who makes some of my favorite scents. If you are unfamiliar they are all given the name Cheroisa and then a number .
According to their site, they say that the word " is so Brazilian, there is no one word to describe it..." and that as many of us know it means " to smell incredibly delicious ".
I love Robert's content. I figured asking you if this is indeed accurate or just marketing would be a good way to leave him some engagement!
@@annacolombo3025 OMG I LOVED THIS INTERACTION!!! I hardly ever get a question about Brazilian portuguese. Here, the neutral words for smell are "odor", like in English, or "cheiro", so if you smell good you would be a "cheirosa" woman. Or "cheiroso" for man. On the other hand, a bad smell is "fedor" so if you smell bad you would "fedida" or "fedido". There's also the word "perfume" for a smell that is nice, so like if you got your perfume on and smell very good you would be a "perfumada" woman!
Coats get stinky during the winter. They get wet all the time and may not dry the best way once you're indoors.
I shower maybe every 2-3 days, because I am from Finland. It is -30°c, honestly I miss sweating atm 😂 also using deodorant and natural breathable fibers in summer is a MUST. Sweat doesn't always smell, it really depends on the person, hormones, type of sweat, hair, material, diet, etc. Nothing smells worse than protein-only eating men at gym that don't use soap or wash at all 😅
Yeah I think it all depends on the person and the climate you live in. I’m in canada and I shower every 1-3 days and use deodorant and other nice smelling things. If it was the summer I’d shower more, or if I had a busy day I’d shower. You don’t NEED to shower every day. But again its personal preference, and we should be promoting good hygiene but like holy this is a stupid conversation idk lol.
And wear synthetic fabrics that trap smells
Ok if you don’t shower every day, you at least have to wash your armpits with soap and water daily and downstairs areas too.
That smell from carnivores and keto people is from ketones they form. When people do long fasts they get bad breath they can't brush away and that's from the same thing, they're exhaling ketones and burning fat and you exhale 85% of the fat you break down into ketones. (You pee out the rest.)
🤮
Anxiety sweat is the stinkiest, and no deodorant can stand up to it. Maybe you're standing next to someone having a panic attack just trying to keep it together.
Oh yes nervous sweating makes me REEK 😅
waking up in a bed that smells like medication sweats 😔
I've definitely had anxiety sweat during air travel.. Not European, shower every day, use deodorant.. And I still felt (and was) very stinky and uncomfortable because of the stress.
yeeees and anxiety 💩
Yeah people think I dont shower but I just sweat a lot
Everyone smells bad in the subway because the subway smells bad! It's hot, it's crowded, people's cologne, aftershave, perfume, deodorant, sweat, hair products, garlic & onion breath, take-out containers, spices are all mixing together, and seriously, HAVE THE CLOTH SEATS EVER BEEN DEEP-CLEANED?
The answer may not surprise you.
Everyone smells a little bit sometimes. We're made of meat, after all.
Deep-cleaned? I doubt that they have ever been cleaned
No way. In Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines etc. subway/train DOES NOT SMELL.
Just saying this for anyone else who felt a little bad about themselves when hearing that "people should definitely shower everyday":
As someone with severe mental health issues including C-PTSD, anxiety and depression, I struggle with daily self care. It's a good day if I manage to do my skincare before I go to bed. Not to mention doing so when I wake up, doing a full face of makeup (or even lazy makeup), brushing my hair, brushing my teeth, flossing & showering. Some days I can only manage to do the absolute bare minimum. Times where it's been really bad and I was mostly bed bound, I would go up to 3 weeks without a shower.
If you're also struggling with your self care due to mental illness/mental health concerns, please know that I am so proud of you for trying your absolute best and surviving. Sometimes surviving the day is all we can do. You're not "bad" or "gross" etc just because you're struggling with something. Your struggle is valid and I see you.
Thank you. I see you too xx
I see you too
❤❤
I understand. During my worst times my showers were ... basically a quick ass & face wash, stuck in same clothes and bathrobe for a week. Fortunately no-one else was subjected to it - the dogs don't seem to mind.. If I had to leave my cocoon I brute-forced myself, for my own comfort - but mostly not to inconvenience anyone.
There are plenty ways to stay hygienic, daily showers really are only a necessity for very physically active people and even then it's just to avoid developing acne. If you stay in bed all day, you really aren't 'gross' or 'bad'. Moistened wipes, bidets and mouthwash are depressed people's friend.
You don't need to shower everyday
My parents were lucky to live near a candle factory. Every night the entire neighborhood would smell like whatever scent of candles they were making that night. It was disappointing when the factory closed down. 🙁. Contrast that to my friend who lived near a ketchup factory. He could barely stand to sit at a table with someone putting it on fries.
I work in a city that has a dog food factory… it’s so bad
my dad grew up near a neighborhood that had a chocolate factory in the city. Everyone loved the smell and it became this well known thing across the city. though someone did complain about the smell over a decade ago to the EPA. but you can still smell chocolate coming from the factory
My dad and I made candles for years and when he passed away I opened a small business making candles. Candle days are my favorite!! There's perfumes that make me nauseous but I can use those same scents in a candle and they smell amazing!
People will smell different based on the food they eat, the water(quality), humidity and temperature of your environment. If you visit it will smell strange or bad to you, but if you live there you and your clothes will eventually start smelling the same and you will notice it less. As someone who has lived in several different countries on different continents, this has happened to me quite a lot (parents pointing out a different smell to me/ my things when visiting f.ex)
I will now forever worry that I smell bad 😂 Never heard of this before, or that people in Europe don’t wear deodorant... I don't know anybody that doesn't. This seems to be the same thing as when people from Europe call Americans stupid - just a stereotype
As an American everyday I see the stupid stereotype right before my eyes lol
Let’s be real… Americans know other Americans (some not all) are the definition of stupid 😂
Y'all weren't living in constant fear of being stinky before? That's like my biggest fear lmao
Same. I learned about this a few years ago and it made me so paranoid. Even though I don't smell. I barely sweat. But it made avoid consuming garlic, onions or asparagus just to be sure 🤦♀️
A very strange stereotyp tho. I don’t know anyone who have body odor issues or don’t wear deodorant either
I think it's just a cultural shock. I'm french and someone wearing a pungeant deodorant is considered awful, I recently read about a school banning teens from using lynx/ax deodorant because it gives people headaches. I guess to us a bit of natural body odor is considered more bearable than a strong chemical smell. (and if you gather people at the end of their shift who smell a little, well... Our subways are also notorious for being poorly ventilated) And people who do wear some go for neutral sents, I use deodorant everyday, but you'd need to have your nose on my armpits to tell, it just neutralise the sweat. Same for showering, we even have a common expression "to have a cat toillette" meaning having a quick wet glove wash. Not showering everyday doesn't mean people don't clean themselves at all.
So true, even you do not smell like soaked in perfume, you do not stink. I use a neutral deodorant too and feel good with it.
I'm all for criticizing colonialism, neo-colonialism, politics... But this just seems like the newest trend to stigmatize a group of people, mostly white people. I'm not convinced that Europeans smell any more than asians, latin americans, africans... do. Maybe different places have different food regimens, which might infuence body odor? and being exposed to a different smell, you think it's *the other person* who's the weird one... You know the same way you go to other people's houses and they always have a distinct smell, but only to you, not the people who live there and are used to that smell.
I'm from Sweden and I'd heard this stereotype before, it's ridiculous. Obviously public transport anywhere is going to smell first of all. And people are going to smell anywhere (trust me I'm aware as somone with autism I'm very sensitive to those things). But what
I don't understand is this obsession with showering every day is the only way you are "clean". People are too scared of their own bodies and obsessively clean themselves. Any bit of sebum/oil in your hair has to be removed, everything has to be perfumed etc. Obviously I don't mean don't be hygienic, it just feels a bit excessive sometimes. We're all human and humans have natural smells. And there's a difference between smell and stink. Ofcourse to each their own though. I'm not policing other people just saying my personal opinion. You do whatever feels best for you.
Agreed. I honestly find the scent of strong perfume more pungent and sickening than BO sometimes
I think this showering everyday argument has a point often overlooked: if there are bidets in your country or not. I gotta say, I do use the bidet everyday and for that reason I don't feel like skipping a day of shower is dirty. Your skin is prepared to last 3 days without a shower, and as long as you don't sweat on that day, you're good to go. But the fact that I wouldn't wash my ass everyday makes me disgusted. If he is from the UK, I understand why he thinks that not taking a shower daily is dirty, as they don't have bidets. But if you do, you can still mantain basic hygiene without a shower a day.
It is excessive. Constantly cleaning yourself will make you more sensitive to infection and skin issues
Agreed, any dermatologist will tell you that using soap every day, showering everyday is bad for your skin.
@@olagunzel3672 Literally. I'd rather smell BO than strong perfume, because holy hell it makes me feel like I'm about to pass out.
Robert just gives vibes like he smells great. I have no proof of this but will die on this hill.
I’m a very clean person 😂
I met Robert and James at Space NK in Cardiff and I can confirm this 😂
Yes!
Lmaoooo 😂
Same. I know he smells amazing.
I'm Brazilian. It's funny for me to see these kinds of reactions to "Europeans smell bad" because the discussion went from public transport stations, to showering habits and to so many other places and no conclusion at all. What I can say is: the average Latino/a person will pride themselves in taking showers daily (sometimes more than once per day) and will think that anyone who showers less than then will smell bad. Historically, people in European countries will shower less (because of weather, season, water availability, cultural habits etc.), and - so goes the running joke around here - they'll smell bad. Sometimes this is regarded as a "revenge of the colonized": "you Europeans may be rich, but at least we here in the South smell better than you!"
([edit for clarity] Please have in mind that I'm trying to explain this from a perspective that was not mentioned in the video, since it only addressed Americans' opinions. Not judging individuals' hygiene habits. You do you!)
Right?! I find it funny they found out about our internal joke
As an European I’m taught to shower every day ❤
I'm Latina as well, revenge of the colonized is a great name for this 😂
Water availability?? 😂😂😂 LOL like european countries have no water! ?😂😂😂
@@SwinaraAre you French? If not, where did you learn this?
Smelly people can be found in every country 😂 I once had an ignorant friend of another non-white ethnicity thought he was complimenting me when he said he was shocked that I didn’t ‘smell’. I’m black and African. Diet has an effect on one’s smell, as do genetics. Some people don’t shower as much as they should. Some people don’t wear deodorant when they should. Some diseases cause unpleasant body odors as well. Homeless people in my city get on public transit with strong smells of pee and poo 🤢 It sucks for everyone else but public transit is for the public…
This has been an age old issue. People from different places smell different from each other. I had a cousin who grew up in Manchester, and when he visited here in the Philippines in the '90s he told us that we smell so salty. Being young and immature, I took offense to that a little because Filipinos have been famous for showering at least once every day, so I told him that he actually kind of stinks. To be honest, he didn't smell bad, but he just smells different. So this triggered a whole lot of discussion that actually it's most likely what people eat and not necessarily their hygiene (although some people DO have bad hygiene). Now that I'm much older and met more different nationalities, yeah, people do smell different depending on where they come from. You just don't smell it because you're so used to your scent.
there's also a thing where you can't truly smell yourself!! so unless someone says something, you won't normally smell your own scent as strongly as others do
The only time we can really smell ourselves is after a shower, with clothes from the day before
It helps
As someone who has severe eczema, showering everyday for me is bad for my skin so I do it every other day, but on the days I don't still wash my armpits, feet, etc.
I also have eczema and shower every other day! People are really out here expecting everyone to harm their skin 😂
eczema buddies
Generalizations are never true. I think some people smell and some don't. Some shower frequently, some wear fragrance, some wear clean clothes...and some just don't. And that's everywhere. 😂
I have two theories about this "trend": (1) Europeans use public transport everywhere, plus walking and cycling is massively popular, so they probably do work up more of a sweat during the day, unlike Americans who take cars everywhere and only exercise at gym. (2) OR, it's just a way of bullying Europeans, because they are unpopular all over the world for various reasons (colonialism, wealth/affluence, at times ther own attitude). TikTok is basically a Highschool cafeteria where Becky is jealous of Georgina and starts the rumour that she stinks. Soon, everyone agrees that Gerorgina is smelly and the bullying train is off at full steam.
Or maybe you do ACTUALLY stink!!!😩😩
@@ButterflyG673 or maybe you live in a culture where smelling like a living human is a crime somehow
@@ButterflyG673maybe youre just dense???
Bullying is excessive lol
Great metaphor lmao!
Tbh this is such an odd generalization, but I've heard it before. I'm Mexican European as well and this made me think of something my abuelo always used to tell. How when the Aztecs met the Europeans they would light incense sticks to mask their bad smell. And then he would always end it with how Europeans smell bad, which was a bold statement from a chainsmoker.
Girl...they came on a boat with no water to clean (the water was to drink/to survive). A travel that last prob for MONTHS. Of course they stink, but that doesn't mean the Europeans didn't wash at home. Also, don't showering/bathing doesn't implies don't cleaning at all. Europeans have bidets and wash stands for centuries....they absolutly clean themselves...
Honestly my dad and grandpa are Native American and my husband is of European decent and they eat similar diets and my dad and grandpa rarely smell and my husband sweats out what whatever he eats in a couple of days lol 😂 He’s stinky but I don’t care. I’m mixed mostly white and I stink too. 🤷♀️
@@evalozano2942 well I think there may be a genetic factor to this and supposedly you can see it in your ear wax. Those of European and African descent have wet ear wax and don’t have the gene that keeps them from smelling more. But East Asian populations have a gene that keeps them from smelling as much as the ones who don’t have the gene. Their ear wax is dry and flaky. Indigenous people which are descendants from Asians can also have that trait. So maybe some people smell less musty than others but in the end I think every ethnicity has a specific scent probably because of their food. I can even smell when someone is sick.
Don't even get me started on the Toronto subway or buses. Every country has its stinky people. Every country has its nice pheromone people. These TikToks hurt my brain.
I think people underestimate A) how much just unfamiliarity contributes to stuff like this. Not just with smell but feeling like the local food is less tasty in comparison to back home (not talking about dishes but stuff like the taste of water or milk) B) how much Cuisine has an impact on how people smell
I said this same thing just in a different way.
Regarding B. From what I know, garlic is very prevalent in French cuisine, and garlic can influence a person's scent quite strongly, especially men.
@@elalogar7340Don't americans use garlic?
@@VoidStaresback Do they use it to the same extent as French?
@@elalogar7340 I conclude they do use it by that question.
As someone from London who uses the tube a lot. The people complaining are also they people who BATHE in an entire bottle of perfume and have that horrific smell to them that burns your nose. You get used to the tube having a smell to it sometimes, it's the nature of having millions of people in a single place, there's no way to clean it perfectly all the time.
True. Like believe me I'd rather experience neither, but some people douse themselves in perfume so much that it literally gives me a headache when they enter the room..
@@lorena5mash and it's never a good one lmao
I mean, im also from london and would much rather smell a strong perfume than strong BO any day??? Im very conscious of smelling nice and find myself wondering all the time how people can't smell their own pungent stink... if you have the opportunity to shower and are able to, both physically and mentally but choose not to, thats lowkey disrespectful to everyone who has to be around you.
@@abigailxmary I also prefer people to smell nice, I never said that I want people to smell of BO, more that I also find that people who bathe themselves in perfume to be just as bad. BO smells awful and makes you feel sick, but perfume just causes smell sensitive people (like myself) to have headaches, so it's bad in a different way. It's not hard for people to know they only need a little bit of perfume and not to use tones of it.
I have regular customers that smell terrible. It's 100% because they don't shower or clean their clothes. I always sanitize my hands after I ring them up & spray air freshener after they walk out.
Look, I get sick/anxiety sweat. When it’s happening there is no amount of soap, water, and deodorant that will cover it up or eliminate the smell. I’m not saying I smell 24/7 but it happens, everyone smells sometimes. We don’t have to like it, we don’t have to be an asshole about it either.
Some people smell bad. This is a world-wide phenomena... 😎✌🏼
Exactly that!
I lived in London and did not notice any particularly bad smelling people. I will say Americans tend to shower A LOT I feel for people trapped next to someone who smells… I am so sensitive to bad odors. I agree that most likely there are stinky people everywhere lol
I've never seen not stinky public transportation.
There are definitely smelly train and bus stations in England (looking at you, Peterborough), and the Underground can be very strong smelling in the summer on the Northern line, for example. Not always smelly, but sometimes. Everywhere can be stinky, though, given any number of circumstances. 🤷♀️
@@sleeptodream917 the worst I've ever seen was in Vienna to be honest. And I've seen some.
i’m from the countryside and to me london smells lovely! whenever i’m there i’m in awe of how everyone seems to be wearing perfumes and leaves a trail of beautiful scent behind them. i’ve never noticed it smelling bad, but noticed it smelling good haha
What do you mean when you say they shower "a lot"?
Swede here👋 Been to a few countries in Europe and also USA and in my opinion most of the time people don’t smell bad. People are always going to have a scent (because we are alive after all) and depending on the person that differs but I wouldn’t go so far to generalize and say that so many people smell bad. And I know what bad on people smells like because I work with men who sometimes sweat a lot (the key is to breath through the mouth)😅
Btw, I do not smell bad. I smell fucking amazing.
Peruvian living in the UK here! 🙋♀️ Guys it is the deodorant and anti-transpirant. It took me 3 yeara to find a deodorant in the UK that does not make me smelly. The brands that I used in Peru didn't work when purchased in the UK because they were free of aluminium! As a biologist and future to be ecotoxicologist, I know that aluminium is not bad soooooo please do not take it out of the deodorants, please I beg you! Now the one that works is Mitchum (it does has a form of aluminium salt) I don't smell for the whole day, love it!
Mitchum is the besttttt deodorant, its literally the only deodorant I'll use, the rest just dont do what they claim to do.
Could it be fabric aswell? I've never been outside of Europe and i don't know anyone who doesn't wear deodorant but i have had to throw away some shirts some times because they smell after a couple of hours on... I think the U.K has different ingredients laws than the rest of Europe tho .. i remember when i was living there the brand Lynx which in the rest of Europe is Axe didn't work the same and that was before brexit
I love mitchum. But watch out one time I thought I was buying something with a different scent, the bamboo scented one, and it had no aluminum in it. Didn't realize for a few days and thought something was actually wrong with me. I had to run back to the store and buy the original formulation.
I just discovered Dove
The 1 that is black + white
4 some reason
No other deodorant works 4 me
I start 2 reek after 3-4 hrs
I never did b4
Got so desperate I started
Spraying my Under Arms with a very light perfume
Which
Believe it or not
DOES work
Most deodorants in the UK have anti perspirant aluminium in them? I actively look for ones without and there are only a few available without aluminium. 🤔
The water consumption is just… I hear so many stories of Americans not liking their vegetables and then moving to Europe to find out that the vegetables here taste so much better and more natural and more fragrant than in the US.
Which leads to my point - we eat more fruit and vegetables and that’s also a form of water intake. Especially fruits like oranges, grapes and such. And the climate does also play a role in how much water you actually need in a day.
For northern Germany it’s much less than let’s say southern Spain or Greek.
That’s because we Americans only have access to industrially farmed produce. The produce taste terrible because it’s gmo’ed to death and has no flavor. As someone who grew up on a farm with a endless summer supply of every fruit and veg I can tell you what we have now is God awful.
I feel like the underground subway is a soup full of people in an airtight container that has been locked away from sunlight for so long, that all good and bad smelling people form a chemical reaction that smells like the fumes of hell.
"Let me know if YOU smell down below..." 😳
…. Omg 🤦🏻♂️ omg 😂😂😂 I meant down below in the comments 😭😭😭
I think it's more 'you acclimatise to the normal smells of your home and are hyper aware of differences elsewhere'. Obviously body odour can be very noticeable but even in a place where folks are very attentive to personal hygiene, the normal smells of the place will attach to your clothes and linger in the air. Sydney smells different to Glasgow. Paris definitely smells different to Mexico City. Houston smells different to New York. Rural Wyanad smells different to Bangalore. You're totally correct - the world stinks, that's life!
As for deodorant, I find in humid areas or active occupations it it doesn't work for loads of people. I know plenty folks who shower and apply deodorant/antiperspirant but sweat a lot and start to smell a bit by mid afternoon if they've had to use public transport a lot or have to wear synthetic uniforms all day because those formulas can only do so much! It's happened to me a few times, every time I find something I think works it loses effectiveness eventually and then it's off to hunt for a new one.
I notice that it’s okay for people to make fun of European or Western countries and perpetuate nasty outdated stereotypes (Britain is the biggest victim of this) but god forbid we have any sort of negative opinion about any other part of the world.
Trump literally called non western countries shit hole. And became president of the US . Y’all such losers you can’t handle when you get the same energy you put out. Stop tryna make yourselves victims. You’re not.
This is called racism against europeans
And its on a large scale
I m boycotting any non european person
Lol, all Western people do is hate non-Western people. Getting a taste of your own medicine!
I’m a self proclaimed stinky person ! I sweat so much but I go out my way to use wet wipes every couple hours and refresh my deodorant to not subject others to it! Not hard to be self aware and be clean 😌
Im exactly the same. If i cant bath i hoe wash or carry wet wipes and fresh antiperspirant. I have a slight smell after a day of sweating however clean i started it out as. Even if in full clean clothes.
Omg,I am happy to hear you're ethnicity,I'm Mexican American (Hispanic).I don't judge people just because they have B.O.We don't know what the situation is.I remember going to school with a Indian young lady,from India.She smelled because of her cultural customs & foods.I would always let her sit with me on the bus,people would be so rude and let her & her brother (who also rode the bus)know that they smelled.It always bothered me.I am know an adult and I just can't believe how mean & rude kids & high school students were.
Yeah, some people will still smell right after a shower and no matter how many times a day they shower. I don't have such a extreme problem, but I do sweat a lot more than the average person no matter how little physical movement I do, and I constantly worry that I'll smell. There's things one can do to help, but a lot of times it's not enough.
Some people just smell. My poor nephew has a strong odor even after getting out of the shower. It’s probably his diet. Also people use different types of deodorant. I’m sorry but those natural deodorants do not work for me. Anyone who has been to Bourbon Street can tell you that the whole area smells.
Omg I went to bourbon street and the smell was exactly like some parts of London on a night out like beer and wee 😂 also for the nephew, there’s a soap by a brand called Megababe and they make a neutralising soap that amazing for underarms !
@@Robert_Reacts thank you for the recommendation. We will definitely try it.
I have been around Europe, and been in a few places in north and central America, and I can honestly say the worst place I’ve been to for smells is the New York subway. Do I judge all Americans by the smell of the subway? I’m not that stupid. For comparison, I lived in London for 4 years and still found the ny subway worse. European cities are just cities and people bathe a normal amount to not stink in my experience. I’m quite sensitive to smell so I think I’d notice.
This intro got me 😂 “and I don’t eat beans” lol then you having to pause and think if you’ve peed on a train before 😂
I’ve met some real stanky Americans, my high school friend had BO so bad that the shirts she handed down to me STILL smell of her armpits over 10 years later 😬
Also from my experience working with Hispanics (a lot of Mexicans in particular) the men tended to wear A LOT of cologne. We always knew where the maintenance guy had just been because we could smell his cologne for the next 5 minutes 😂
We had a kid in class whose BO is so bad- and I dont think from his armpits (I think he did it on purpose because he would find it funny snd deny help from students/teachers/etc. he wss very much an incel) and eventually it was so bad the class was getting nauseous being in the same room, the professor was great lol, he brought in a can of febreeze and lysol and told us to use it for the obvious reason
As someone who has lived in both the us and Europe I too have done that hand sanitizer trick 😂 I think *generally* Europeans don’t seem to have the same obsession with strong deodorant as Americans. But at the same time in all large cities public transport doesn’t smell like roses.
I can not believe how absolutely petty people can be
Ever heard the phrase "cleanliness is next to godliness"? Americans, whether consciously or subconsciously, use this to "other" people. Its why you might hear a racist call a certain groups/races/ethnicities "filthy".
Is there any culture that doesn’t conflate immorality with being physically “dirty”? By using the same words to refer to both moral and physical “filthiness” for example. I’m not saying there isn’t. I just wonder. I’m no linguist, so I have no idea. Would be a little interesting to know what percentage of languages do this.
Every culture is like that
@@StephanieLeighG I'm sure there are. Would be an interesting topic to research.
@@alanna620 I am doing my Masters Degree in Global History and for my thesis I came across a thing that is called American Exceptionalism. In a nutshell, it's the historical term for the holier-than-thou attitude some Americans have and how this is rooted in its "American Dream" history. And this whole debate kinda reminds me of that.
4:25 My mom, who is from Mississippi, calls that a “spit bath”. I have heard people call it a “hobo bath” or refer to it as the type of bath a sex worker would take. Whatever you call it, it’s clean. 🤷🏻♀️
When I was a kid, I have a distinct recurring memory that every time I visited a friend’s house for the first time, the way the house smelled was different to me. It was never bad-just different, and I never commented on it. Why? Because I was a visitor, graciously welcomed into this new home, and that would’ve been rude.
Here where I live in Brazil we call it a "banho de gato" (cat bath) lol
I love that!
I'm from south america and I've lived in England and France. I have to say we do shower a lot down here, specially during summer, that's just the way it is. Now, a lot of people have turned the conversation to public transport and, sure, it is not the best smelling place but for the most part it's not unvearable. You have to understand that if someones BO is too strong it will most likely be addressed in school or at work. I remember having one particular clasmatewhen I was in Highschool and we asked out teacher to talk to him because he would stink up the classroom. During my time in England, I didn't have any particular experiences; France on the other hand.... I have literal horror stories. I wish there was a nicer way to say it but the body odor in France was insane. It may come down to diet, higene or just simply geneticts but is not a smell I could ever get used to. That being said, I'm pretty sure if you ask people from other countries they will find that we smell different too so let us try and be kind about it because we are not all the same.
Hello. I've read multiple times that the French are supposedly the most "fragrant" of all nations. I have frequented France but only during the colder months so I've no horror stories. I have encountered horrendous BO whilst queueing in London (having lived there for over 35 years, though no longer) however, the offending odour was never being emitted from a European Caucasian🤢
Robert describing a “ho bath” lmao 😂 I’ll tell ya, as stinky as the subway, or tube, and public transportation can be, it doesn’t hold a candle to liquid manure 🤮 yup, I live in a very rural town in northern NY. Lots of farms (God bless our farmers!) But when they spread that liquid manure it literally gags you when you drive by it. As for B.O. a lot of Amish around here and they are some of the foulest smelling people I’ve ever come across. And they MAKE their own soap for crying out loud! Use it more than once a month! I think the Europeans are fine and don’t have anything to worry about. I’m sure you smell lovely Robert 🖤
Yes lol! My grandma used to say “whore bath” 😂
I’m from New Zealand and the bigger cities definitely have some “waste” smells from people (generally drunk or so) in the main city area pubs/public bathrooms and side streets at nights during the weekend especially. People aren’t afraid to drunkenly pee outside a pub or something. But our public transport is usually pretty good with hygiene in general. When I went to France, the underground metros definitely stunk. I think it’s a combination of population density, homelessness, drinking & drug culture, as well as actually being underground whereas NZ transport is mainly above ground. I thought it was obvious that smells underground are going to stick around more than they would overground 🤷🏻♀️
I'm from England and heading for 60yrs old. The washcloth method was known as "a strip wash" when I was growing up. As a child it was normal to wash everyday but it was "bath-night & hair wash" on a Sunday to be nice and clean for a new week back at school.
My parents had grown up without indoor plumbing. They had to heat water on a stove or fire and use a tin bath in front of the fire to have a proper bath. There is no wonder they were used to doing it once a week.
i hope that the guy that said he’s travelled to most European countries never comes back. he was so rude for no reason and came off completely prejudiced
This reminds me of a video discussion about how Americans smell to the Japanese. There were several interviewed. Some said we over did it with the perfume and cologne. Others said they contributed our stink to meat sweats because we eat too much meat, and well in general we do.
I live in Canada and was so shocked in Stockholm, Sweden with how clean and fresh the city was! Like no garbage, no smell. It was wild
I think the biggest problem with public transportation is that alot of people don't wash their coats and scarves regularly. ( talking about colder months) people don't realize how many odors a coat picks up and lingers. They get nose blind to their own outer garments. Alot of people on public transport are going to and from work, so, you get the smell of everything that person has been doing for weeks..I work in a kitchen, I'm guessing that people can smell what I made that day..unfortunately. Even tho my coat is in a separate room there is no way to avoid it. I live in the midwest, United States. We do have homeless people that also use public transportation, they usually smell like the outside..like deeply of being mostly outside. I've also lived in Europe. Germany to be specific, and never noticed anything that was any different than what I'm describing here. If your in " the public" your gonna get " the public " so pretty much deal with it, or stay home. People are ridiculous. 😂
I’m German living in Spain for 18 years now and I have to admit, that every country has its typical smell. It doesn’t necessarily mean that people don’t shower on a daily basis. It depends partially on the specific diet people follow in a country. And on public transportation there are always lots of smells. It’s hot, crowded and people mix. Some come back from their jobs and don’t have a possibility to shower there, others use too much perfume and others just had some smelly food before catching the subway because they were hungry.
I don't understand some people's unwavering belief in the power of a deodorant. It covers smell but doesn't help with sweating and when someone's body odour is very strong it creates this smelly combo (we can also include fragrance from fabric softeners and cosmetics). But I don't like scented things like perfume in general.
ROBERT THIS IS MY NEW FAVOURITE CHANNEL ❤ I love hearing you just chat about random stuff 🎉
Thank you! 😂🖤
Lol i'm from Europe, i smell amazing😂 everyday.
I love this channel.
Me too! 😂
You think you do, but u smell 💀
@@timmysleftnutsack5075 no, you are wrong. I smell very well, i like to take my shower everyday, i do my skin and body care, my clothes are always clean, actually i'm always so clean, i'm even a little bit obsessed with being clean lol.
If you go to the Mediterranean you may notice a lot smell very good, because they are drenched in lemony or herbaceous cologne, especially the babies, and know the frequency one must shower to stay fresh in their climate. I hear that people in Thailand and Philippines sometimes shower more than 2 times a day due to the humidity. In London, I don't think people smell bad, but the underground stations and buses aren't cleaned very well, I feel like overground smells fine on weekends however.
Australians shower at least once a day, most twice. Their public transport never smelled. Now with the amount of Indians here, the smell is beyond unbearable.
I am from the Philippines and yes we do shower everyday. We also wash our hair everyday. The concept of having a hairwash day was foreign to me.
I'm from Barcelona (so very Mediterranean) and I work in a public/touristy place and while locals sometimes (but not often) might smell bad, usually it's tourists who often stink, specially from northern countries (and France), I think they are just not conscious of the weather or the temperature in here.
Pretty sure genetics are a cause. I've read that especially east Asiens and almost all Koreans lack a gene (ABCC11) that produces BO.
I don't think ppl showering on a regular basis (3-4 times a week, so not everyday) are the problem. Not only the bill but u also use a lot of water showering; were i live we all got a warning not to over use. anyways i saw a comment ab the smell lingering ''if you spray pine air freshener in a smelly toilet, it's just going to smell like poo in the forest.'' and one ab the sheer unfamiliarity of other countries smells, I 100% agree. Things ur unfamiliar to are always more noticeable. anyways i don't think the US should talk 😂
edit: omg yes a filled subway on a nice hot day 🤢
Ah, Europe, my favourite country... I do wish some people would realise that Europe is a continent made up of 45 different countries, and MANY different cultures! There does seem to be a lot of generalisation of 'Europeans' as a homogenous culture, it's quite annoying. I know this was mentioned by one of the videos, but, like he said, it is the metro stations, but is that really just European countries? In the videos used in the video, people are pretty much saying European people smell, the implication being that those from the country the creators are from don't...
I was going to say in Ireland we call that washcloth wash 'a lick and a promise' or 'pits and bits' but I'm actually not sure if that's an Irish thing or just with my family and friends 😅.
😂😂😂!!! I have never heard that before!! A lick and a promise!!?? 😂😂
@@Robert_Reacts I've used it my whole life and I'm only just questioning it now 😂😅.
This expression has definitely migrated to the US South lmfao 😂
It reminds me of when I was growing up in North Wales (not too far from Ireland, when you think about it); if we had very noticeable deodorant on, someone might ask 'are you on a promise?', meaning 'have you tarted yourself up for a night of nookie?' 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@justamakeupdude ahahahahaha yes! Maybe we share some similar approaches 😁. That was the same for us! Hahaha or any effort at all to look presentable, the slagging we'd get 😂.
i was born and raised in nyc and im so sensitive to smells and can confirm 76% of the city smells like used diaper
Ahahah, seriously, people don't know what to say anymore in this silly contest of "my country is better than yours"😂😅. Never heard of any part of EU not using deodorants, probably it is just a perception tourists have while visiting Europe (especially if they do it in the scorching hot summer🥵♨️).
I have spoken to many Europeans and they don’t shower daily. Are they not breaking a sweat each day to warrant a shower? It is such a quick and easy think to do, showering. It is beyond lazy not to
@@soullessnight6539 why would you shower if it's not needed? Why not wash instead?
@soullessnight6539 as a European myself I can assure you we wash😂 we just don't take a full shower every day if there is no reason to: it is beyond wasteful! We are more mindfull of water consumpion here. It is a US belief that showers once or multiple times a day is the only way to get clean. And obviously if you sweat or do sports, if it is hot and you are sweaty, you wash completely. So, really, it is just a cultural difference: the same results "get clean and don't stink" different methods.
@@soullessnight6539 you're may be surprised but when half of the year temperatures outside stay below 0°C people don't tend to sweat every 5 minutes like it's tropical summer, especially if they don't have physically demanding job/do sports every day.
That being said I don't believe every single person on earth smells bad enough that 1 day of not showering will make them straight up STINK. For those less fortunate antiperspirants exist - they pevent sweating in the first place instead of masking the smell. For some showering daily is not only wasteful but also harmful to their skin and hair
@@soullessnight6539 I'm 'European', or, as I call myself, English, and I shower daily, as do the overwhelming majority of the people I know... The climate in the UK isn't the warmest but I tend to sweat at night, so I do need to shower daily, but there are a lot of countries in Europe that have regular temperatures of -0, so, if the inhabitants are not sweating, why would they need to shower every day? They won't smell bad...
I’m assuming most of these people complaining about Europe being smelly have never been to NYC. The subways all over NYC smell like piss and poo. Times Square, a very popular tourist attraction, smells like piss and poo. Also, lots of middle eastern people do not wear deodorant. I have no idea why, but it’s something to do with their culture. America doesn’t smell like roses 🌹
Something else we need to consider, especially with public transport or flights, is that people are running to catch transport, sometimes people work long shifts, and sometimes people get very stressed and these can cause people to smell or smell stronger. It doesn’t always have to do with wearing deodorant or washing everyday. It’s real life circumstances that can affect us physiologically.
i think this mainly comes out of just people and places smelling DIFFERENTLY, which when you're not used to you can interpret as smelling "bad". that and the fact that big cities anywhere tend to stink. my city stinks so bad it has a nickname about it 😅
imo something else that could be playing into this is that a lot of these are touristy places. when travelling, people are often in a different climate or environment than they’re used to and don’t adjust their normal hygiene routine, or are doing a lot more physical activity than they usually do and therefore are sweating more, or, in warmer climates, are often wearing sandals or flip flops which means you’d be able to smell sweaty feet more than you would in normal shoes. that and the other things people have mentioned, like different diets, different standards of hygiene for different places, cities and public transportation just being generally gross in a lot of places, more people in cities meaning there’s likely more people who don’t have a great standard for hygiene, pollution, all just kind of adds up on top of each other, and even if not every one of these applies, i think enough of them probably do or are different enough from where you live that it’s noticeably bad to you in comparison
Quite honestly, I agree with you on taking on a wash cloth and wiping down if you’re not able to enjoy a bit of a long shower or if you’re feeling kinda lazy. People should want the best for themselves in regards to showering or trying to smell decent.
Sorry I replied to your comment in response to someone else’s a second ago! Yes absolutely! There’s always time and a way to do it !
It’s totally okay. I don’t mind. I followed you a long time ago. I love your content on here and there. 💖
As an Eastern European (Belarus and Poland) I've had hyperhidrosis since puberty fist hit. I literally suffered for 10 years until I discovered Perspirex stuff. And now I have BURNT fucking armpits for like a year straight because nothing else helps with overproduction of damn sweat.
I have to take shower often twice a day, use the most intense antiperspirant on the market, change shirts, but as soon as summer hits - I FUCKING SMELL no matter what I do. It's a nightmare and noone really is safe from some genetic misfortune like that.
I’m Irish, growing up my mam called washing at the sink with a facecloth “having a lick and a promise “.
You’re the second Irish person to say this and I’ve never heard this before! 😂😂😂
I love some of the Irish words and phrases I've heard! My favourites are 'your man' for 'whatsizname' and 'the yoke' for 'thingamyjig'. Go and give the yoke to your man!
In Norway we call it a kattevask (cat-wash)
In Norway we call it a kattevask (cat-wash)
My nan used to call it a ‘a cats lick’ (from England). I always laughed because I have a warped sense of humour and thought it sounded a bit rude 😂
I believe that the Vietnamese claimed they could sniff out the US soldiers from their stink ( in the Vietnam War…because of US meat consumption).
I think its an antiperspirant thing. And probably somewhat a food(s) consumption thing.
Ps- Im American and yes our public transportation system hubs can really stink from urine etc.
That's funny, I'm Asian American and I can actually smell a distinct difference in body odor with my Vietnamese friends. I think it's the type of foods they're eating, not due to hygiene. And I feel like a lot of countries have distinct smells depending on the climate and local foods
Yes, I know some Thai people who say they can smell if you’ve eaten dairy. It really is true that you are what you eat
I remember someone once saying that to Japanese people, the rest of the west give off a “dairy” smell. They said it’s because dairy isn’t such a big part of their diet it’s a noticeable smell on those who do eat it. I don’t know if that’s a myth though 🤷♀️
I heard something similar, that Americans smell like butter to Asians
I grew up in Jamaica and I used to think this 😂
On a side note, I absolutely love the reference to the refillable water bottles carried around, because it's something I (from Poland) fell in love with when I went to Italy! So it's not just the United States, even within Europe there are differences in small things like this.