Let me preface this by saying that I have absolutely nothing against Indian people. I include as some of my best friends some Indian-Americans, and don't have a problem with Indians in general. but.... I have noticed a distrubing trend of body odor amongst those who recently have come to America. In 2nd generation Indian-Americans and even those who have been in the US for a few years I haven't seen this to be a problem. They smell just like the rest of us here. But for a large % of the newcomers I've come in contact with (which has been a lot), the body odor issue is there. I was at a dinner party this evening and the body odor coming off this one dude was simply unbearable. It filled an entire room with the stench. It was an absolutely vile scent that I would wish on nobody. I had to excuse myself from that room's conversation because I couldn't stand the smell. Where does this smell come from? Lack of deodorant use? Not bathing? The foods they eat? Also, has anybody here had to confront somebody about this before? How did you go about doing it? I'd like to leave a bar of soap and a stick of deodorant on this dude's chair, but I'm not sure how that would be received.
Maybe he is one of those people that are all-natural. There are many people out there that choose not to use any chemicals on their body like deodarant or cologne/perfume, but Im not sure if they bathe "normally".
Deodorant is not really used in India, so many 1st generation folks don't use it here. Until someone tells em to of course. In India, it was considered a luxury (less so now of course), so most people didn't spend money on it.
Well, my 1st gen Indian boss had the same problem. Some days, he was just RANK! Of course to balance things out, his boss (white/geek American) had a serious halitosis problem.
This post is right on. It's also a regional thing too, so depending on what part of India someone is from, your luck may vary. The way an Indian friend described it to me, is that many Indians are very poor, and they see deoderant as frivilous. Apparently, if the head of your household decides they will not spend money on deoderant, then your family doesn't wear it. DIet is also a factor. Like a garlic heavy diet, curry definately has an affect on body odor.
As an Indian, I will provide some clarification. People in India simply don't use deoderant. There is no need for it over there. I can't explain it, but it is true. All of my relatives and their friends in India NEVER use deoderant... but surprisingly, they don't stink. Something about the atomospheric / climate changes between India and the U.S. perhaps? To test this theory, I went 3 days without wearing deoderant the last time I went to India. I expected the worse, but surprisingly, I didn't smell at all!!!! Chalk it up to all our SUVs ****ing up the atmosphere.
My wife spent quite a bit of time in Delhi and Mumbai and points in between recently, and she would staunchly disagree with you. In fact, she said it took all of her willpower not to throw up on the elevators....and she was surrounded by Indian professionals. I imagine it's something similar to people with indoor pets. Eventually, they just can't smell the pet odors.....that certainly doesn't mean they aren't there though. I guess the people in India are just accustomed to it, and they don't smell it at all. But for those who aren't accustomed to it, it can be tear jerking, gut wrenching experience.
I think describes it perfectly. If your around it then you grow accustomed to it, if not then, well, I suggest you get far far away. Pugs
I agree. Some of my boys from the homeland smell like something crawled up their butts and died. I mean just nasty bionic, gargantuan, Roswellian, George Clinton, supernatural funk. It's the whole no-deodorant thing. In all honesty, I went and visited India a few times and didn't notice the funk on people as much as I did in the cities themselves. On the flipside, I know some of the people thought it was disgusting that the Western world wiped their butts instead of washing after doing the deed on the toilet - which I guess makes sense. Another thing they thought was vile was letting dogs into the house. Which I have to agree. I've gone into people's houses that have dogs and my God the funk and hair everywhere was nasty. It's a different world...
We actually had a HR sensitivity class where we had to deal with one staffer who couldn't handle the smell of another. I guess this is more common than I thought.
A professor of mine went overseas for a while to a place where no one used deodorant. He said that it was almost unbearable and that he finally brought it up to one of the people there. The guy said that everyone thinks that he stinks of chemicals, which I can believe. Another interesting thing that the guy said is, "How can you trust someone as a hard worker if you can't smell them" I think that our culture has just removed one of our senses in how we deal with others.
Im in INdia right now, i can probably give you the best answer, its not about ppl not smelling here or anything, its the type of person. If you go ask a large majority of college students if they use deodorant or not, they will say yes, and it will be mostly axe, adidas, and many other top brands. If you ask a typical programmer who has been brought up without deodorant his whole life, hell no he dont use deodorant... the ppl that come over to america are usually IT ppl and i think they are grouped into the 'programmer' group i just described. Most the ppl i know use deodorant in india, and even cologne/purfume, infact i go to a gym here for the past 2 weeks and its not air conditioned and it smells more of ppl putting on too much sprays and scents. so i guess it just goes by each individual.
wow...that's like a lost clip from Office Space! yeaaahhh...we're gonna need you to put on some deodorant, mmmmmkay?
I'm sure you're just desensitized by now. If you go days without deorderant you WILL stink. It happens. There's this old saying "If everyone stinks then no one stinks."
I can't stand the coconut oil. I don't know why, but they put a load of coconut oil on their hair and the smell gets nauseating afetr a while. Aside from that, I remember when I was young, the guy who would clean the elevators would clean it (everything but mirrors) with coconut oil... what's that about?
Maybe you're right. I don't have a very sensitive nose, so maybe it was just me. According to others in this thread, that seems to be likely.
My parents used to do the coconut oil thing to me once a month as a little kid. I hated the greasy feeling. It was nasty.
