Body Odors

Maybe when you are old and going downhill physically, you get a who gives a darn what difference does it make attitude and just let some things go. When you are old and aching, it's pain doing the shower/bath ritual.

My parents were used to taking baths once a week while we were growing up. I had a rude awakening to daily showers when I joined the Navy, but they soon became a habit. When my parents went into assisted living, my dad refused to pay for more than one shower a week for him and Mom. When I was in the nursing home for a month it was easy to tell they only received one shower a week. The best I could do was arrange for every other day.

Everyone has 'body odours'. There's a difference between the odours which are produced by bacteria which live on the sweat and other waste products from the skin and the odours which are produced by the body itself as a normal and natural part of life. Regular bathing will remove the 'stale', bacterial odours but will not (and should not) remove natural, fresh body odour. At every stage of our lives our bodies give out different odours. Nearly everyone is familiar with the smell of a (clean) baby. It is actually that smell which arouses feelings of 'motherhood' in most women (and some men). As we become adults, the changing hormone balance creates different odours which are designed, of course, to help us choose a good partner for reproduction. In old age our natural odours change and we have a particular 'old person' smell. This may sometimes be more noticeable to people because, even if they have good personal hygiene, older people are less likely to use expensive perfumes to disguise or confuse the senses. Some people are more aware of body odour than others and many seem to dislike the 'old person' smell. I know that, as a child, I found it both disturbing and, somehow, comforting, in a way. Disturbing, perhaps, because I knew that old people die, and comforting, maybe, because I associated it with the calm and assurance and 'stasis' that old people have. There are also particular odours associated with specific illnesses and I have heard that dogs can be trained to detect, for example, cancer before it can be diagnosed by conventional means.

I had a sister in-law who only bathed once a week and she was in her 80's she did have a terrible overpowering odor about her but you couldn't tell her anything as she wouldn't listen to that.

I have not noticed any body odors of the residents that I c ome in contact withso I think thi is not normal I shower often and us a deoderant for underarm protection. I have notnoticed anybdy odor on me.nor on my friends here.But why just say seniors younger people can and do have body odors. Why label us seniors with more negative things?

My parents do not smell, but if they do I would let them know.

Don't know any senior that has a smell. When my grandparents lived with us for a short time, I spent a lot of time with them but they didn't smell at all.

When I smell people, I usually tell them only if I know them.

I never noticed this with my parents or elderly relatives. They were very clean.

I am an older person and I don't stink! I have been around a lot of old folks years back when my parents were alive and very active in a senior citizen group...none of the smelled.

I have only noticed the smell of Bengay.

It depends on the level of intimacy you have with this person. I would have told my mother.

I know in the dementia specific wing incontinence had a lot to do with odours - both body and otherwise. I guess as people get older and stiffer and everything becomes harder they may not be so particular in their hygiene habits. I really don't know what I would do about it. It's a hard one. Maybe gifts of deodorant and nice soap, more help with laundry if their clothes are a bit 'off'? It's hard to say anything without upsetting them I think.

If I know I would have told to my mother or father.