How do you deal with a friend who has bad odor?

Yes I have one now. Well I have to say bad smell from her mouth. I thought I was the only one who recognized it but then people began stating the same thing. I try to stay away as far as I can so that I do not smell it. I would like to confront her about it but it would be best to learn that from people she is close with so that she would not be offended.

Just ignore it and pretend that you are smelling yourself. Say things like gosh, I forgot my deodorant today, I sure hope I'm not offending anyone? Or ask the friend do you smell something funny? That will get dialog started.

i have been reading some of the responses here and on other discussions of the same subject. with hopes of helping my friend. she is engaged to a man that is perfect except for this one flaw. he showers a lot, uses deoderant, etc. but still smells i told her she really needs to aproach this before its to late but like you, she doesnt know what to say

I have a friend who has halitosis. She is in fact my best friend in highschool and I didn't have the heart to tell her how foul her breath was... That was one of my regrets but she's already married now and thank goodness she found a man who loves her despite of that. It taught me a lesson that if you truly care for a friend you'd tell her about it to avoid further humiliation and pain on her part. There's no easy way but I'll take the risk of telling her and she gets offended in return than being just keep quiet and see how my friend is being humiliated...

No I have never had to deal with this. Actually everyone of my friends takes a lot of baths and just loves to put on perfume because they always love to smell good and me to ofcoarse. If one of my friends had a bad odor I would probably eventually tell her because she might not know because she got used to her smell. I know that if I had a bad odor coming from me all the time I would definately want my friends to tell me. It's always good to be honest sometimes the truth can hurt, but it can also help in many situations.

I would tell her if my close friend had a body odor. She might not know it that her body has been given out a body odor until you tell her. And then she maybe buy some perfume or get every means to reduce or even elimimat it ,which would make her avoid embarrasing in public.

Hi!me too got a friend with a bad odor. She's close to me since I met her. Back in college, I already observe that unpleasant odor but I don't know how to handle it telling her that she has that eooow odor. Sad to say until now, she has it. Every time we are together, I always want to tell her but it is so difficult in my part. Can anyone suggest me what to do? I don't want to hurt her.

wow that is too bad to be true to a friend you should slowly take your serious day and tell that she/he need treatment to her body odor.

If you're truly a friend, then i guess it's your duty to let him or her know about it. most of people with unpleasant odor do not know that they do smell bad. the best thing yo do is to be a friend and let him or her know about it in a nice manner. it would be for his or her good anyway so there shouldn't be any problem with that. i am sure that person would even say thank you to you if you let him or her know those kinds of stuff. those stuff are much better to be learned from people closer to you than let other people whom you do not know tell you about it. it would be more embarrassing from other people than if it comes from someone closer. after discussing about it, then a good laugh about it wouldnt hurt i guess. :D

Situation like this, my reaction would depend on how close we are as friends. If we are very close friend I will tell him/her the truth, that he/she smells bad, and that he/she needs something , to clean him/herself first and put deodorant or tawas powder. If we are not so close, I try not be near to him/her and ignore as if nothing happend.

...i would just kept quite because I am shy to tell the truth or I would just write a letter and give it to the person who has a body oder. I think, that is what I do.

Gift him a Deo. If he still don't understand then spray it on you in front of him, still not happening then force him to take bath.

Yes there was a kid in my grade at school who had a real bad odor. It smelt like urine and no one could stand sitting next to him. I think he must of known because everyone that went near him couldn't stand there for long. It was a shame that no one had the courage to front him about his problem. I think the best way to front someone with bad odor is to talk to him/her about it face to face that way they know and can deal with it how they like, you've done your responsibility as a friend to tell them. I just wish someone would have done that to that guy from school.

I used to have quite a lot of friends who had bad odor frm kindergarden right upto university. The best way to handle such cases is to let them know it on their own , advice is the last thing people take from others especially students.

This is a very difficult situation. If this person is really your friend, you have to tell them. You don't want someone less sympathetic and loving to tell your friend of this problem. It will not be easy to bring the subject up. You should think about how you would feel and talk to your friend as you wish to be spoken to. It will be hurtful to hear, but I would rather hear it from my friends than from someone else. If I heard it from someone else, I would wonder why my friends wouldn't feel comfortable enough to tell me there was a problem. If you just can't bring yourself to confront her there are other ways to handle it. If you can afford to, put together a care package of personal hygene items. If she is into bubble baths and perfumes, include them. If possible, you could send it as a "secret pal" thing. She doesn't have to know where it came from, but she should get the hint that she needs to use the items. Do you know of any reasons why she does not "look after herself properly"? Is there a lack of interest in herself? Could her finances be that poor?

For me no because I'm not close to that kind of person because I'm the one first to die I don't like that bad odor.

I work in a grocery store and some customers smell really bad.Really hate it when they have lots of stuff which means I have to be around them longer... Most of the time I just hold my breath and pretend nothings wrong.Seriously that is kind of hard to do,but luckily my sense of smell isn't that great so I'm fine most of the time.

"If you cant beat him,join in him", this is not applicable in this problem.Say unto him in a joke, that will not make him mad, instead say it in the manner that he will laugh. Say it when are two alone. This is the best thing you can do, you can select many options; avoid him and stay 100 meters away, spend for a gas mask or,be a martyr, for the sake of friendship, and absorbed all the odor so that it will lost.

well it's one tough situation. first is that it's body odor and we don't want it! who does anyway? hahaha! the second is that, it's your friend who has a body odor and most of time you are hanging out with this friend. I remembered my teacher told me that if a friend has a body odor, give him a deodorant. She said that in this way, we can lessen the smell. but the problem is, your friend might be offended if you do this... so i really don't know what to do about this situation. maybe we can just say it nicely to him and he just need to be open-minded. It's for his own good anyway.

I know a guy who owns a house,running water and every thing. Working side-by-side, I believe he showers. Yet, this acrid smell protrudes from his skin it seems. It makes working with him extremely difficult. I would not let anyone jump on him for sure. Am I less of a friend because I don't say you smell?