Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in my late 40s and have menopausal smell. It’s worse than old person smell. I shower frequently but I still don’t smell good.

What’s that? Urine? I’m 48 but still in peri. I haven’t noticed a smell.. yikes!

+1. What is the smell. 52 and in menopause and I notice no smell.

Dcum is always here to make me glad I have what seems to be a pretty dull sense of smell.

I think it’s better to be a stinker than a person who smells everything.

I hate all perfumes and scented things though, so I’m sympathetic. I’m just glad that people smells and clothes that have been outside don’t usually bother me much.

Guys, it’s urine and unwashed clothes. Not all old people smell. This smell is also common among those who struggle with incontinence and independently laundering clothes properly.
It’s not “old people”

It’s definitely there and innate. While poor hygiene contributes, a lot of it is just the body breaking down and literally decaying.

Add to that the breakdown of all the material items they have. Clothes are all older, some decades old. They will retain an odor after yrs and yrs of wear no matter what or how they are laundered. Household items are all older. Have you have shopped in a Goodwill or bought vintage stuff online? It all has a distinct smell.

The best you can do is to shower daily, including washing hair and scalp, air out house regularly, replace clothes regularly, and dust frequently, be on top of oral hygiene too

Anonymous wrote:^ agree, my MIL in her 80s but still very active - no smell at all, is on top of all this (doesn’t shy away from any wash).

my mom on the other hand…I have to get involved or smell gets bad.

+1 My grandmother lived to be 95 and she did not have this smell and was active until nearly the end. The last few months, with continence issues, I could smell the urine. But it was not the classic "old person smell." It was pretty distinctive.

Not sure what causes the "old person smell" - like another poster said, maybe wearing clothes that have been kept with mothballs? Something else?

I spent a lot of time with my grandparents when I was a kid and I always associated “old person smell” with certain perfumes and scented products and moth balls + not showering daily or not washing hair frequently (my one grandma got her hair done at the salon weekly in a complicated perm and didn’t wash it between visits). Also when my great-uncle was in a nursing home there’s also the smell of the cleaning products/the “hospital” type smell and there always seemed to be a vague undertone of urine around.

My IL’s are older, but they shower every day, my MIL has a regular hairstyle that doesn’t need professional upkeep, and she doesn’t wear perfume apart from sometimes a random inexpensive body spray that doesn’t have an “old” smell. So I don’t smell anything on them. I’m not convinced that it’s innate and inevitable to older people I guess. Just a reminder that we still have to be vigilant about hygiene even when we’re older!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Japan has a special soap? For this specifically

Yeah, Mirai.

They sell it now in the USA (you have to get it online).

Anonymous wrote:I’m in my late 40s and have menopausal smell. It’s worse than old person smell. I shower frequently but I still don’t smell good.

What’s that? Urine? I’m 48 but still in peri. I haven’t noticed a smell.. yikes!

Don't visit Europe.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is offensive OP and you know it. I've reported you.

Why is it offensive? I am old, too.

I applaud you for being proactive about this! My DH’s parents have a severe case of this and it permeates everything in their house. We can taste it in the food, most definitely smell it in the food packaging. It started in their 50s.

There are special soaps and lotions to cancel it. I bet there are detergents too.

What is it? I have no clue what OP is talking about? Like the denture smell that's like bleach?

Anonymous wrote:This is offensive OP and you know it. I've reported you.

Clearly you’re the only one offended by this. You’re welcome to leave and shower off that old lady stank.

I’m in my late 40s and have menopausal smell. It’s worse than old person smell. I shower frequently but I still don’t smell good.

What about old people teeth/breath? It smells like death.

I thought it was mostly that they don't wash jackets frequently? Mothballs, maybe? Musty items in a house all contributing? Or, it's urine leakage? I'll read the article. This is a big fear of mine. Worried about changes in my gut or ph levels causing this.

^ agree, my MIL in her 80s but still very active - no smell at all, is on top of all this (doesn’t shy away from any wash).

my mom on the other hand…I have to get involved or smell gets bad.