I remember the first time I went to an anime convention, and was SO EXCITED because they were going to host a DDR tournament!
Then I went into the room where the tournament was supposed to be held and almost died. They were routinely shutting down the room just to try to air it out, and were doing routine announcements of "I do not care if you think you do not smell. Everyone needs to go back to their hotel and shower before coming back. We are serious."
I didn't enter the tournament.
I assume the article is going for “we should be okay with body odor” which feels very granola. Not everyone needs deodorant, but many do if they don’t want to smell. Antiperspirant can be bad for your body, but deodorant should do the trick for most, by masking the sweat smell with their preferred scent.
I think body odor has an evolutionary reason to exist, and that reason applies to prehistoric humans living in small gather hunterer societies of <150 people only. Whatever that reason was, is not necessary for our survival in modern society where you meet thousands of people over your lifetime and run into new strangers constantly.
OMG, I read the comments.
I'm a guy who showers daily and tries to make sure I don't smell (breath and body). Today, however, I am off from work and only washed my face. I've had that not so fresh feeling all day.
I'm going to take shower right now.
edit - shower complete. also, i was trying to quote ghostbusters in the beginning but messed up it. it should have been "I looked at the comments, Ray".
I'm reminded of Rieri reminding her fans to take showers just before a concert
I never use deodorant. Also don't ever use shampoo. I shower once every two days. Never get complaints. Working as a nurse, I;m always close to people who would definitely tell me if I smelled bad. Not saying this will work for everyone nor that everyone should do the same. I do however think that the industry has been successful in marketing these products as must-haves for daily use and I know that's a lie. Many people who wash regularly won't have strong odor with or without deodorant or shampoo. I did use them during puberty and I was a bit uncertain when I stopped. They work on your insecurity, and so you're inclined to keep using these products, everyday, all the time, just to be sure. No one wants to smell bad. I volunteer in a sort of day care for the homeless and the shame people feel when they smell bad and others notice is incredibly large so it makes sense people stick to their deodorant just to be sure. There's also really no harm in it, but I feel like our hygiene-cleanliness culture is quite extreme sometimes. Deodorants are a real solution for a real problem obviously, but many people over do it and when overdone people reek of deodorant or perfume. Like old ladies on a bus. Yuck.
It's some gene that is mostly present in asians compared to whites, blacks, etc, my friend group has one individual that said he didn't use it, and he's black, everyone else will smell sour if stopped.
i mean it doesnt have to be anime conventions its usually any kind of gathering where said yopic. of convention has a gathering of introverts, in particular, ones that have 0 sense of self awareness.
in terms of worst to less worse:
Card game tournament(sweaty, generally lack of AC, small venue cause cheap) < Video Game tournament (similar but in a room full of electronics, usually helped out by that their venue is larger) < anime conventions
Enter a random bus in summer
All natural deodorants and antiperspirants ARE scams. Regular deodorants are what pretty much everyone needs, regular antiperspirants don't get rid of odor and stopping your sweat glands is probably fucking terrible for the human body.
The guy craves Stench. Just one door down from the scat room
I’m just going to leave this here.
Non-aluminum. Micro silver. Doesn’t leech into the body. Works for days. Actually works.
The article gets quite a lot right. Both sets of products are solving problems that didn't exist, and create problems that very much do. These range from psycho-social problems to physical environmental problems.
The answer is don't buy either. But that means being ok with being able to smell one another. That would be a return to the default state of probably a million years. But how are we all going to do that at the same time over night?
The first claim is true though. People used to not mind the smell of sweat.
That it's percieved as unpleasant, and that people are worried about others smelling them is a modern trend, which was pushed by advertising.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8zRpRPgJNw
11min Video on the topic by "Future Proof"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1shh4d0mz0
German short documentaryEdit: Wow, lot's of personal attacks, very classy. So many nice people here.
