For years, Indian households relied on fragrant talcum powders such as Ponds and Santoor to stay odourless. But young and aspiring Indians, with more money to spare, have increasingly turned to deodorants, that are seen as a cheaper alternative to pricey perfumes. Even mid-tiered companies have joined the fray. The newbies have some clever marketing and quirky advertising on their side that has helped them become the top-selling deodorant brands in the country.
So they are now going mass-market. Some of them are looking at even sub-Rs bottles to make them more accessible.
By providing your email, you agree to the Quartz Privacy Policy. Skip to navigation Skip to content. Trust me, if they have a healthy hygiene, using deodorants will only do worse for them. Its backed up by science. Inform yourself with facts rather than seeking for approval on online communities. It would be helpful if you included links with the claims. Like many others, I stumbled on this post by looking in Google for answers about Indian people with pungent body odor. I live in The Netherlands and I have a colleague from India.
It used to be just fine, but lately I really find the odor a nuisance. And apparently it is. And they are important for the human immune system to function. However, under certain influences some bacteria will proliferate or die off. Heat, moist, oxygen and surface material are all affecting the livelihood of these bacteria.
Some of these bacteria come directly from the mother at birth. And this is where I think the investigation should start. What type of bacteria is dominant with the mother of babies from Indian origin? It could be that diet influences the atmosphere of the armpits to let certain odor creating bacteria proliferate better than other less smelly bacteria. For example, polyester clothing is very bad. This is why the moment your polyester shirt is on in the gym, it starts to smell really quickly.
The bacteria from the last time are still in your shirt. We wash on 30 to 40 degrees nowadays, temperatures at which bacteria will not die easily. Some of them even like this warmth. Want a basic easy, cheap and natural deodorant? Take baking soda and some essential oil any you prefer. You can premix it, or do it every day in the routine: teaspoon baking soda, 3 drops of essential oils on top of the powder, few drops of water.
Spread on the palm of your hands and rub it on the armpits. Depending on the circumstances, this can even last a few days. Premixing it with coconut oil will even be better in the routine since it will be very easy to apply. Unfortunately many people get defensive or shout racism when I discuss this topic but a great thoughtful writeup like this should hopefully ease the tension.
Thanks kindly. I find the over use of perfumes and scents by some cultures to be personally intolerable. When the cologne sticks to the insides of my nose I get really frustrated. Companies are not required to list ingredients and one common one, used to extend the scent-life if you will of products is, believe it or not, formaldehyde. Body Odor has a bacterial component.
Just take regular baths, and shower after after sweating all day, with germicidal soap. Thanks for the great article. A gas station employees BO was getting trapped inside my mask today. It was awful. I believe the BO ,besides being emitted ,also stays stuck in certain cloths.
Like if there is BO in my husbands shirt, and I wash it not very well, so the smell lingers in the armpits, than heater dry it. Game over for that shirt. The smell has now set and it will be hell to get it out…. I have a hippie friend whose the same. Her cloths are literally baked with BO. Nothing like everybody knowing you entered a room by your smell. While people were not imposed to use BO, please do not suppress us with pungent odour as well. We do not like it. Do not take this personally.
The smell hits hard, like really. I work in an IT company whereas most Indians work. For their first month, they smell horribly bad. But as the environment they have to adapt to, they change their hygiene and eventually smelled better. What you eat comes out through your pores. My sister always complained how we stank after going out to eat Korean food.
In the Middle East, cumin really comes through your pores in addition to the garlic, being on a crowded bus was brutal. But they wore deodorant. How can this be? Antiperspirant is what keeps people from stinking like BO. Now people sensitive to fragrance, you can buy antiperspirant with no deodorant. You put it on after you shower before bed, so it can be obsorbed before you sweat it off by being stationary. And you only need to use it every 3 days.
A good way to drop a hint someone stinks is to get them a gift basket with a variety of soaps and deodorant. Yes one can get bad breath by eating raw garlic and fermented food, spicy food etc. I like to know what you think Chinese smells like? We have several Nepalese staff. Everytime I went there, not only did they smell, the whole house smells like them.
And what would I smell like? And I have a cousin sister who has body odor, but surprisingly none of her siblings or parents has any sort of body odor. They all live together eat and drink the same food living in the same climate environment.
I once had a slight body odor when I was in a hostel during my school life and that happened because one of my friend who has a body odor used my jacket and after that without washing that jacket I used it and from next day even I started having some sort of body odor, I got panic and started doing some research and got to know that applying lime paste and keeping it for sometime removes the body odor and after doing that the body odor is gone and I even stopped using that jacket.
All humans deserve respect and courtesy. The smell is seen way more in South Indians than Punjabis. You can do roadside interviews. Afghans and Pashtuns in Pakistan eat the same food. Indo Aryans are genetically related to Iranic and other central asian races. Are you triggered yet? To be clear, I, Sanjay Manaktala am Indian used to be overweight I still have a gut that will never go worn deodorant since I was 15 years old before Axe thought it was cool.
Especially if I use a new brand for some reason. Why do Indians Smell? On Sale Now. Some more thoughts from the public. Share this: Twitter Facebook. Jyoti August 1, at pm. Kevin August 16, at am. Mark angel September 14, at am.
Anonymous September 18, at pm. Anonymous September 26, at am. Sanjay Manaktala September 26, at pm. And became, in one instant, reduced to a dish. But on one day in April , at my bartending job in Brussels, I was told I smelled like curry. It was after years of envisioning a life abroad that I had finally moved.
Brussels, the capital city of Belgium, the center of Western Europe, was, and is, a complicated city — which is what makes it one of my favorite places in the world. It is at the same time diverse and homogenous, at once cruel and kind, in the same vein replete with colonial bias, and home to some of the largest immigrant communities in Europe.
Brown wood tables, generic menus flowing with all kinds of cheese, though it reeked of mediocrity, the bar brought scores to it everyday. On my last day in it, I had finished up cleaning my tables, and was in a good mood, pleased at myself for working hard. Anne was of Sri Lankan origin, was adopted by French parents and raised in Paris. She had moved to Brussels five years ago as an aspiring pastry chef.
Sometimes people mistook me for her, even though I was a foot taller, fifteen years younger and had different coloured eyes. It smelled sweet, like someone had imagined the smell of flowers, but not like flowers themselves — stark, rousing, like the ones my mother wore in her hair.
I just stood there — deep in thought, wondering, how could someone smell like curry? My thought process switched. What does curry even smell like?
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