My favorite weird smell is machine shop oil. Specifically, Mobil Vactra Oil No 2, ISO 68. My husband of 30 years is
a machinist. Before his retirement, on the days he actually ran machines
instead of programming, he would come home with his clothing and skin smelling
of the oil used in the shop. I loved that smell. He would come home from work
and kiss me before showering. I would inhale his scent. He thought I was acting
silly.
In his retirement, I miss Machine Shop Joe’s scent. Oh, he still smells
great. I am grateful he has not arrived at the stage in his life where he does
not shower. That happens as people age. An advocate for the elderly once
explained to me that older people will stop showering if they are afraid of
falling. Stories of people breaking a hip and then never recovering mobility generate
a fear of lost independence.
That was an aha moment for me. Something I never considered. In my mind,
older people stopped showering because they could not smell how bad their body
odor had become. Because nobody wants to smell bad on purpose, right?
I did smell bad for years though. Even with a shower in the morning and
one at night, the two packs of cigarettes I smoked a day created a body stink I
didn’t notice. Once I quit smoking, I was shocked to learn that most smokers have
an acrid odor wafting from their pores.
Through the years, I have battled other times when body odor was an
issue. Like the “as we age” sneeze or laugh too hard urinary leakage. I think I
have conquered that one.
I no longer wear perfume or colognes as my body chemistry reacts by
turning the most pleasant scent into a toxic odor. I use unscented deodorant, or
I smell worse than wearing none.
Perhaps Joe smells so good because he eats incredibly healthily. The
irony is that he says his own sense of smell has deteriorated over the decades.
Which does not bode well for me, I would hate to have both of us lose our sense
of smell and be the folks on Butternut Lane who smell funny.
I wonder if one can buy a strip that turns colors if their body odor is
bad? Add that to my research list.
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