File :-(, x, )
Smell, and Humans Anonymous
/an/, soimething has been bothering me. Why is it that an animal can go without even touching water for weeks and not smell, while humans can't go without a bath for a day before smelling like a disease ridden corpse?

Seriously. Anybody knows why humans STINK?
>> Anonymous
Actually, animals do smell. A dog smells like a dog, cows and horses have very distinctive scents. The difference here is that our refined Western noses have been trained since birth to think that all human smells are 'bad'. Your average Westerner who bathes once a day doesn't smell like anything much unless you lean close enough to catch their scent. People are simply unaccustomed to people smelling like people, and with modern standards of hygiene, a person who does have a strong smell is likely to be ill or to have some sort of condition. Take my father for example; he's a cleanly sort of bloke but I know when he's ill even when he doesn't show it because his scent changes and becomes strong.

It's just different standards of cleanliness, that's all. Nobody minds if a horse smells like a horse because that's how horses are supposed to smell. But with today's standards, humans aren't allowed to smell like humans.
>> Anonymous
>>272517
Feet smell very good if you can get over your inhibitions, especially female feet. :)
>> Anonymous
>>272520
OMG, /d/ is leaking.
>> Anonymous
>>272520


You know, even thought these days a foot fetish is considered possitively mundane compared to some of the other things that get around, it's one I've never quite understood. Now, hands, yes, because they're very associated with foreplay, but feet? Don't get that one at all. But still, more power to you, it's not very often that a fetish implying (althought not nesessarily) consenting adults gets aired here.
>> Anonymous
Also, the smell is the strongest during about a week after washing. Meaning that if you dont wash for three day you will reek like shit, if you dont wash for month you will smell somewhat dirty. Our glands work stronger after washing.
>> Anonymous
>>272513
most animals don't have sweat glands. that's why dogs pant when they're hot, for example.
>> Anonymous
>>272522
feet=domination
>> Anonymous
>>272571
Cats and dogs do sweat between their toes.

Smells like cornchips.
>> Anonymous
>>272598
why do you sniff them?
>> Anonymous
>>272599

He wants to get dominated? Sniffing feet is a mild version of eating shit? Yes, I'm just guessing here.
>> Anonymous
my dogs smell like popcorn
>> Anonymous
my cat's breath smells like catfood
>> Anonymous
Pet rats only smell when it's their mating season, and then it's only a musky smell that isn't that offensive unless they have a gland problem.

I wonder if we'd actually notice when humans were horny by smell if we all smelt like humans. If>>272517's father smells different when he's sick then people should smell different when they're trying to attact another human?

A woman's smell should definately change every month because they have a time when their most fertile before their period.
>> Anonymous
>>272609


Yes and no. A woman's fetility cycle is complicated. She walks 'sexy' during her least fertile time, which is initially counter intutitive. And women living in a house will synchronise their fertility and menstrual cycles, but this has more to do with the advantages of social animals having babies all at the time than scaring the crap out of their male flatmates.

Scent does play a huge role in male female attraction; the problem is that humans don't conciously realise it. There was a show on a couple of years back, showing a doctor sniffing nightshirts of women with varying genetic markers. He said, "It's actually much less unpleasant that you'd expect," and proceeded to arrange the shirts in order of least to most preference. And with not a single error, the order co-incided with his genetic match from worst to best.

Whether or not particular scent or pheromones comes into play during times of high fertility I don't know, but scent is definately important all the time, we just don't realise it.

Yes, I can smell my father when he is ill, but my ability to smell sickness is generally limited; it's usually just him, although there have been certain individuals that REEKED, both their breath and their body, while everyone else swore to me that they actually smelled fresh as a daisy. Bad diet seems to have some factor there; those individuals smelt even worse if they'd had too much takeaway during lunch.
>> coolguy
my lovebird smells like cucumbers. he doesn't eat cucumbers, either.
>> Anonymous
ive noticed people have distinctive smells and they aren't 'dirty' people. i know what my dad smells like, my older brother and my roommate has an odd scent.. its not bad, just odd. they're all guys though.
>> Anonymous
Animals don't sweat. We do, we stink.
>> Giegue !!KgpOPtX57BM
Horses sweat, and they stink too.
>> Anonymous
>>272666

Of course, haven't you ever wondered who a shirt belongs to, and when you smell it you can tell right away?

Or smelled your girlfriends shirt and all kinds of memories come back?
>> Anonymous
>>272692
yup. sometimes when people leave their clothes at my house i'll know who's it is by the smell.

not the second one though. i'm not a lesbian.
>> Anonymous
>>272599
My cat likes to touch your face [especially when you're sleeping] and I sleep with dogs [Yes. "That" too].
>> Anonymous
>>272692
Yeah. Sometimes I want to steal my boyfriends shirts to sleep in because his stink is so soothing x)
>> Anonymous
>>272708
I know what you mean, I'll steal some of the shirts my bf has worn and sleep with them if he's away.

My rats wont let me pick them up if I'm angry or just had a fright. I guess I smell of adrenaline.
>> Anonymous
Ditto to the smell of people you know well thing. My grandmother's house had a particular smell, and she mailed us a clean tissue she'd had sitting in the house for a few weeks. When we opened the clip-seal bag, voila! Smelled like her house, very comforting.

My fiance has a particular smell that reminds me of male mice. Our friend/ex-housemate has an unpleasant smell and you can tell what towel he's used just by being near it. My dad has a smell, my brother, my mom... I don't think my sister does though, oddly enough.

I think males smell stronger than females, as far as I can tell. All these smells have nothing to do with body odour though.

Apparently if you don't wash your hair for three weeks, you stop needing to wash it because it takes care of itself like animals' fur with oils

>>272633
I saw that too. I can smell myself on T-shirts I wear to bed. I often steal the shirt my fiance has worn during the day, and the next morning it smells like me AND him. We're probably genetically compatible or something!
>> Anonymous
People say I have a whole mix of scents on all areas of my body. Like, my hands smell different than my arms, my hair smells different from my face, ect...
>> Anonymous
>>272598
i fucking love that smell.

>>272707
wat
>> Anonymous
>>272598
I noticed that smell.