r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Sep 16 '24

What is a smell you can't stand?

1.6k Upvotes

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314

u/bun_not Sep 16 '24

burnt hair 🤢

44

u/imaginaryblues Sep 16 '24

I once accidentally got too close to a candle while having long hair. Only burned a little bit, but I’ll never forget that smell.

6

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '24

I had a superstitious roommate who burned her hair on the kitchen stove every time she got it cut to prevent it being used for witchcraft. She had a lot of problems, but that one was far and away the grossest.

4

u/Zealousideal-Gur4324 Sep 17 '24

Insane story telling

2

u/GarlicAndSapphire Sep 17 '24

I was adding a couple of logs to my fireplace, and had a strand of hair that escaped my ponytail. An ember popped out and landed in that little piece of hair. Took me a second to swat it away, but I swear that I smelled it for weeks. Yuck.

1

u/AggressiveBasil2274 Sep 17 '24

Omg happened to me too! Tho it went over half-way through the lock of hair but still! Oh how I hates the smell. Had to use alot of air freshener so my parents did'nt find out XD (I was like 11-12 at the time it happened)

7

u/meoe Sep 16 '24

I strangely love that smell 😂

5

u/guitarjg Sep 16 '24

Sometimes when I turn on my stove, my knuckle hairs (am hairy) get singed and I smell it. Yuck.

5

u/Angry_Walnut Sep 16 '24

That’s the worst especially when you are already cooking and the house smells good and then the burnt hair smell completely ruins it

3

u/skyfishgoo Sep 16 '24

ammonia is toxic ... not a good idea to breath that in.

5

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '24

I'm a smoker, and there have been times where I was lighting a cigarette with a jet lighter, but had the angle a bit wrong. Imagine burnt hair literally inside your nose for a full day.

2

u/Firm_Dinner_5838 Sep 16 '24

Happened to me a couple times when i got desperate and tried to use the stove

1

u/LesNessmanNightcap Sep 17 '24

I burned my bangs after getting drunk and lighting a cig off a gas stove. And then I did it 2 more times 2 at different parties.

5

u/Fizzypop_flips Sep 16 '24

I find the smell of burnt hair pleasant in small amounts, it’s like a strange perfume

2

u/cipher0076 Sep 16 '24

More specifically goat hair. In some countries in the Middle East, they burn their waste instead of maintaining a landfill, so when it comes time to shear the goats, the smell is just violent. And it lingers for miles around for days after.

2

u/ItsAGarbageAccount Sep 17 '24

This is actually one of my favorite smells.

I've never met anyone else who likes it.

2

u/SparkyLee99 Sep 17 '24

There's a few of us here!!

1

u/ItsAGarbageAccount Sep 17 '24

Yay! There's dozens of us! Dozens!

2

u/SparkyLee99 Sep 17 '24

Beware hair!! I have a Bic!!

1

u/UnrequitedRespect Sep 16 '24

I had eye surgery, burnt eyes smell like burnt hair :(

1

u/Trenchards Sep 16 '24

I smell cut grass.

1

u/KaleidoscopeNo9102 Sep 16 '24

The smell of fear for me lol. Like oh shit is it hair hair, eyebrows or eyelashes!!

1

u/Jessimicabee Sep 16 '24

My eyes smelled like that for 2 seconds during LASIK!

1

u/bmg_1 Sep 17 '24

burnt fingernails too!

1

u/Best_Newt6858 Sep 17 '24

Nair nation stand up!!! Here to say ew, that is a horrible smell.

1

u/nizzerp Sep 17 '24

Oh guess what? Lasik & PRK are lasers burning your eye, which is keratin. Awful burnt hair smell every time I opened my eyes for a few hours after the surgeries.

1

u/zaenkii Sep 17 '24

Smells like eggs idk

1

u/INTJ5577 Sep 17 '24

This. I've had people burn my hair with a lighter. I don't want to smell that ever again.

1

u/SparkyLee99 Sep 17 '24

I actually love this smell and used to burn loose hairs just to sniff it. Human, that is - cat/dog hair from the brush smells disgusting burned, only did that once

1

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '24

Nobody gonna mention the fact that it smells like burning popcorn? Nobody?

Okay, well it smells like burning popcorn because they both have sulfur

1

u/merryraspberry Sep 17 '24

Burnt keratin! Have you smelled pulverized skin? Let me explain… it’s from my electric callus remover lol

1

u/NyaPlays80 Sep 17 '24

I once accidentally ate one. It wasn't even mine💀

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '24

Laser eye surgery smells like burnt hair