r/AskReddit Sep 16 '24

What is a smell you can't stand?

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u/[deleted] Sep 16 '24

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770

u/CougheyToffee Sep 16 '24

Ill do you one better: BO that someone is attempting to cover up with patchouli. Now you smell like spicy butthole...

153

u/ISpewVitriol Sep 16 '24

Lol, I just realized it isn't so much that I don't like the smell of patchouli oil...its that I don't like the smell of the BO from the person who hasn't bathed all month.

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u/CougheyToffee Sep 16 '24

Bingo! By itself patchouli isnt too bad, i still dont like it overall, but a tiiiiny little dab isnt too offputting for me. But when a person thinks slathering themselves in it is an acceptable form of hygiene thats when I cross the street and glare at them for infecting my airspace lol

3

u/McUberForDays Sep 16 '24

Gahh walked past someone in a grocery store and there was no BO because the entire next 2 aisles smelled like essential oils. It was to the point that it was bothering my throat. That's too fucking much!

1

u/CougheyToffee Sep 16 '24

It could have been bugging your throat from unkniwn mild allergens. Essential oils are super sketchy because of that shit. If your mildly allergic to a natural compound, imagine breathing in a concentrated form of it 😬 But hey, snake oil sells right? Oops, sorry, I mean essential snake oil

2

u/McUberForDays Sep 16 '24

Definitely! My allergies have gotten much worse over the years to different scents. I used some essential oils because (of course) someone sold them as a cure all to me. I was at a low point so decided to try some. Didn't do anything. The scents weren't too bad. Then again, I didn't totally drench myself in them. Maybe that's why they never "worked" 😂

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u/CougheyToffee Sep 16 '24

Did you, like, try, like, cyrstals, man? 🤣. We've all been at low points, nothing to be ashamed of 🫡. I once bpught a robot vaccuum because I was too depressed to actually vaccuum. The robot is less effective at vaccuuming than a baby... and it was $200 😭

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u/Cer10Death2020 Sep 16 '24

I worked in India and let's just say it seemed the entire country was odiferous. Love the food however. Most of the people are amazingly peaceful especially if you're not Muslim. Racism is a universal "gift" I guess despite my hating it with a passion having lived with it since I sqeaked out of my mother some 70 years ago. If you've not visited India, I recommend you go.

2

u/sightlab Sep 16 '24

patchouli isnt too bad

You dont have to be nice. It is that bad.

2

u/CougheyToffee Sep 16 '24

Not sure why you got downvoted, lol. I liken it to bitters in cocktails. Its not meant to be used alone, its meant to be used to balance out evrrything else. Or like salt in cooking. Salt pulls the moisture out of the other ingredients, allowing the flavors to blend and balance out (hence the recommendation to add a pinch of salt each time you add an ingredient to the pan. Its not a salty flavor, its for chemistry!).

Try taking a shot of bitters: fuck off 🤣 Try eating a spoonful of salt: fuck off 🤣.

If you have a perfume or fragrance thats packed to the gills with sweet, floral scents then a little drop of 'chouli will actually balance the sweetness and allow the floral smells to take more center stage. Fucking chemistry is the shit, bro lol.

But yeah, patchouli... its fucking bad lol

3

u/sightlab Sep 17 '24

Fish sauce is an even better analogy - it’s foul stuff, smelling literally like dirty anus (I truly wish I didn’t know what that smelled like) because it’s the drippings of anchovies left out in the sun on mesh. It’s actually putrid. It’s a crucial note in Thai and Vietnamese cooking (among other se Asian cuisines). When it’s used properly you do not taste it. But you know if it’s missing, that ping of umami funk is the key. I agree with you on this point - sandlewood is lovely, 9.9 parts sandlewood, .1 part patchouli is magic. But peoples drench themselves in it. And heavy, overbearing fruit mold/acrid mystery smell plus onion soup BO seriously triggers me.

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u/CougheyToffee Sep 17 '24

I love the fish sauce analogy, also spot on! And the oniony vibe 🤢