Why do a lot of Polish people stare and why is good personal hygeine shunned?

Couple of quick questions and i'm in no way trying to be derogatory

If I drive through poznan people always pull up along side and stare at me and then try to make me race them off the lights? Is this normal?

People also stare in suprermarkets, Usually the skin headed people and i had always put it down to the effects of drug taking. (i'm not paranoid several of my English friends have noticed this before)

Also why is the usage of aftershave, having 2 showers a day and the gelling of hair seen as a homosexual act? One of my friends here laughs at me and tells me that he only showers every 3 days and women love it and that by washing it puts women off. Is this usual behavior as several of my Polish friends have said this?

Just wondering.....

What sort of car do you drive?


I'm not getting this. I have lots of male friends (Polish) and they are showering daily and using hair gel, other products. Where are you living?

I live in Poznan, Several people have mentioned it and i just assumed it was a difference in culture. I drive a fairly uninspiring bmw e38, I don't think its the car as they have always done it and i usually just ignore it but it is starting to really annoy me..

BMW e38 is flashy enough so maybe that's why people try to race you.

You can't escape that some people shower only every few days. That's how they are. If they think it drives the women crazy it has something to do with 'man smell'.

If you realise that originally males and females were attracted by body scent it doesn't seem so strange. Only we assume now that it's the animal kingdom who uses this attraction. Humans disguise their own scent with a perfume/aftershave. However, there are many women who admit that a man smelling of a days work is very attractive! ;)

That might explain it, I never race as one its immature and dangerous and two my car is only a 2.8 so slow as hell.

As for the showering thing you are probably right, I'll get cracking with removing mine tomorrow :)

Real man don't shower at all, when dirt accumulate and dries out it simply crumble away !
And your car man, you cannot drive in that junk around Poznan - other drives are not able to avoid stress being on the same road with your car - they afraid it may explode any second!

Is that the preferred technique :), I did wonder regarding the car as they are prone to exploding especially this one once it has lpg fitted :D

I don't believe the part about taking a shower etc.. I don't know anyone who would not shower daily.. maybe your friends are young, still in their puberty? Some kids are delayed with getting used to some adult hygienic ideas..

Maybe you smell badly and Polish people is staring at you and wonder how can you have such nice care and you really smell.

Do you take bath or use men's cologne? Ask people why are you staring at me?

lol, dump the clutch and act like your going to peel out and hit the brakes..

they will be racing next to no one, then you can continue on your way to
your destination without the idiots next to you ;)


oh yes they do, man funk is not appealing. we dont mind the first couple hours
after a good hard days work, a man being all sweaty and a little dirty, but
after two days honey even your underwear is saying.. get me off this guy!!

lmao.

I think hygeine in poland has greatly improved. Back in the late 90's i recall that the smell of body odour was very common in public, but in the past ten years poles have started to take care of themselves more. I think all young people's hygeine is ok, but the baby boomer generation could still use some improvement.

Gelling IS HOMO.

No. Back, crack and sack is homo - but I still like it.

Nah Poznań... Well drivers from Poanań are the most aggressive ones I ever known. Theit usual style of driving is offensive and dangerous. They are also impolite and usually do not help each other in troublesome traffic situations...

Indeed they treat their cars as externalization of their selfish ego. An every stretch between traffic lights is used as speed contest, a matter of death or live where you're to obliged to prove you have bigger balls than other drivers...

I know something because I used to drive in Poznań (where I studied, and lived for few years) professionally as sale representative. I also had occasion to compare of style of driving in other cities, where most drivers are more relaxed an helpful...

The bad opinion about Poznań drivers is shared in other parts of Poland as well... The good thing is, if you survived in urban traffic in Poznań you'd be able to drive in every Polish city...

Same old, same old, it's like deja bloody vu on this forum

LOL Daisy. It often is :)

??? In the LATE nineties? And we're not talking about farmers coming home from the fields, or suchlike? I must have lived on a different planet then.

BTW, this has really made me wonder for some time now - how come most expats are so hoity-toity about Polish hygiene or alleged filth on Polish streets, but never seem to mind (or realise) that where they come from is not all that great either?

For example, to put things bluntly - London public transport smells horrible. Not all the time, not all places, but I'm thinking the Central Line in rush hour or a typical crowded bus. Sweat, vomit, little old ladies unwashed for months, unkempt hair extensions smelling of old hair oil and God knows what else - why are then some of you so surprised to catch a little whiff of BO on Polish public transport? I haven't been to the US, but I can't imagine the NY underground, for example, smelling of roses and violets in rush hour.

Is it the "foreign factor" of these admittedly rather noxious smells that offends some of you so much?
Also, showering twice a day, unless you do manual labour, is not necessary and actually strips your skin of important stuff like friendly bacteria. ;-p

and oil. no nivea needed

the rest of the stuff is just polish culture. welcome to polska. :D

I tried using public transport in Poland once in the summer and couldn't do it again as the smell was horrific, Probably comparable to any other city anywhere in the world but as I Never use public transport I wouldn't know. I'm talking about when you see people in shops etc smelling potently. Most of my friends in the UK work in heavy manual jobs and they never smell so hard manual labour is no excuse as BO can be prevented with anti perspirant. With regards to showering in my opinion showering twice a day is necessary as you don't wan't to put sweat and a whole days worth of filth in your bed at night, and when you wake up in the morning its only natural to have a shower before you go to work.


I did wonder as I spent yesterday in Warsaw and other drivers actually showed a degree of courtesy which I thought was rather strange.

Or maybe you just made up the whole story to make Polish people look bad? Tell you what, don't be jealous. Polish men are showering daily and smell amazing. <3

edit:
As for using hair gel I think it is a working-class boys thing. It isn't necessary, as long as you have naturally great looking shiny hair. I like it slightly longer and curly so when I touch it it's all soft and nice and not sticky or hard ewwww :-)

He's gorgeous!

On the way to work today I had to get off the tram and catch the next one: because the first one stank far too bad for me to be able to endure it for the two more stops I needed.

I've got to say that the average level of personal hygiene in Poland is noticeably worse than in any of the other four countries I have lived in.

Its not made up at all, Its entirely based on what friends/colleagues have said to me and my experience. Its unfair to say that a whole country full of people smell but there seems to be a lot of people who do. I can't comment about public transport in other countries as I simply don't use it but in supermarkets etc It seems common practice to have to stand behind someone who smells potent whilst waiting to pay for something.

Regarding hair Gel hows it a working class boys thing? Seems to be a typical polish stereotype to me as most of the people I do business with on a daily basis in a professional capacity use hair products of some description and they are certainly not from the working class.

some do, some don't.

On the scale of interesting topics, this falls below average. I mean: petty.

Usually people smell because they don't have enough money.

Straight to the point (however perhaps the wrong one) but I found it funny.

oh. Do you also find funny when people don't have enough money for food?

I was straight to the point because you seem to be looking for an answer.

No I usually buy homeless people a loaf of bread or a sandwich, I refuse to give them money for drugs and drink.

Staring and not washing every day are just wrong. There is nothing homo about gelling your hair either. It has a purpose and has nothing to do with sexual orientation.

In Warsaw that is very simply not true.

Don't have enough money to run God's given water from the taps and squirt on a cheapish deodorant, that's nonsense. It's all about priorities and, more importantly, consideration of other people.

OK, so what do you think the reason is?