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

1 I know, I didn't say that

2 Nope, Seanus is like SHAW NUS, a different sound altogether so unlucky matey.

3 Sheep rock. God Bless sheep :)

4 I know what you mean but the only brush for me is for cleaning. Thanks for your concern :)

5 Stop staring at me and go and wash ;)

Don't give people the idea to combine the two :O

I get after my Polish husband all the time about staring.

when I first pointed it out he had no idea that he does it!

Treating chronic profuse sweating with soap and water is like dealing with baldness by wearing a hat. Yes, washing will mitigate the symptoms temporarily, but the root of the problem still remains.

Let's start with just some examples of advice given by dermatologists:

Limit your contact with things that can irritate your skin.
Some things that may irritate your skin include household cleansers, detergents, aftershave lotions, soap, gasoline, turpentine and other solvents. Try to avoid contact with things that make you break out with eczema. Because soaps and wetness can cause skin irritation, wash your hands only when necessary, especially if you have eczema on your hands. Be sure to dry your hands completely after you wash them.

Causes of Skin Irritation and Rashes
One of the primary functions of skin, the body’s largest organ, is to protect us from the sun, pollutants and other potentially harmful substances. Because it is constantly coming into contact with the elements, it is always at risk of encountering substances that will irritate it. Common causes of skin irritation include:

* chemicals
* detergents
* dyes
* extended duration in extremely hot or extremely cold weather
* frequent washing
* frequent contact with water
* perfumes
* pet dander
* plants
* soaps
* synthetic fabrics.

Some people have "thicker skin" than others, and in many cases washing excessively will lead to skin problems. Just ask any nurse wash their hands dozens of times a day. Gloves help some, but gloves cause skin irritation too.

Some people's general hygiene surely could use some improvement, but saying that everybody should bathe/shower the same number of times is just silly. Why do you people think there are all those after bath skin moisturizers? Well, water is hard, has copious amounts of chlorine in it (chlorine is poison and it dries skin) and other chemicals.

I have also noticed that in the US and Canada people who shower once a day tend to do in in the morning. That doesn't seem logical to me at all.

I don't care about the number of times per week that anybody washes: I just care when they stink. And a lot of people on the bus this morning stank.

I forgot to highlight perfumes in one of the lists above :)


was it curry, garlic, vodka or sausage?

I get nasty bed-head in the morning. It makes me uglier than usual. A shower in the morning also tends to wake me up, and I feel fresh. If I get filthy enough during the day, I will have a quickie in the evening, so as not to soil the sheets.

None of those: just unwashed old person, with a hint of cheap cherry wine.

Has anyone also noticed the lack of dental hygiene? ....particularly in rural areas

OK, so it's all about old persons drinking cheap cherry wine.
You don't mind stinking people if they're young, or do young Poles not stink?

Young Poles (at least in Warsaw) are considerably less likely to stink than old people. But old people don't stink of cherry wine (cheap or otherwise): the smell on the bus today was coming from a couple of middle-aged pissheads

Kind like improperly stored food. The older it gets the more it stinks. You'll get there one day :)


You said before it was cherry wine?
So was it somewhat a reverse of a miracle I heard about and wine changed to pis.s?

Washing your hands after going to the toilet and showering are two different things completely. I wash my hands as thoroughly as possible, moreso than anyone I've ever known. This takes no longer than 10-30 seconds. A shower can take anywhere from 10-25 minutes. Going to the toilet around 7 times day would be approximately 2 minutes of washing time for your hands, at the MOST. Couple this with any cooking you do throughout the day, which would be around an extra 3 minutes. That's 5 minutes of soap and water exposure for your hands, approximately. Even just 5 minutes can be quite a lot, as your hands will be noticeably dryer than they were previously. 30-40 minutes of showering at different intervals in the day would not be good for the skin.

Showering twice a day can be good or bad, depending on how you go about it. Using shampoo, shower gel, etc. for both would most certainly lead to dryness of the skin and loss of skin/hair protection.

Here's my 2 cents worth:
Not washing with soap and water frequently enough is not what makes people so offensive to our delicate western noses.

I think the real culprit is wearing the same sweaty clothes, especially shirts, over and over again. Bacteria from our sweat gets into the fabric and grows very rapidly, especially in hot weather. It's the same principal as yeast.

Water, electricity and detergeants are fairly cheap in the US so we do laundry at least once a week. Most Americans put a clean shirt on every day after bathing or showering; we have dryers in every home, or a laundrymat on every block, so throwing a washed shirt into the dryer and having it virtually wrinkle free is handy and westerners tend to change often; if we get sweaty, the shirt goes into the hamper.

If an easterner's shirt gets sweaty, it goes on a hanger or a clothes line to dry because Eastern Europeans don't have electric clothes dryers handy and everything, especially utilities are expensive. So even though they may bathe daily, if they put the same bacteria ridden shirt back on, well, what do you expect? No amount of deodorant will disguise the odor, just make it more offensive.

I'm not suggesting that all easterners do this, but I know for a fact that many do.

this is another silly thread in my opinion, i travel on a lot of public transport and i can tell you the majority of people are not Polish. I live, work and play in England :) There are a lot of smelly people in this country and i can tell you the major majority are not Polish!!!!. It is unfair and unjust to singe out one race, nationality or type of person for having bad personal hygeine. I have come across smelly, Poles, English, Indian, West Indian, Australian, Japanese etc etc.

There is not a particular problem with Polish people and bad hygeine, some people no matter what their nationality, race, religion or background just smell. This could be for a number of reasons, firstly everybody has a different smell and strenght of smell. Some people actually 'sweat' a lot more than others, while other people don't smell or swet much at all. I can promise you that these categories are not based on nationality as seems to be indicated by this thread.

It is total rubbish to say that Poles or any other nationality do not take hygiene seriously or soap dodge!!!!! This is on a level of stupidity with the 'polish girls are the most beautiful in the world' thread!!!!!

cause your underware is over your pants? LOL


The only thing that stinks is this thread.

I've certainly never had to get off a bus and walk the rest of my journey in the UK. In Poland it happens about once a week during the summer.

Did you use public transport as much in the UK as you do in Poland? Think about it.

I for one often wish I could get off my London bus or tube and walk, but the distances involved make it impossible. Also, after a while, the smell kinda drugs you into a helpless stupor ;-)