Why there is always around a horrible smell of sweat in Poland

I have noticed this too when using trams and buses, My Polish flatmate however showers or baths at least twice sometimes 3 times a day, I've asked him why people seem to smell and he has no idea.

Polish deoderants can't be that bad, I've been using one that I bought in Piotr i Pawel and its the same brand as any I would get in the UK,

Could be down to the massive heat flutuations between summer and winter and people only using a "winter amount" of deoderizing products in the summer?

What gets me are the people who are blissfully unware that they stink. They MUST be able to tell! I know when I'm gettin' a sweat on and I get very self conscious at the end of a long day!

I think it's down to how much you wash and change your clothes.

People spraying on deoderant over stale sweat and dirty clothes is just going to make matters worse....


Lucky them!

Sorry made you cry dude. ;)
In the US when someone smells they will either tell them or someone else, move away, make a disgusting face, give them a bar of soap, etc.

In Poland it's more acceptable, just like pissing in the bushes.

Just like one of our road trips in PL. The kiddies puked in the car, and it was BAD. The better half bought some Pine Scented Air Freshener, and it smelled like someone puked in the Bavarian Forest.

Thank you, I just pissed myself!!

LOL...sorry but as much as it must have been disgusting for you, that did make me larf :)

And the sudden realisation that possibly only you know what "pissed myself" means. Everyone probably thinks I'm disgusting now :D

actually that's highly acceptable here.. alleys seem to be favourite in chicago too. ;)


you better take a shower quick. :D

Yeah, you urinated all over yourself.

you should try to read this thread while having a lunch or dinner....delightful experience....hehehe

See!!! Nah, it means to laugh heartily! I think it's a regional expression? I haven't urinated all over myself in days.

I think jo capexa is trying to disrespect the polish men by saying some pretty
mean things... I find people who act like they are better the others need a
good kick in the fanny everying now and then because it really makes them
look like snobbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbssssssss when they act so uppity and their
true colors come out later on.. its much nicer to just be human towards others
and FYI some of the older people you shouldnt be even talking about because
I bet where you come from it isnt any better...

why dont you show us a pic of yourself and your old neighborhood jo so we
can see what life you lived before you got this I am better then you attitude!!

I for one like REAL people who are down to earth and dont find fun in making
fun of others.. its sad to see this behavior.. that could be you in a few
FEKIN YEARS!

dont count your eggs just yet cause you never know with lifes economys
changin so frequently how your life can be hunky dory one min and then
its all Feked up the next..

I am so glad I dont act like this or even question it.. the smell of sweat
is prob alot of hard working people who do more then you will in a lifetime
and its pretty boys who dont like to get their nails dirty who act like women
and wrinkle their nose..

I prefer a man who works and sweats vs a man who sits in the office
that the hard working man built and eats bon bons.. what a sissy!!!

Good statement.
Some people work hard all day, cook, clean, feed the family and don't take time for themselves.

Incidentally, I find the folk on the public transports that tend to stink the most are suit wearing, brief-case carrying office types! Definitely no excuse!!

well, since you are expert.. why dont you kindly tell them. or would you rather
keep on smelling it and making fun...

Really? You should try visiting Bangkok during the hot season, and share a ride with one of the white, fat, beer-guzzling expat men who are all there to shag Thai women. You will soon understand why Asians often think it is the other way around.

Bottome line: body odor is body odor, and it is affected by bathing habits, weather, diet, and laundry habits. It could be that the older Poles live in older flats and have less money, hence cut corners on bathing water and laundry, I don't know. Surely, they are not the only people in Europe with this condition.

I'm not making fun, I'm voicing my opinion and I'm not offending anybody. Why so defensive? Or do you agree with poor hygiene?

no I dont, but I did tell a few people ( took them aside privately)
and told them.


why so defensive? because I find it sad, stupid.

I remember as a little girl, we took guests from England in for a convention in New York. My Mom was a clean nut, and they had only few shirts with them and it was summer. They did develop body odor. She went into their closets and washed all their things. They were grateful. But I doubt they knew that we felt they smelled badly.

And I have also had a Polish friend living here for many years, be asked to tell a newly arrived Polish lady that she might want to use some of this (deodorant)when they went shopping together. And she was fine after and nothing more was ever said.

My guess is that until recently, many Europeans were not brainwashed to believe that human beings smell bad. Americans grew up thinking if anything about us smelled, it had to be perfumed away. That's what all the commercials said. We equate clean with chemical fresh.

Fresh, sweat has pheromones in it, but more than a day, bateria get involved and then you have odor. I believe that it can be hotter in places that some settle than where they were from, too. And not be aware.

Just a few thoughts...

Yes, such an excellent post, Softsong. You are exactly right. I am from New York, and the summers there are absolutely humid and unbearable.

That being said, I also had to learn how to adapt in a tropical region like Thailand, and in a dirty city like Bangkok. I bathed at minimum, twice-a-day, and during the humid season, 3-to-4-times a day. That is what the locals do to stay free of body odor.

I think people who come from cooler climates are not as savvy about staying fresh in very humid climates, and don't understand that the one-shower-a-day rule isn't enough in tropical environments. When you combine that with some European habits of less showers per day or even weeks, well, you have body odor, regardless of whether you use deodorants. I think dietary factors also compound the issue.

Have you seen the price of deodrant in Poland? For most relatively ok brands it costs the equivalent of three hours pay. I think most people would rather spend their hard earned cash on food and paying the bills. Added to that, Polish deodrant is by and large rubbish, it actually gave me B.O. when I never experienced it before. Everytime I go back to Britain I stock up on a load for half the price that it costs in Poland.

Yep, that completely explains it then. It is a case of economics and inferior products. I know from Asia that cheap deodorants can make body odor worse. I started to use the crystal, which was much better.

You find what sad, exactly? That I believe people should wash themselves? I don't understand where you're coming from. You seem to have taken this most personally? I'm a little more diplomatic than to pull a complete stranger to one side and tell them they smell and incase you've never been to Manchester, that's how you get stabbed here!

Sometimes body odour can't be helped, at the end of a long, hard day for instance. But some people just do not make the effort!!

so it's true about all the stabbings in England?

Yeah it stinks doesnt it :D :D ;D

Yep! Unfortunately our youth is comprised of cowards who hunt in packs with knives. A friend of mine was stabbed AND shot on seperate occasions in Little Hulton, the brother of a work colleague was carved up good and proper in Manchester but the worst is the neighbour of one of my friends...

He arranged a night in with his sweetheart. Some local sh*theads were setting off fireworks outside. He made the mistake of going out to comfront them, at which point they stormed into his flat, tried to rape his girlfriend, wherein he went upstairs and got an axe, which they then used to cut most of the way through both his legs, his arms and the top of his head. He's still alive though.

And these ain't stories I read about, man. This ain't newspaper propaganda! This **** happens all the time.

that's a neat trick, do you have a plug/lid to do that?


see the only time i ever felt like that was when i had to sit next to a Turkish guy in a pub...

That would be a neat trick... providing you could control it!!

well i must admit, i found a similar thing when i was in Krakow, surely though the Polish wash as much as any other nation?? don't they??. Surely there isn't a different smell of sweat between English/Polish people?? I mean usually you smell a new smell much more than one you are used to. I'm being serious here, why is that??

I'm not calling the Polish smelly or trying to down their personal hygiene, i just think the poster has a point in a weird sort of way.