This time of year, people can get a little smelly. Researchers at the universities of York and Oxford this week identified the structure of the molecule that enables bacteria to act on the odourless compounds secreted in sweat. They hope their work, which is funded by Unilever, will facilitate a deodorant to inhibit the process that causes body odour instead of killing the natural microbes on our skin. It will take years for such a product to come to market, so while you wait, how can you tell if you smell?
Understand the habituation process
We can’t smell our own odour because we are used to it. Just like zoning out a constant hum, we cease to register the smell that is right under our noses. “The olfactory system adapts and habituates,” explains Tim Jacob, professor emeritus at Cardiff university. “The brain ignores what it considers to be irrelevant. ‘Here’s a smell. What do I do? Ah, no hazard. Switch off.’”
Be attuned to changes
If the heat makes your odour more pronounced – and this might be because the “moist, volatile environment” of summer makes smells more detectable rather than a change in the smell itself, says Michelle Rudden of the York research team – take comfort from the fact that your olfactory system should detect the change. “It will deviate from the norm,” says George Dodd, director of science and technology at the Aroma Academy.
Train your nose
To unpick the habituation process, you can reset your nose. Dodd says nothing beats a few deep nasal breaths of fresh air “to clear the register and hunt for new smells”. Chris Kelly, of Smell Training, works with people who have lost their sense of smell. “You have to keep looking for smell,” she says. “Repeated sniffing builds stronger neural pathways and makes smell more present for us.”
Get close to your odours
Stick your nose in your armpit, where the smell is more concentrated, and you are more likely to detect it, Jacob says. “Sniff your clothes,” Dodd advises. Another scientist, who wishes to remain nameless, suggests sniffing your pants.
Try not to worry
For all the reasons above, “if you can smell someone on the tube, it’s probably not you,” says Jacob.
