Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Of odours and other funky smells

“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things”

I too want to share one of my favorite things! My favourite smell in the entire world had got to be this.

IMG_2318 The smell of a baby. Aah, the familiar sweet-fuzzy baby smell!

Which almost makes me want another baby of my own to cuddle. (Almost, I say, eh, but no, two is enough…)

This sweet-smelling stage lasts for maybe about 6 months max. Babies smell good. Up till about 6 months. Then they just start to smell. And I think it kinda all goes downhill from there. I remember taking buses when a bunch of smelly schoolboys board the bus. You know, they have spent the morning in their non-airconditioned classrooms, in the heat of a Singapore afternoon. They just spent their recess period playing ball or catching. After school, they squeeze in some soccer before rushing up the bus to get home. And so they board the bus. And the stink permeates the entire bus. Oh. My. Goodness. And possibly this is something I am so NOT wanting to happen. To MY kids. I mean, it’s bad enough when it is someone else’s kid. I try to breathe as shallowly as possible for the remainder of my bus trip. So I don’t really know if I am close to passing out due to the shallow breathing or that funky smell, But for it to come home? For my two sweet babies to turn into smelly primary schoolgoers (and *gulp* smelly teens?!)? Yikes! I shudder at the thought. 

And possibly the way is to inculcate good habits from young. Like now. It just takes a little while under the sun for Jay’s hair to become like this:

IMG_7748 So it is important to teach kids from young the importance of good hygiene habits – for themselves, and for the benefit of future bus commuters as well! I recently learnt of some facts of body odour – which should help you too!

Facts of Body Odour

  • While the perspiration looks offensive, in actual fact, one of the causes of that funky smell (in other words – BO!) is germs.
  • So good hygiene habits (such as using an antibacterial soap) is the key to rid ourselves of BO.
  • Other causes of BO may be genes or poor health, but by and large, germs is the main cause.
  • So if we don’t bathe as much as we should, bacteria has the chance to accumulate on the surface of our skin. And living in a humid country as we do, where often we find ourselves perspiring the moment we step out of the bath (hands up those of you who’ve experienced this before!), and when we do perspire, the sweat from our pores mixes with the bacteria on our skin and like a chemist gone bad – poof! An unpleasant smell occurs!

The Solution to Body Odour

  • BATHE! As often as required (meaning more baths when the weather turns hot) – and when bathing, use a bath towel or a loofah or a long-handled brush to clean the hard-to-reach areas.
  • Use an antibacterial soap, which will work hard to get rid of the bacteria on the skin surface.
  • Clothes which allow skin to “breathe” is best – so go for fabrics like cotton or other natural fibres.

I was recently given some bottles of Lifebuoy’s newest product range – Lemon Fresh!

Lifebuoy has a patented Active 5 technology that provides fast and effective 99.9% germ kill – including those germs that cause BO! (Oh and as an aside – did you know Lifebuoy was the one who first coined the phrase ‘BO’, meaning ‘bad’ or ‘body odour.’

The Lemon Fresh range is light and smelt pretty good – and after I used it on Jay, it got the thumbs up from me!

My sweet-smelling baby once again! Haha…

17 comments:

Unknown said...

I love baby smell too! So pure and super assam! hahah! But once my boy got into upper primary, his hair smells different. Not nice kind of different. Dunno why despite us taking turns to try and scrub it to rid a certain smell, it just doesn't go away. So I've stopped smelling the head. But I still have my daughter's one to hang on to. :p

Ally said...

My three kids are active. My youngest one is 9mths old and no longer has that baby smell which I misses very much. Now, whenever the weather is hot, full blast aircon but I know it's not going to help
Much as aircon is not friendly to their lungs- dirt. Anyway 2 baths a day is a must for my kids. Right now, the older ones attend childcare which is air conditioned so no issue. But once they go outdoors and they smell and become sweaty, they want me to shower them first.

Dominique@Dominique's Desk said...

I love baby smell too..but same as you have no inclination for another child. #4 is not currently on the cards for us. My kids are very active too and I insist that they get a bath once they return home from school to keep the germs at bay. My #1 loves the smell of the new lemon scented Lifebouy soup. It's his favourite soap at the moment.

Evelyn said...

Ahahah! As I saw the baby pic, I was half expecting that you would next talk about your least fave smell and follow it up with an armpit pic or something!

Speaking of smells, I'm sure I've had bad days too! As you get older it certainly takes more work to smell better. And I'm not sure my baby boy even made it to six months of smelling good; one of his nicknames is "Sweaty Head!"

Gerilen Areum said...

i love the smell of my baby too hehe and im guilty of perpiring the moment i step out of the bathroom!

Adventures on Planet Mom said...

who wouldn't love the smell of babies?

Mylene said...

The smell of a baby is really different. I love it specially the breath :D

Nabubuhay ang lifebouy hihihihi...

Rosemarie-Pinay Singlemom said...

there is no doubt we all love baby smell, but my nephew who is at the hospital for more than a week now smell like the medicine that is being injected to him every 12 hours...gladly he is going out tomorrow so more medicines

Sherry said...

This post was so funny and true, Sandra! My son has been playing sports for two years now, and at 5 years old, he already works up quite a sweat. I love those baby smells too...so much that I still bathe my 5 year old and 16 month old in baby shampoo and body wash. :-) Hey, a mom can try to hold onto that smell for as long as possible. They do still smell good enough to eat when they get out of the bath anyway.

aby ♥ said...

babies are cute! and they don't smell that bad. unless they poop. hihi

rika jane said...

Oh my! Lifebouy! Used that when I was a kid. ;))

Yeah, a baby's natural smell is just heavenly -- especially if he/she is yours! ;)

Unknown said...

Very cool and informative post you have here :) Love all the facts you wrote. I never grew having babies around our home so somehow I can't relate with babies and kids stuff hihi :)

January Zelene said...

babies smell are the most fragrant in the world.. hehe

Ms. Journ said...

yay, yes I agree baby smell is really amazing... So hoping and wishing to have my own also to smell every day.. cute indeed!

Marie said...

Hi, Marie here from Baguio City (http://www.mommyunwired.com/) getting acquainted with the BC Bloggers community. The best scent for me is a baby's scent, too. Everything about them smells sooo good. Even their poop smells sweet hehe (especially if they are breastfed). Looking forward to connecting to you!

Lalah said...

I love baby smells too. When my little girl was still baby I can't stop smelling her as in.

Unknown said...

Smelly school kids on the bus is almost the worst thing! Sometimes want to PENGSAN!!!