alt Hacker News'Old Person Smell'
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I think there's probably more going on than that one chemical. For example, if I don't go jogging for a week and then go for a run my shirt later after it dries smells like urine. I looked up why and it's because urea builds up in your skin and is excreted with sweat. Maybe this fact just made me paranoid but I swear that I can smell a urea smell on my skin when I don't exercise regularly.
I imagine elderly people aren't out sweating regularly.
I guess there's going to be a perfume that breaks down 2-noneal on the market soon.
Tangentially, in my 20s I was in an audience seating and sat next to an old person. And I smelled a new kind of odor. It was displeasing, but not like body odor. I quickly realized it's an old person smell. It really just makes you think "old person". I assume there's some biological wiring in there.
> “It’s just a natural byproduct of skin ageing – not dirt, not poor hygiene,” Javid says.
Did Javid really say this
Over the course of about a month, this went from being vaguely detectable on my mom to very overpowering (to me). I have a particularly sensitive nose, but now I can be across the room and if she comes over to our house I can smell her by the time I enter the room, even if she's just been let in. It's been about 1 year now and it's just getting stronger.
Interesting, I thought it's just individual perception. Never knew there is actually a chemical compound behind it that affects everyone.
any tips on how to get over this. i live with my mom and she has this smell now.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-Nonenal
>2-Nonenal Newly Found in Human Body Odor Tends to Increase with Aging [2001]
From the paper's abstract: "2-Nonenal, an unsaturated aldehyde with an unpleasant greasy and grassy odor, was detected only in older subjects (40 y or older).
https://www.jidonline.org/article/S0022-202X(15)41198-4/full...
The fact that it's been 25 years since the causative chemical with a "unpleasant greasy and grassy odor" was discovered and yet there's still no counteracting substance available is very surprising.