Why do clothes stop smelling of someone so quickly?

December 16, 2021 8:01 PM

I lost a close family member about a year ago and her jumpers and dressing gown still smelled like her for about a week but not after that. Yet somehow, my unwashed sweaty socks or t-shirts or jumpers or whatever can still kick up a stink for ages (I only need to do laundry less often now) This isn't intended as a glib question. Half-grief and half-science
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue to Science & Nature (5 answers total)

I'm sorry for your loss.

There are a few things that could be going on here.

First is that all our senses are attuned to pick up changes in things. If I smell a jumper, and it doesn't smell like my own jumpers usually smell because it's been worn by somebody else, I'll notice that quite strongly. But if I then go on to smell it repeatedly, then pretty soon all my nose is going to tell me is that yes, that still smells like itself, no novelty to report here.

Second is that the modern world is completely drowning in artificial scents. As a man with a perfume allergy, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to escape these. Most people do not have perfume allergies and will therefore probably be less aware of the extreme readiness of scent chemicals to migrate from item to item. Unless you've been absolutely scrupulous about storing your family member's jumpers and dressing gown completely isolated from your own customary scent environment, it's virtually certain that most of the scent chemicals that now exist on those items have in fact migrated there from yours.

Third, there's a difference between leaving traces of one's own scent in one's clothing and impregnating that clothing with active bacterial and fungal colonies that will continue to excrete scented chemicals for as long as they stay alive. I would expect your family member's jumpers and dressing gown to have had a much lower microbial load than e.g. unwashed sweaty socks or gym clothes.
posted by flabdablet at 8:39 PM on December 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

Some people also just have body chemistry with less sticking/stinking power than others. Many of us have known That Person who just always had a certain amount of personal aroma. Less obvious are those fortunate souls who just don't leave much of an olfactory impression.

More seriously: I'm so sorry you don't have more to hold on to during a tough time. I wish you well.
posted by kkar at 10:44 PM on December 16, 2021 [3 favorites]

People smell is not the same as people stink. Wiffy socks and such don't smell of you specifically: they smell of other organisms that have been living on you and have colonized your clothes. Your lost loved ones old hockey bag is going to smell the same as your old hockey bag because the bacteria behind that smell is the same. All rancid socks are the same but each personal scent in unique.

We have adapted to smell funkiness more than the subtle personal smells, because funky smell is our cue to wash, or air or burn or avoid the pong. Hazards have clear signals. The other adaption - of seeking the smell of tribe - doesn't need an olfactory cue to remind us because we have so many memories and habits to remind us. Your grief and longing is working well enough to make you miss them and go look for them in places they used to be. Indeed, if you suddenly catch a scent of them in an unexpected place it will be enough to bring you to your knees in mid-stride.
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:44 AM on December 17, 2021 [8 favorites]

Maybe put them away for a while somewhere fairly airtight, for a few weeks, then smell them again? Your brain will have "forgotten" the smell a bit by then, so it'll be more noticeable for you. I promise you it's still there.

Source: Personal experience. NACBNOFS (Not A Chemistry, Brain, Nose or fabric, scientist), NYCBNOFS.
posted by ipsative at 11:20 AM on December 17, 2021 [1 favorite]

I don't know if this is at play in your specific scenario, but clothing material can affect odor retention. A breathable, natural material like linen is going to retain a scent less ably than a synthetic material like polyester
posted by TheLinenLenin at 1:41 PM on December 17, 2021 [2 favorites]