What is that smell?

[sharann]

Not asking for medical advice here!

I have a 16 yr old son. When I go into his room(when I feel brave) there is this, smell, odor? I can't place it for the life of me. He is my only child so I have no comparison. IT is not BO or a sick smell. Just is there! Is this a teen boy thing? Maybe its his feet? He showere, deodorant and all(if anything he uses TOO much cologne etc...)

Just wondering!

[psalm, RN]

...maybe dirty clothes or sheets fermenting?

[melpn]

Teenage boys do have the funkiest foot odor I've ever encountered; along with the raging hormones and sweat glands going on as well. But have you considered a pilonidal cyst? It may not want to be anything he wants to talk about but an MD visit may be in order. Just thinking....

[jrring1019]

I also notice that little boys have a special smell...not yet offensive but truely different from girls. I notice it at the top of my sons head in his hair. He is only 6!

[gr8rnpjt, RN]

I also notice that little boys have a special smell...not yet offensive but truely different from girls. I notice it at the top of my sons head in his hair. He is only 6!

I know that smell too, definitely a different smell from the teenage raging hormone dirty tennis shoe smell that the OP was talking about!

My 4 year old son (Joey the Super-hero) never stops running and jumping till he is ready for bed and curls up on my lap to say prayers. The smell coming from the top of his head is the most pleasant smell in the whole world. I only wish I could bottle it up and take it to work with me and whip it out every time I think of him!

[supermo]

I also notice that little boys have a special smell...not yet offensive but truely different from girls. I notice it at the top of my sons head in his hair. He is only 6!

That puppy dog smell that only sweaty little boys have! Enjoy it now, as OP suggests, the odors that accompany teenage boys are, to put it politely, unique. BLEH.

I have 4 boys, 14, 13, 8 & 2, and 1 girl, 11. The smell that escapes from the teenagers' room is putrid. Funny thing is that only the 14 is the stinky one. We have played musical rooms from time to time and no matter what room he lives in, it reeks. It's not laundry or food or shoes, just him. YECH. Maybe he'll grow out of it. The cologne baths he takes don't do anything for the room.

I should get used to the smells seeing that I'm in for it for many years to come.

Everyone should feel the most sympathy for my dd, she has to share a bathroom with the 3 older boys. Poor kid!

supermo

[chadash]

I think it's testosterone.....had a girl and a boy, and yep, he had a certain aroma.....now he's grown, it is gone, I think, I will have to ask his wife....no, never mind.

[crb613, BSN, RN]

This is so funny...I think it is just a boy thing. My son is Mr. Clean with a capital C....although his room never had a strange smell...his covers/pillow did. He changed his bed every week without fail.....but I could smell this smell even after they had been laundered! Not a bad smell, but it was definately different.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

I too live in an all-male household. Sometimes, it can get pretty ripe. That is what Febreeze was made for - lol.

[chuckc, BSN, RN]

Oh my gosh, this is so funny. I thought maybe it was just my kids. Have 2 boys and a girl. They inhabit the upstairs, and man it gets funky up there! My daughter complains that the boys are stinky. THey shower at least once a day. I agree. Can't put my finger on the smell, kinda musky sometimes. Hormones. Funny, I don't remember boys smelling that way when I was dating and such.........

[littlenurse35630]

[littlenurse35630]

I know what you mean!

[Geeg]

Everyone has inherent smells. Girls enjoy and are culturally influenced to cover these up. For example: deoderant, perfume, shampoo, lotion, etc.