7 Signs It Isn't Your Hygiene (and Why Your Soap Can't Touch It)
"Mom, do I have to hug Grandma goodbye?"A granddaughter, age 7, at Easter dinner
If the people you love have started acting a little strange around you, read this list before you buy another body wash.
No, this isn't about showering more. Most of the women this happens to shower every single day.
It's about one natural oil the skin starts making with age, and the quiet ways the people around you react to it long before anyone says a word.
Keep reading to see the seven signs, why your soap misses the cause, and the simple change that fixes it.
The grandkids hug you sideways
They used to run at you full speed. Now it's one arm, and a cheek turned away.
It's easy to blame their age. Kids grow up. But watch where their face goes.
Someone cracks the car window in the cold
Two inches, in January. Your husband says he runs hot. Your daughter says she needs some air.
If it only happens when you're in the car, take note.
The guest pillowcases get washed the minute you leave
You stay over to watch the kids. You come back ten minutes later for your glasses, and the bedding is already in the washer.
Your daughter isn't just tidy. She's dealing with something she can't bring herself to mention.
Your collars get a second look
The dry cleaner holds your blouse a little away from himself and offers an "odor treatment."
Collars are one of the places this oil shows up.
A borrowed scarf comes back washed
A friend wears your scarf for one afternoon. Two days later it comes back folded and sealed in a plastic bag.
She's never washed a thing she borrowed from you before.
Someone who always sat beside you moves
The couple in your pew moves up two rows. A friend takes the chair across the table instead of the one next to you.
There's always a reason. Hearing. The light. A draft.
You check, and you smell nothing at all
This is the sign almost everyone misses. You lift your sweater to your nose, and it smells like clean laundry.
Your own nose gets used to your smell. It's with you every day, so your brain stops noticing it. That's why you're always the last to know.
People are stunned when they learn what's behind it
As we get older, usually after 40, the skin starts making something called 2-nonenal. You say it "two-NO-nuh-nal." It's a natural oil with a faint, musty smell, like a closet that's been shut too long.
It shows up on collars, pillowcases and scarves. Look back at the list. That's signs three, four and five.
It isn't poor hygiene. It's biology. It happens to clean, careful people.
Why your soap can't touch it
Because it's an oil, regular soap can't wash it away. Soap is built for water-based sweat and everyday dirt. Think of rinsing a greasy pan under plain water. The water slides right over the grease.
Deodorant and perfume don't fix it either. They only cover it for a while.
What does lift it
People in Japan have used persimmon for this for a long time. The tannin in persimmon sticks to that oil and lifts it off the skin, instead of covering it up.
That's the idea behind a soap called True Tannin. The company is named after the tannin, and the whole bar is built around it.
But where you wash matters, and so does time. The oil collects in five spots, and the tannin can only lift what it touches.
- Back of the neck
- Behind the ears
- Chest
- Upper back
- Hairline
Lather those five spots and leave it on for about half a minute. Then rinse. Give it 30 days for the full effect.
Don't smell fresher in 60 days? Email them for your money back.
What happened when they changed one thing
The women in these stories didn't shower more. They changed what they washed with, where they put it, and how long they left it on. Then they watched the list.
The window stayed up
Peggy, 66, rode with her husband with the window cracked for most of a winter. She teased him about running hot, and he never laughed.
She started washing the five spots with the persimmon bar every morning, half a minute each. Near the end of the second week, on the way to church, she noticed his window was all the way up. It was 28 degrees out.
Peggy, 66Week 2
She didn't say a word. Neither did he. He just turned on the radio and held her hand at the stoplight.
Both arms this time
Wanda, 71, had a grandson who hugged her from the side for almost a year. She told herself he was just shy now.
Wanda, 71Week 3
About three weeks after she switched, he came in from the bus, dropped his backpack, and hugged her with both arms. Face pressed into her sweater.
A month in, her daughter left the guest bed made after a visit. Wanda checked twice.
Gentle enough for older skin
- Softened with coconut oil
- Green tea and hyaluronic acid, so it doesn't dry older skin
- No sulfates
- No parabens
- No heavy synthetic fragrance
- One bar lasts about four weeks
It's $19.95 a bar. Over 8,000 people have reviewed it, at 4.9 stars.
$19.95 a bar · 60-day money-back guarantee
They stand behind every bar
"Use it for a full 60 days. If you do not smell fresher, email us and we send back 100% of your money. The bar is yours to keep either way."
It's as easy as 3 steps
- Step 1 Get a bar of True Tannin.
- Step 2 In the shower, lather the five spots and leave it on for half a minute. Then rinse.
- Step 3 Give it 30 days. Your nose can't check, so watch the list instead: the hugs, the window, the pillowcases.
Here's a tip: Know someone whose grandkids have started hugging her sideways? A bar of soap makes an easy gift, and she never has to hear why.