Why washing more does not fix the smell

When people first notice the musty smell that comes with age, the instinct is to wash more. Two showers. Three. Hotter water. A harder cloth. Stronger soap.

It almost never works, and people often end up feeling like they must be doing something wrong. They are not. The approach is just aimed at the wrong thing.

You are not washing off something that is already there

Dirt is a thing that lands on you. You can remove it, and once it is gone it is gone until you pick up more.

The compound behind this smell works differently. It is made on your skin, out of your own skin oil, all day long. Washing it off at 7am does not stop your skin making more by lunchtime. You are not clearing a mess. You are emptying a bucket with a tap still running.

Scrubbing harder can backfire

Strip too much oil off your skin and the skin tends to react by making more. You also damage the surface, which makes skin dry, tight and itchy. Now you have two problems.

Very hot water does the same thing faster. It feels like it is doing more. It mostly just dries you out.

Perfume covers it for about an hour

Heavily scented body washes and sprays do not remove anything. They sit on top. For a while you smell like the perfume, then the perfume fades faster than the thing underneath it, and for the rest of the day people get both at once. That combination is often more noticeable than the original.

What to do instead

Three changes, in order of how much they matter.

Lather the places that actually matter, rather than washing more often. The back of your neck, behind your ears, your chest, your upper back and your hairline. Leave the lather on for about half a minute.

Use something that does not strip your skin. Washing harder dries skin out, and dry skin is its own problem. A gentle base matters as much as what is in it.

Use something that binds the compound rather than hiding it. This is what plant tannins are for, and why persimmon has been used this way in Japan for a very long time.

And give it a month

Your clothes are holding some of this too. Even after your skin changes, a wardrobe takes a few washes to catch up. Judge it after about four weeks of daily use, not after one shower.