Would you tell your date when they have an unpleasant body odour?
I went on a date with a guy about a week ago. He picked me up with his car and the first thing I noticed was how smelly his car was. We went for ice cream and after that went by the lake and the whole time I was in the car I was suffocating. When we were walking together and sat down at the store I also noticed the same odour from him, but I was being polite so I went through with the date and chatted normally.
After that he convinced me to go to his place and promised he wouldn't do anything I didn't want. He also said he's a very clean person too after I brought up the fact that I'm a clean freak, and that he doesn't wear shoes in the house and doesn't go on the bed with outside clothes etc etc. So eventually I decided to give it just one more chance, maybe his place wouldn't be as smelly as the car since it has more space.
Lo and behold the house smells exactly the same as the car and just as strong. His couch arm rest has disgusting and obvious old dirty stains on the ends from a lot of rubbing by hands. Everything stinks of him. The blanket, the couch pillow, I can smell from a distance. At this point I got really sick of the smell to the point that whenever he tried to get close or touch or hug me I had to hold my breath. I hugged him back just to be nice but boy I was really trying to put up with the smell.
At no point in time during the date I hinted that I didn't enjoy the date because I generally always try to be nice to everyone. Eventually I went back home and quickly took a shower. The next day he asked when we could meet again and I didn't reply for a few days as I was not sure how to say no in the least hurtful way because he seemed very interested. I was also wondering whether I should tell him about the body odour issue to help him with his next date, but I haven't told him yet. At the end I simply said "we have very different lifestyles which won't work". And then now he asked me what is so different about the lifestyle and I'm not sure how to answer this.
Do you guys think I should I just be honest about it as a constructive criticism? I'm guessing he's the type of person who either doesn't use enough detergent or doesn't wash his bedsheet or clothes until after 100s of uses. Granted I might have a stronger sense of smell than the average person, so other people may not find the smell as offensive. But if you guys were in his place, would you prefer to be told of this or not know at all? I don't want to hurt his feelings but at the same time maybe it's good for him to know so he can try to fix if possible at all for his next dates.
TLDR: Date is very stinky it made me feel sick. I'm not sure if it's health condition or poor cleaning habits. Do I tell him this?
Posted Apr 8, 2025, 9:22 PM UTC