A salsera stands by the side of the dancefloor after just having had a wonderful dance. The DJ spins a romantica track and this happens to be one of her favourite songs. She scans the room all excited looking for a lead to take her out onto the dance-floor and then she freezes as she sees ‘Him’ approaching. A cold rush goes down her spine and she is now desperately looking around for someone-else, anyone-else to take her for a dance. Even that beginner guy who only learnt the basic step yesterday will do, just please don’t let it be ‘Him’.
Too late, her nose gives an involuntary wiggle, ‘He’ is almost there her sense of smell knows it. She tilts her head to the side, her last desperate attempt to try and breathe in one last breath of fresh-air and then she braces herself for what will be a very uncomfortable couple of minutes.
‘He’ finally arrives and he says – ‘Hey, wanna dance?‘ She looks up at him and his handsome features, she realises he actually dresses quite well and she remember his lead is amazing. The only downside – He smells and its awful. I often have to imagine pink rabbits playing with kittens just to prevent myself from puking on the dance floor. (Ok, that last part is a bit of an exaggeration, but this body odour is not to be trifled with. If only he did not smell so bad, this would actually be a wonderful experience. Potentially the best dance of the night.)
The range of possible excuses start to go through my head:
- My feet hurt
- I am sitting this song out
- I promised someone else this dance
- I don’t dance romantica
- I hate this song
However, as I stand there looking at him I decide to just deal with it and focus on enjoying his lead which is good.
The dance begins and he brings me in close and the only thought going through my head is – I cant take this no more. How do I tell him he smells? If he fixed just this one flaw, it would make this one of the best dancers ever.
Should I:
A. Buy him some deodorant
B. Be honest and just tell him he smells
or
C. Speak to a friend of his and ask them to speak to him about it?
I wonder which one because I am never subjecting myself to this again. He either sorts out his body odour or this is our last dance.
The dance finishes, he smiles and thanks me for the dance. I quickly nod and walk off and I cant help but be excited that I can finally breathe again.
As I am walking away, I run through the options again:
A. Is kind of rude and is not likely to be received well.
B. While honesty is indeed the best policy, this is an embarassing situation. Plus people generally get defensive when you tell them something negative about themselves. So how do I go about starting off this conversation without him taking it the wrong way?
C. We both go to the same school, so maybe I should speak to our instructor and ask him to tell his student about the smell? Maybe if the feedback comes from someone whom he trusts and respects, it is less likely to be embarrassing and it can be anonymous and my name does not even need to come up and I will be doing All the ladies a favour?
Yeah, I think I am gonna go with option C. Now where is our Instructor?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
P.S. For any Guys reading this – Remember, Salsa is a physical activity and that means you will get hot and you will sweat. So the rule of thumb, invest in a sports active roll-on and an appropriate spary that neutralises any body odour. Don’t just stick to whatever you used to use before you started dancing.
At the end of the day, my advice for you is simple; If Women don’t comment on how good you smell during the night, then implement a few smell tests throughout the evening.
What is a smell test you may ask? Basically every now and then after some dancing walk up to someone you trust and ask them to lean in close and smell you. If they gasp and gag, it may be time for a towel down, change of shirt and round of cologne before asking the next lady to dance. 😉
Do you have any stories, comments, suggestions or ideas about this topic? I am sure you do. So drop me a comment and lets get the dialogue going. It may just help someone out there. 😉
For me, one opposite smell issue is excessive perfume (chokingly strong sometimes) or the inadvertent but completely avoidable smell of Tide perfume. In general I would alway rather dance with a woman who smells like a sweaty but basically clean human, rather than in a cloud of perfume or worse yet dryer sheet chemicals. On a couple of occasions I have also experienced dancing with women who’s dresses have recently been unpacked from storage with moth balls. The challenge with any scent is that you become accustomed to your own smell or perfumes and it doesn’t register any more. Soliciting an independent opinion can be awkward, and sensitivities vary, but recognize that overdoing a solution can result in a negative distraction at best, and an eye-watering bad time for some partners in the extreme.
You can’t tell them but you can tell there friends if you know them, if not you can try to ask same person another night let hope it will be ok
This is a delicate issue for both the sexes. I once said to a guy that he needs a stronger deodorant and he stopped dancing with me altogether(not that I feel that it is my loss). But sometimes I go for the smell test myself, ask someone I know to tell me if I stink. We cannot always tell if we are stinking, so the smell test is essential. Men smell stronger than women in general but that doesn’t mean all the ladies smell like heaven, so the onus is on everyone to not smell bad.
@Nicol For sure bro, no doubt 😉
Body Odor female friends appointed. Thanks for the words of wisdom!! Loved it.
Good article, but gender biased. I agree with D. Bre. I have danced with all kinds of women. Some smell awful and I have actually had to go and wash my hands after the song has finished. Sweat and other odors, can definitely be a problem for women too. And don’t forget that cigarette smoking and the smell of ashtray breath, hands and hair is disgusting for non-smokers.
Tbfh, it’s not only men who can smell. Women don’t exactly shit rainbows and fart butterflies, they are human as well :). They can be sweaty and smelly as f*ck, if they don’t care for themselves properly.
I did have some opportunities dancing with ladies, which odor could be compared to wide open septic tank.
Although I agree, compared to men, it is much more rare occasion :).
I couldn’t agree more. I sweat a lot when I dance and I know it. But I try to make sure that I smell good because I know I’m going to be dancing with the ladies. There are several men’s perfumes which smell very good and are strong and last long. Yes they’re expensive but the advantage is that you don’t have to put a lot and you smell good all night long. Or at least I hope I do…. 😉
LOL!!! Tal… I’ll ask some ladies to check up on you!! Will give you an extra hug buddy to assist. You’ll do the same for me?? Happy smell free dancing!! Great article. Loved it.
Brilliant 🙂 Question: What do you do if it is the instructor that you would like to avoid for obvious reasons?!
Find someone who the instructor knows and respects and have them deliver the message. 😉