24-72 hours postmortem: internal organs begin to decompose due to cell death; the body begins to emit pungent odors; rigor mortis subsides.
Putrefaction (4-10 days after death) – Autolysis occurs and gases (odor) and discoloration starts.
Stage 3: Putrefaction - 4 to 10 days after death
People might find these gases foul smelling, but they are very attractive to a variety of insects. The build up of gas resulting from the intense activity of the multiplying bacteria, creates pressure within the body.
This process of bacteria producing noticeable gas can take 2-3 days. A decomposing body will typically have a smell of rotting meat with fruity undertones. Exactly what the smell will be like depends on a multitude of factors: The makeup of different bacteria present in the body.
In real life, the smell of decomposition isn't an easy odor to handle that is for sure. It can often surround the property for 50 feet or more.
The time it takes to smell a chemical in the air is the time the chemical takes to travel in air to our nose, and for the nerve impulse to travel to the brain (milliseconds), so smells are almost instantaneous.
You'd smell
Unsurprisingly, a person would develop quite a funk after 365 showerless days. Rokhsar said your stench likely would come as a result of the bacteria and dead skin accumulating on you. After a year, he said, you'd have a build-up of skin stratum corneum, or dead skin on top of your skin.
Body odor at night rarely tops the list of serious health woes, but it can be embarrassing and disconcerting. Sour body odor when sleeping usually isn't a cause for concern, but the sweating could be a sign of benign hyperhidrosis or a more serious ailment.
When you skip showering for a couple days, it can lead to your body releasing potentially unpleasant odors. Dr. Muhammad says, “Body odors form naturally as a result of bacteria on the skin breaking sweat down into acid. By not washing while continuing to sweat, bad smells will just get worse and worse.”
Hair is another place where bacteria like to hide. If you still smell a strong body odor after a shower, consider shaving the hair in your armpits, groin, and chest. The hair's surface is a perfect place for bacteria to call home, and it's harder to eliminate them from the hair than your bare skin.
ODOR AFTER A SHOWER IS DUE TO LINGERING BACTERIA
In addition to bacteria, oftentimes there is deodorant residue and other impurities that are trapped in the underarm pores and within the hair if you have armpit hair.
It would be amazing if you could sniff yourself and immediately pick up on any emanating odors, but alas, life isn't so simple. According to Lifehacker, it can be quite difficult to detect your own body odors because the receptors in your nose shut down after smelling the same scent for too long.
Everyone has their own scent—just think of how differently your grandma and your boyfriend smell when you lean in for a hug. But can we smell ourselves? For the first time, scientists show that yes, we can, ScienceNOW reports. Our basis of self-smell originates in molecules similar to those animals use to chose mates.
Showering destroys these happy bacterial colonies; they're completely wiped out by all of our frequent rubbing and scrubbing. And when the bacteria washed off by soap repopulate, they tend to favour microbes which produce an odor – yes, too-frequent showering may actually make you smell more.
Keep in mind that showering twice a day or frequently taking hot or long showers can strip your skin of important oils. This can lead to dry, itchy skin. Skipping showers for a long time can also cause infections, acne, and dermatitis neglecta.
"If your skin tends not to be dry, you could extend it to every other day or so." If you take it from a certified germ expert, though, you can skip showering for as long as you wish.
Use scented body wash and lotion.
Using scented body washes whenever you give yourself a sponge bath, and scented lotions after you wash up, is a great way to stay smelling good for longer. Rub your entire body with a scented lotion after you dry off, and carry scented lotion with you to reapply throughout the day.
There's no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Many doctors say a daily shower is fine for most people. (More than that could start to cause skin problems.) But for many people, two to three times a week is enough and may be even better to maintain good health.
If you've been skipping out on your wash days and relying on dry shampoo to tide you over, that could be one reason why your hair smells. The buildup of sebum, dead skin cells, sweat, and product residues marinate your roots, making it the ideal environment for bacteria to proliferate.
An olfactory hallucination (phantosmia) makes you detect smells that aren't really there in your environment. The odors you notice in phantosmia are different from person to person and may be foul or pleasant. You may notice the smells in one or both nostrils.
In water, the concentration can be extremely low because many aroma molecules have only minimal solubility in water. The speed of diffusion of the aroma molecules is also much slower than in air because there are many more solvent or solid molecules in the way. Read more: I can't stop smelling my socks.
To answer this question, we need to discuss why this happens. Smell travels due to diffusion of particles from areas of higher concentration to that of lower concentration. Diffusion works when particles move around and thus this phenomenon is observed in liquids and gases as these particles.