Last week, my mom complained that she’s starting to smell “like an old person”. She had grabbed her favorite sweater and draped it over herself at the movie theater. But it was just me.” My mom, who’s in her 60s, has a ton of energy.
Her hair is thick and still naturally chestnut. She’s healthy and strong; she likes to hike and go to rock concerts. Why do I smell like one?” she whined.
I told her, truthfully, that I didn’t notice any new aroma. I thought she smelled the same as always: a mix of lotion and gardenia. But I immediately knew what she was talking about.
Experts say that we do smell different as we age. Every single person on the planet goes through these same transitions.” The musty odor that people sometimes call “old person smell” comes from a chemical compound called 2-nonenal. 2-nonenal is produced when certain skin oils oxidize and break down, says Javid. It’s a normal – and unavoidable – change.
They keep skin soft, waterproof and protected,” she says. Those lipids are made up of fatty acids, and as we age, the fatty acids change in composition. At the same time, the skin’s ability to fight off every day wear-and-tear slows down.
The oils are more exposed, and when they break down through oxidation, they release 2-nonenal. A Japanese study from 2001 tested the skin of subjects between the ages of 26 and 75, and detected 2-nonenal starting at age 40. But Dr Arshad Rather, consultant geriatrician and general physician at Medical Express Clinic in London, says this doesn’t mean people wake up with a noticeable new odor.
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