DEAR HARRIETTE: My neighbors are from another country, and honestly I think they have the worst body odor ever. Their house isn’t dirty; I think it must just be what they eat. All I know is that the smell seeps into the hallway and makes me gag. There’s nothing I can say about it, but is there anything I can do? We live in an apartment building, so we are physically close to each other. I feel sick every time I walk past their door. -- Bad Body Odor
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DEAR BAD BODY ODOR: What people eat can impact how they smell. Think about how your breath smells after you eat onions. Then amplify that based on a steady diet of some kind of pungent food. You are right that you cannot ask them to do something to make a difference.
You can use incense, candles or room fragrance in your own apartment to cover it with a scent that you prefer. If there is a table or surface in the hallway of your building where you can put scented reeds, try that. There’s no risk of fire, but it will alter the scent of the space.