I've spent a lot of time with Open Source Programmers and other nerds, including in person, and I believe at least some of the issue is that some of them feel grooming and hygiene is purely aesthetic, bordering on "shallow". Like the way many of us think about Looksmaxxing or cosmetic surgery.

Like, you spend a bunch of time and money doing your hair or washing your clothes? That time didn't improve your card playing, it didn't teach you anything new. Shouldn't people be judged by what's inside instead of what's outside? Shouldn't people be judged by their skill or merit rather than their looks?

And I intentionally wrote that last one to feel borderline, because I think a lot of people do feel that way, and do believe those things, but not to the same extent. Their boundary for "hygenic enough" requires clean. And maybe the folks I'm characterizing don't know that it's actively unpleasant to be around someone who smells bad? Or maybe they're so steeped in it they don't know how bad it is?

Tangentially, this is one of the reasons some fem people struggle in these spaces. Any amount of eye-shadow, nice shirt, or hair-style is deemed as "superfluous", and so any person who spends their time and money on such things is regarded with suspicion. They're an idiot who wastes their time on looks at best, not to be trusted making other decisions, or a charlatan trying to trick lesser men with their wiles at worst. Those are the only two choices, because there's no other imaginable reason someone could do these things.

But they're not people--they are other players. What they look or smell like is absolutely irrelevant next to more IMPORTANT details.... like if you're playing a speedoid deck against an archerine, are you really going to have the mental bandwidth to be thinking about stuff like hygiene?

All you're doing here is demonstrating that you are not a serious person, probably someone whose never had a cyber dragon summoned against them, someone who has really never known true risk.

You take your showers. Blow dry your hair. Apply your deoderant. Then see how you fare against this deck.

/s

I’ll explain me experience...

The rest of your comment was read in a pirate voice in my head.

I appreciate the perspective but would like to point out that encouraging strong masking scents is not going to help the situation. There are plenty of workplaces with "no strong scent" policies that manage to have conference meetings without triggering gag reflexes or migraines.

I’m autistic and I find showers overwhelming because they’re loud and they are touching you all over, it’s definitely a real thing but between unscented options, wipes and product choices like, spray deodorant for example, it’s still very possible to be hygienic and not “smell natural” if a person has symptoms so bad they literally cannot tolerate cleaning themselves it should be treated like any other symptom that they’d need to stay away from people for and they should abstain from attending.

I don't know if it's the soap thing so much, it more comes down to people in significant gathers have a smell to them that being in a small room or convention space amplifies. Showering and soap use is important but I think scrubbing is just as important. As well regularly clean clothes and just a little care for one's body.

Yeah I don't like any floral scented perfumed anything. Aldi sells plain old soap, plain old shampoo, and plain old conditioner. And that's what I like. Good old fatty acid salts.