(03 Nov 2014, 8:31 pm)G-CPTN wrote Do you think that people can detect their own body odours?
I mention this because, when I was a pre-school child, I would often accompany my father (the man from the Prudential) as he went around collecting the insurance premiums from people's houses.
Each house had its own 'smell' - not necessarily unpleasant - and as a young child I was aware of the differences.
As many houses that we visited were farms, inevitably some had animal smells - or simply from the wood or peat that was being burned in the range (I'm talking late 1940s north Tyne here).
I have an acquaintance (a single man now living alone since his mother died) who does have a strong 'unpleasant' smell when I travel with him on the bus (though I don't have the guts to tell him that he should do something about it).
I think some people can, and I think others can't. I know if I've been climbing about at work I feel minging when I get in, and the first thing I need to do is have a shower to freshen up. Yet I know others that'll do the same climbing about, and come in work the next day with the sweat-ridden same clothes on.
Even if you can't detect your own body odour, maintaining a sensible level of personal hygiene, and wearing fresh clothes, will prevent others from detecting it for you.