In another life I spent a quite a bit of time in Africa.

Africans, outside the cities, don't bathe for the most part other than the occasional river dunk. Washing isn't a priority.  Combine the lack of washing with the heavy use of garlic in the diet and no deodorant and you have a funk cocktail that's almost unexplainable to folks that haven't been.  

While as a westerner you never quite get used to the smell after a while it doesn't knock you back.  You get used to it enough….pussy is a powerful motivator.

Not reading in 3 pages to guess you didn't eat as much pussy back then

Lol

I went to Oklahoma State University,  THE school for petroleum engineers in the 1980s. (Class motto for 1990s petro  engineer grads "You want fries with that?")

We had people getting dorm assignments with mid eastern students who would not friggin bathe or change clothes because they wouldn't smell manly if they showered

A guy across the hall filled a 5 gallon bucket and poured it on his roommate "bruce" (Bosuhadd) while bruce was in his bunk in order to get a room reassigned bruce smelled so bad

Based on personal experience, after about a week and a half, the stink either goes away or you get used to it, not really sure which one.

It might actually diminish from microbes on the skin, I don’t know. All I know is when back packing / camping in the back country, by about a week to a week and a half of sweating every day, the stink doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore, or at least not as much of a problem.

I had this same experience when I was a kid. Depression-era grandparents I spent every summer with in SE Ohio (Meigs Co.). They had running water, but using it meant electric for the well pump, and that didn't fit with their philosophy of saving money. Always encouraged to use the outhouse and piss outside. I had no problem with it as a kid, and would easily do now.

I haven't used deodorant in 20 years or more. Never have BO, even after a hot day on a lake or roof. Confirmed by women. As a previous poster said, your body gets used to it.

Backpacking taught me that if you're feeling icky, brushing your teeth will make you feel a whole lot better.

everyone smelled bad. hygiene was a problem. you died at 35 and 6 of your 18 kids made it

This. I shower in the morning to wake up and wash my hair. I shower in the evening to get the daily grime off of me before I get into bed. If I didn't, I'd be changing the sheets everyday.

As mentioned previously in this thread that wasn't actually true. If you made it to five you probably lived as long as anyone today.  For the most part children died of unclean drinking water. Modern medicine has mostly succeeded in keeping sick people alive longer. The modern lifestyle has made plenty of sick people to practice on.

My SO's grandfather is 92. Hasn't had a bathroom his whole life. He does have water pumped from a cistern to his sink In the kitchen but uses a outhouse. The only time he washes up is for Dr appointments and he calls them wash pan baths. Its a sponge bath out of a pan of warm water. I've never smelled him. I'm over there at least 4 times a week to help him with stuff and he has never smelled bad.