Dating Disasters: ‘We clearly did not have the same beliefs when it comes to personal hygiene’

In Dating Disasters vertellen anonieme lezers over hun gênantste, meest tenenkrommende en dramatische dates. Deze week: there's something fishy about that.

I had been chatting with Emily for a while and was excited about our first date. She seemed so interesting and spoke passionately about her beliefs. She had always been a vegetarian, but over the years had become increasingly vegan. I'm not really into that, but I always enjoy meeting people with different ideas. When we finally decided to meet in person, I was completely ready for it.

I arrived at the vegan restaurant she had chosen, and Emily greeted me with a radiant smile. She looked nice at first, dressed in a bohemian style that seemed to suit her perfectly. When we sat down at the table and the conversation began, everything seemed to go smoothly.

By now, I know that you should never celebrate too early, because as the evening progressed, I started to notice more and more that something was wrong. At first, it was subtle. A vague smell that I couldn't place. Maybe she had ordered something special from the menu that I wasn't familiar with, I thought. I decided not to pay too much attention to it.

When she started talking about her vegan lifestyle, it quickly became clear why there was a strange smell. Emily had a deep-seated aversion to modern grooming products. She passionately talked about her choice to keep everything natural and not to use the conventional hygiene products that most of us take for granted.

As she explained her beliefs, I couldn't help but occasionally think about her breath. The bad smell was unmistakable and filled the air between us. Her lack of toothpaste or mouthwash was clearly noticeable, but I tried to remain polite and let her talk about what excited her so much. What on earth do you say in such a situation? ‘Sorry, you stink, I'm leaving?’ No, I really couldn't bring myself to say that.

As the evening progressed, I realized that it wasn't just her breath. Her hair was greasy and uncombed, and there was a faint smell of sweat around her. I found it hard to concentrate on the conversation and knew I had to cut the date short. This wasn't going to work.

When I finally got home, I jumped straight into the shower. Despite the fact that we had only sat across from each other, I felt incredibly dirty. We haven't seen each other since, and although she did ask what the reason was that I didn't want a second date, I never honestly said that it was because of her subpar personal hygiene.

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