Going to conventions is a lot of fun! You get to meet new people, dress up as your favorite characters and play video games all day. However, sometimes things can go sour quick when someone has a case of “Con Funk”. What is “Con Funk” you may ask? Well, it’s pretty much what it sounds like: body odor! Horribly, smelly, stink radiating from individuals and sometimes entire rooms at conventions. But, did you know that “Con Funk” is completely avoidable!
Here are a few tips that can help you and someone you know avoid “Con Funk”:
First: Make sure to take a shower throughout the convention weekend AND use soap!
Not just before you leave home, but at least every other day, or more if you’ve been sweating a lot. Some rooms become over crowded (like the video game room) and can create warm temperatures. Even wearing heavy or non-breathable fabric in costumes or significant physical exertion like at dances will cause you to sweat and get smelly a lot faster. Please, if you go to the Rave, remember to shower after! Not only will showering keep the “Con Funk” off, but it will wash away germs and keep you healthy.
Second: Do not forget the deodorant.
Now, to be clear, this is not an “either or” situation–deodorant is NOT a substitute for showering. You should do both! Trust me, BO smells no better, and sometimes worse, when mixed with perfumes or cologne and can not be used as a cover-up. Speaking of which, if you choose to use perfume/cologne at a con make sure not to apply too much.
Third: Wear clean clothes (and/or clean costumes) the whole weekend.
This is, in my opinion, the biggest offender that goes unnoticed in the fight against “Con Funk”. Even if you wash the sweat off your body daily, your clothes absorb it too, so you really need to pack accordingly. If you’re attending the con for multiple days, bring enough clothes to last you that long–including costumes! Especially if it is a costume that you are likely to sweat a lot in, like one of those Organization XIII cloaks. If you insist on wearing a costume multiple days, make sure it’s still smelling nice before putting it on.
If you’re not wearing a costume, make sure you have clean clothes prepared in advanced. Don’t just pick up a shirt off your bedroom floor that you wore days ago.
In addition, between cons please launder your costumes! I understand there are a lot of costumes in cosplay that simply can’t go in the washing machine, but there are other options: you can hand wash and line dry things, or get them dry cleaned, or if they are really so delicate you can’t do either of those options at least spray them with Febreze as a last resort. No amount of time in your closet will take smells out on their own.
So, to summarize: 1) wash yourself–with soap; 2) use deodorant; 3) wear clean clothes and launder your costumes between conventions. Do yourself, and others, a favor and please follow these simple tips so you can avoid contributing to “Con Funk”. Most attendees that have “Con Funk” don’t even realize it, so please be kind when letting others know they might be affecting others around them.
