Tricks to avoid the barn smell?

[SugarCubes]

Okay, we all have horses at home. In some ways it’s inevitable, but any good tricks or tips to avoid smelling like a horse every time you walk out of the barn?! I keep a very tidy barn but I swear, that smell sticks to everything!

I often have evening plans after I turn in and feed and if I don’t wait to shower and get ready until afterwards, I’m going to have that Eau De Barn scent

Aside from not wearing the same clothes and shoes, what else can you do? I’m tempted to throw on a shower cap or something, as it tends to stick to my hair the most!

[ThreeWishes]

What aroma exactly? If you change your shoes and any clothes if you wade into the abyss I’m not sure what is cloying ?

[2DogsFarm]

Same as above.
Unless I muck really dirty stalls or deal with something especially funky, once I change from barn clothes, no stank on me.
I have done chores dressed (casually) to go out directly from the barn & nobody ever wrinkled their nose.

A cap of some kind should keep your hair free of Eau D’ Horse.

[ThreeWishes]

My point being are you smelling horse or your own stank? I certainly can work up a stank but not usually just dumping feed and casual chores.

[mommy_peanut]

@SugarCubes

Okay, we all have horses at home. In some ways it’s inevitable, but any good tricks or tips to avoid smelling like a horse every time you walk out of the barn?! I keep a very tidy barn but I swear, that smell sticks to everything!

I often have evening plans after I turn in and feed and if I don’t wait to shower and get ready until afterwards, I’m going to have that Eau De Barn scent

Aside from not wearing the same clothes and shoes, what else can you do? I’m tempted to throw on a shower cap or something, as it tends to stick to my hair the most!

I know exactly what you are talking about with the hair seeming to soak up the barn aroma.
The only thing I’ve found that works as a quick fix, is to run in some scented dry shampoo.
It seems to help get rid of/mask the barn smell.
Otherwise, plan to do evening chores & then shower.

[ThreeWishes]

Just from dumping pm feed? I think a well cleaned barn with hay and feed smells sweet. What smell does light barn chores bring?

[sascha]

If it’s your hair picking up the smell, try going out with freshly washed still wet hair, then quick styling damp hair after. That trick even works for cow barn smell in a pinch.

There is also the possibility that the smell is IN your sinuses and no-one else can actually smell it on you. I am sensitive to some of those smells (ketosis) and even a steamy shower doesn’t kill it. It just has to fade from my own nose over a few hours.

If you bed on straw, you’re out of luck. That stink stays until you wash it off. The clean, wet hair trick works to a point, but only to a point.

[stb]

Oh Lord, do I smell when I go out and don’t even know it? I don’t think dumping feed in the afternoons makes me smell like a barn, but I guess I could be wrong.

Once I was going out with a friend who also has horses. She got in my car, took a few sniffs, and said “is that EcoVet I smell?” It was and we had a good laugh about it.

[Foxglove]

I know @2DogsFarm IRL and I can tell you from experience she smells good! I think there are two factors here: your barn and you. When my kid attended a school that had a stable, the students who came from the riding program to the classroom “smelled like the barn.” I noticed it too when I visited the school (boarding school) and we attended her classes after a visit to the barn.

However, at our home where we have a stable, this is not the case. One can (and has) go to the barn, feed, turn out, and immediately go to work (although I generally wore coveralls if feeding in my work clothes) with only a change of foot wear.

I was (retired now after 40 years) a teacher --and trust me --those high school students will TELL you if you smell of anything --young people have a very acute sense of smell. So I feel confident that a feeding visit to my barn left no odor. I never went to school after working horses or working with horses. Just the quick feed in the AM.

The difference is I don’t keep my horses inside. The school where the kiddo attended kept 130 stabled horses (beautiful box stalls, cleaned twice daily) --despite the ventilation, fans, open doors, that place smelled --of horses --true --but smelled. I have three horses (five stalls) --no windows, but the East-West ends of my stable open completely and capture a breeze --that and the fact that the horses are in maybe an hour a day (feeding and hanging about while I work with one of them outside) means very little smell --the exception is the week I have hay delivered for the year --the smell of fresh cut and baled alfalfa is heavenly --and predominant.

I organize my day so that all “grubby work” is done at once --usually in the AM --horses, garden, cleaning trailers, etc --then mid-day I shower and dress for “town” --even if I am not going. Husband occasionally sees me at my filthiest (after using the chainsaw or weed whip) but usually, by the time he’s home (he still works), I am clean, neat, and tidy. Call me the 1950s housewife, but it gives me joy to hear a compliment from him even after 45 years of marriage.

I guess the short answer is --arrange to wash up after barn chores or change your horses stabling habits (I know everyone can’t do a 24/7 turnout like I do, but it works well for me.)

[pony_grandma]

Tie your hair up do rag style. Ladies did that. Think Rosie the riveter.

[SugarCubes]

It’s not a BAD smell, but shavings, hay, horses all have a lingering scent that especially seems to stick to my hair. Maybe my barn is just dustier than most? It was originally a shop/garage and only has one main door and a couple of windows so ventilation could certainly be better.

I really paid attention last night, and no, bringing in and feeding doesn’t seem to do it,especially after I had changed, but when I did night check and picked a few piles, I came back in the house and could smell “barn” on my hair!

And, while you’ve all made me feel super self-conscious, no one has ever “wrinked their nose” or said I smelled but thanks for making me paranoid now!

[TheJenners]

I am also someone to whom smells sink in easily. If I cut an onion, my hands smell of onion into the following day, with handwashing, shower(s), lotion. I once helped someone move a dying pig out of a nasty pigpen and my hands smelled like pigshit for two days, bad enough that I cried at one point, and I used Cherry Bomb (super gritty smelly soap used by mechanics), Dawn, vinegar, and baking soda. If someone pees in the barn and I have to clean it, it is definitely in my hair. If I go into a house with cat piss (common in my job) I have literally gagged at my hair for the brief moment that my hair and my nose are inside my shirt at the same time while getting undressed at the end of the day.

What I’m saying is, it happens to some people. I can’t explain it. Don’t knock the OP for her concern. I have the same concern! I have a shower cap in the tack room of my barn

[McGurk]

I managed, when working an office job in town, to put on a long duster style coat, a hat and barn shoes, go to the barn, feed, change blankets and turn out, then remove the coat and hat, change shoes, wash hands and proceed to the office.

I was quite a sight in a business suit and hose, plus muckers, but it worked.

Try putting your hair up under your hat, see if it helps. I also kept a boot tray in the back of my car to put my barn boots on to keep from mucking up the car too much.

I had a friend who used a long white doctor’s lab coat in summer for the same reasons - much light and more comfy than a duster. It would never be truly white again, but it protected her good clothes.

[Jarpur]

When I need to be especially sure that my hair doesn’t pick up odors, I either tuck my hair up under my hat (I always wear a wide-brimmed hat when outdoors), or I wear a Buff over my hair (under my hat).

This doesn’t just work for undesirable smells, I also think it helps keep pollen out of my hair during allergy season.

https://www.buffusa.com/

[2DogsFarm]

@Foxglove

I know @2DogsFarm IRL and I can tell you from experience she smells good! I

[ThreeWishes]

Or maybe I am stinky and just don’t know it lol! I agree with the advice of tucking your hair into
A wide brimmed hat or a wrap for your head.

[Weezer]

I agree with the original poster. Sometimes I can be in the barn for just 15 min or so to feed and my hair smells like the barn for the rest of the evening. I don’t mind it, but it’s a turn-off for hubby. Recently I’ve been using dry shampoo after but that doesn’t completely solve it. I think a scarf/buff over the hair is the solution.

[TheJenners]

OK how do you do the buff-over-the-hair thing? I can’t seem to figure it out…

[TheJenners]

Oh nevermind, I clicked through to a product and there was a video! Which do you use?

[Jarpur]

Since all of mine have been gifts, I’ve never watched the videos before, lol (but Buff packaging shows multiple ways to wear one).

Mine are the style with sun protection. When protecting my hair, I wear it like the woman with dark hair on the far left of the home page, similar to the Foulard or Do Rag of the videos. I pull the Buff over my head, around my neck, then pull it back up, spread over my hair. I can stack/twist my long hair on my head and pull the Buff over.

When I’m mowing or weedeating, or otherwise raising dust, I wear one like a gaiter, over my throat, lower face, hair, and nose. Similar to the Full Face Mask of the video.

Seriously, when I received the very first one as a Christmas gift, I thought “Huh?” But now, I often reach for a Buff before doing chores.

I was given one of the thicker ones (guess it might be a Polar), and I got a lot of use out of it when we had some unusual extreme cold weather – it was so much better (warmer and covered more area) than a knitted cap.