Meeting Professor Martins (not his real name) remains one of the most confusing experiences I've ever had. As a well-traveled man who has won a couple of research grants and is one of the most respected lecturers in the school, I had to whisper in the ears of my friend to confirm if the person standing a couple of feet away from us is the frequently talked about academic.
Honestly, I'm not the kind of person to judge people too much based on their appearance. But in scenarios where there is a huge disparity between expectation and reality, hiding one's disappointment becomes a huge task. It was a lesson I learnt in a very difficult and pressurized situation.
Now, I wasn't expecting the man to come out of his car looking like a million bucks, but for someone who also works with huge companies on Environmental Impact Assessment in coastal regions, I expected a lot better. Now, he was wearing an expensive fitted shirt. His shoe was Italian leather of the highest quality. However, cleanliness and personal hygiene go beyond getting clad in expensive clothing.
There is no point debating the fact that sufficient financial resources grant access to hygiene products (like soap, toothpastes, etc.), sanitation facilities (like showers, proper toilets, waste management facilities, etc.), clean water and better living conditions. However, before these wonderful products were in existence, people lived and practiced cleanliness and personal hygiene.
I could remember when I was little and a friend told me brushing my teeth with charcoal and finely ground glass would give me white teeth. As dangerous as it was, I was open to trying it out. That was the era when chewing sticks sold way faster than brushes and toothpastes. And I can tell you for a fact that people maintained clean, white teeth by using only chewing sticks with no fluoride toothpastes or whatever teeth whitening substances dentists sell these days.
Personal hygiene and neatness are not dependent on wealth but on factors like personal habits, cultural values, and resourcefulness. I have come across guys who are barely surviving on whatever salary they get from their jobs, but each time they show up to work, they always have clean, neatly ironed clothes on.
A LUDE polish costs around #1000 right now. That should last one person for a month, even if used every day. Yet, some rich dudes show up to work with expensive black leather shoes that look more grey than black because they've not been polished in months. Some walk around with sweaty, smelly body despite having more than enough to buy deodorants. Or, how do one explain a high ranking civil servant's decision to wear a very dirty white singlet to work? Well, probably because he already believed it won't be revealed. Anyway, personal hygiene is personal. An organized person can live in a house full of gadgets, and everything will be arranged, whereas an unorganized person can live in an empty single room, and the place will look like a war zone. Once again, personal hygiene is very personal.
