So, I have been looking at doing a mud play for a long time now. I finally got an unplanned chance the other day when I was with my wife and some of her friends and we all got caught up in a very muddy place. It had rained on an off for a few days and it had been raining that day. We were trying to cut through an abandoned field and my wife and slipped and fell into mud. Her friends also were slipping all over the place and tripped up too.

What was very odd was the smell of the mud. I couldn't get it off of me for hours. I showered, put cologne on and then re-showered because I could still smell it on my skin. My wife didn't seem bothered by it.

Is mud naturally smelly? How do those of you that love mud get used to the smell and get it off of without it lingering? Or did i happen upon unusually smelly mud? LOL

I love the smell of mud honestly. To me, it's part of the experience of being completely in. Different kinds of mud have slightly different smells: tidal mud, swamp mud, forest mud...

The smell will be on you for a bit after you shower until it eventually goes away on its own. To me, this just brings back memories for the rest of the day. Just make sure you don't have important places to go the same day.

A large component of the smell is from compounds produced by bacteria that live in low-oxygen environments and feed on organic materials. So you'll notice it more in mud with higher organic content, and where it has spent a long time saturated in water with not much circulation. Clay with little organic content or disturbed soil that's usually well drained are about the mildest.
I'm another one who likes the smell and even seeks out the smellier places to play in. I'm not sure if I've just got into that by association, but it does add an extra sensory element to the experience too. So far the shallow, reedy areas of tidal marshes, and pools in upland peat bogs are where I've found that. I find the smell does stay with clothing and towels for a long time and through multiple washes, but it's not too hard to clean from skin and hair. It's mild but still there after one shower (and gone after showering again the following day), but a soak in a bath shifts it a lot more effectively.

Mud odor varies a great deal depending on the weather, location, and mostly what the mud is comprised of. You'll notice a distinct difference in silt piled up on the banks of a big river as opposed to generally more organic swamp gunk. Quarries or desert locations are generally the least offensive. One of the great things about clay is the lack of oxygen to support bacteria resulting in a complete lack of organic odor. I've never really had that bad an experience in the wild. I would avoid anything that's just too "stinky" out of fear of pollution. You may have just hit a bad spot or be one who just notices such things more. Smells are as varied as locations.

The most lingering odor I've ever encountered is the earthy scent of peat but that isn't all that offensive. It just takes a couple of showers and some loud shampoo to make it go away. I have noticed some of the ladies make comments about it too but I always attributed that to getting it collected by long hair.