DR. WALLACE: I've been dating a guy at my high school for the past three weeks, and although he's a likable enough guy, his personal hygiene is making me alarmingly aware of how poor his awareness of this is!

For whatever reason, he always seems to have a runny nose, and half a dozen times a day he will take the sleeve of his long-sleeve shirt and wipe his nose with it! This is beyond gross, and I've told him many times not to do that, especially in public in front of other people. I even went to a local discount store and bought him a nice yet inexpensive handkerchief that he could put in his pocket to use whenever his runny nose problem crops up. But even though he has this tool, he rarely if ever uses it. His sleeves are stiff like they've been starched too much, but I happen to know that there was no starch at all involved.

I've also asked him many times why he always has a runny nose, but he tells me he doesn't know why. Why do high school boys not care about their personal hygiene? — This Drives Me Crazy, via email

THIS DRIVES ME CRAZY: Well, not all high school boys ignore their hygiene or are so rude as to wipe their nose on the sleeve of their shirts in public. In fact, some guys take their hygiene quite seriously and enjoy being fresh, clean and even scented with a touch of cologne.

My advice to you is to meet a lot of different people during your high school years, and focus on spending time with those you feel the most compatible with. In my opinion, you've already put forth a good-faith effort to help this particular guy by pointing out the error in his ways, and you even provided him with a nice handkerchief to help him deal with his "situation."

SHE OFTEN ASKS FOR ADVICE BUT ALWAYS SEEMS TO IGNORE IT

DR. WALLACE: My best girlfriend has definite "boyfriend" problems. This guy she's been dating for the last year has been driving her crazy for many reasons that are valid from her point of view. I know this because, as I'm her best friend, she cries upon my shoulder all the time when he mistreats her and does things to her that are not right.

The crazy thing is, she will ask me for my advice about what I should do after he pulls another one of his stunts, and I gladly give her my best reasonable advice without sounding too condescending. But the problem is, even though she listens to me intently and agrees with me, she never actually implements my advice. It kind of makes me mentally tired to go through this charade with her every six weeks or so. What can I do about this? — She Never Takes My Advice, by email

SHE NEVER TAKES MY ADVICE: Believe it or not, you're already doing the right thing here. Don't focus so much on what she does or does not do with your advice, but focus on being the best possible friend you can be to her.

Remember, she has to make her own decisions and has her own emotional baggage attached to this relationship. When she does ask you for advice, continue to calmly give her sound, earnest advice, but don't bring up the fact that she hasn't acted upon it in the past. With repetitions, she may eventually drum up the courage to actually implement it.

But until then, your role as her closest friend is to be there for her and to support her, and I commend you for doing an excellent job of this. That's what true friendship is all about.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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