Mosquitoes........
Help! I am one of those people that bugs love to bite. I welt up and go through extreme misery. I took Cali canoeing a week ago Saturday. I had over 100 mosquito bites at the end of the day. I use a natural product and in the past, it has worked amazingly well. This time it didn't do a thing.
I just broke down and bought Muskol which has Deet in it as I am going away for 3 days with Cali, my friends and their dogs in July. We will be deep in the woods.
I hate using Deet and in the past it didn't work that well either.
Do any of you have tried and true remedies? Skin So Soft only attracts mosquitoes to me so that is not an option.
On a funny note, when I go to my friend's in Michigan, it is when they see the bats. Guess they are so excited the mosquito magnet is visiting. :o
taking garlic pills can help a bit. i'm the same way, there can be three mosquitoes around, and i'll end up w/ 50+ bites, and my fellow campers or whatnot won't get bit at all. My bf was in thailand, he got bit like crazy, and his roommate Neils only got bit twice the entire time. he didn't wear any kind of repellant at all. I think it comes down to your blood. good luck!!
if you are using deet...spray it on your clothing, not your skin, if you can.
citronella sticks...w/ the smoke, not a candle...help a little bit.
eat alot of garlic and onions before you go.
use non-stinky soaps and shampoos.
also, i doubt it would do anything better than deet...but burts bees used to have an oil which had lemongrass, citronella and others in it, it worked well for what i used it for, and it smelled nice, i liked wearing it as a scent!
I haven't tried it, but I was planning to. Apparently, drinking tonic and lemon juice regularly helps keeping mosquitos out of your way. You have to drink it on a regularly basis. I wish it works. I do attract mosquitos quite a lot too.
One of my friend, when she heard that trick, she started telling people that GIN AND Tonic really helped. At first, I corrected her, but then I realized that she was just making her own rule there. ;D Who am I to spoil her fun?
I suddenly developed this problem for the first time last year (which was also the first year I went veg) & the Burt's Bees worked for me. Someone told me that if you take extra B vitamins it seems to keep the bugs away (I thought this might work because of the veg diet having less B vitamins + that's when they started bothering me). I'm not sure exactly which B vitamin it is, but I have been experimenting several different vitamins & supplements this year in general & I noticed the mosquioes are not AS bad as last year. I probably just need to be more consistant.
Now, this sounds stupid but it works. Avoid wearing any yellow clothing. Mosquitos are attracted to yellow.
Also, people on certain meds (notably blood thinners and BP meds) attract mosquitoes like mad. I know you aren't on them but I just thought I'd say. Apparently mosquitos can "smell" these drugs.
I do not have any recommendations for repellent. But I do have a recommendation for a post bite cream. Invest in a large tube of Sting Stop. It is amazing. It helps with the itch, it soothes the inflammation and it makes bites go away in 4 days.
I get mine at the local health food store but you can order it from Amazon as well.
I'm not sure if your SSS is simply referring to regular Skin So Soft or the product i'm about to mention, but I used too sell Avon several years ago and many of my customers swore by the Bug Guard product. From what I understand there are several different formulations nowadays. I don't know if it's considered veg*n or not, but I'm sure you could get a list of ingredients from them. I believe it is Deet free too.
I have a recommendation for a repellent and I am very surprised nobody has mentioned it.
Burts Bees insect repellent. I used that and it worked great! It is citronella oil plus other things, all natural, no deet, no nasty chemicals. I used it and it kept ticks, chiggers, and mosquitoes off of me. Problem with it is it is an oil, so it is a bit like rubbing yourself down with vegetable oil, which I guess you kind of are.
I have a recommendation for a repellent and I am very surprised nobody has mentioned it.
Burts Bees insect repellent. I used that and it worked great! It is citronella oil plus other things, all natural, no deet, no nasty chemicals. I used it and it kept ticks, chiggers, and mosquitoes off of me. Problem with it is it is an oil, so it is a bit like rubbing yourself down with vegetable oil, which I guess you kind of are.
Yes, Burts Bees is very nice..... I don't want to be snotty, but LucidAnne & I both recommended this already.
Yes, Burts Bees is very nice..... I don't want to be snotty, but LucidAnne & I both recommended this already.
Oh, oops, sorry, didn't read the previous posts close enough. Okay, guess somebody did already mentiontion it, my bad. ;D
I didn't read every word...but I wanted to post this:
http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=93942&catid=10539
I've thought about purchasing it several times (it's Buzz Away Sunscreen Lotion with Citronella), but I haven't had any bug problems yet..and I'm still using up some other sunscreen. I think the reviews are ok.. ??? Might be worth a try.
My husband and his one sister get alot of bites, but I don't think as many as you did! I found some All terrian http://www.allterrainco.com/news.html a few yrs ago and it seems to work for my husband and worked for our daughter last yr too. She gets the welts, hard knots :'( from the bites and they like her alot too.
I have no idea where I put it away for this yr, but we are going to the beach in a few weeks so I need to get more because I heard the bugs can be bad there.
Good luck and have a good trip!
I have found neem oil to be fairly effective. I got on a kick when we lived in Savannah (where they grow mosquitoes the size of trucks; seriously, you could feel their weight on your skin) where a drop of peppermint oil with a neem product really seemed to work. Also, I noticed that when I was chewing mint gum, the attack seemed less severe. Didn't work with cinnamon....just mint. In any case it was enough to cause me to remember less bites, which is the ultimate goal here, right? ;)
Have a great trip. I haven't been around much lately; I take it Cali is much, much better?
A natural thing you can do is taking B1 (aka thiamine) daily preferably starting a month before you're in "bug country" I too have been told I must have "sweet blood" b/c I'd get eaten alive....but last year when I started taking B1 I only got 3 bites, whereas I used to get welts covering my entire body.....This year, I added oregano oil to my regimen, and when I camped in Indiana, I got a spider bite and two tick bites, but NO mosquitoes!!! Also, when I was bitten by the ticks, unlike my campmates, my bites didn't itch and didn't get infected....I attribute THAT to the oregano oil!
If you want a natural bug spray: 1.5oz spritz bottle + .25 oz dropper 1/2 full of oregano oil + filled w/ water = pizza scented bug spray!! This worked great for me last year
I however, prefer to injest both B1 and the oregano oil, simply because it will permeate throughout my ENTIRE body, vs a spray where I may miss a few spots.....hope this helps!
You know, it's funny, I was just thinking about this the other day: I remember US mosquito bites itching for days and days. Here, in Spain, the bites itch for a few hours, no more. The welts soon go down and the itching is gone. Different species? Maybe. Not that I'm complaining you understand!
Funny story: Yesterday morning we were going out shopping and when we got down to the entryway DH realised he'd left something behind. It was cool in the entryway so I stood there by an open window while he went back upstairs. This HUGE mosquito flew right past my face and I reflexively put out a hand to wave it away...somehow, we connected in midair and I knocked this, what I'm sure was a VERY surprised mosquito, to kingdom come! I could feel it flying through the air, not under its own power!
When DH came down again there I was, giggling madly. Fortunately, he's used to it...
Mosquitoes are attracted to specific chemicals in the carbon dioxide that you release. Some people have more of these chemicals than others (which explains why mosquitoes might eat you alive while ignoring the person next to you). "Repellents" don't actually repel mosquitoes but rather confuse their olfactory receptors so that they don't recognize you as a tasty treat!
I swear by marmite * (full of B vits) to heed off mossies - unfortunately my fella hates it too, so I have to limit my consumption otherwise I'd be one lonely lady :'(
*eaten - not applied! that would be insane :-D
I swear by marmite * (full of B vits) to heed off mossies - unfortunately my fella hates it too, so I have to limit my consumption otherwise I'd be one lonely lady :'(
*eaten - not applied! that would be insane :-D
Well I did wonder--according to the Marmite commercials, nothing would surprise me! LOL
(Marmite: the new tanning lotion!) :-D
Well...I feel kind of dumb. When you said you went canoeing with Cali, I thought you meant vegwebber Cali....and then I was confused as to why she replied to this thread and didn't say anything about your trip. Now I see from another thread that Cali is your dog...whoops! Carry on! ;D
A natural thing you can do is taking B1 (aka thiamine) daily preferably starting a month before you're in "bug country" I too have been told I must have "sweet blood" b/c I'd get eaten alive....but last year when I started taking B1 I only got 3 bites, whereas I used to get welts covering my entire body.....This year, I added oregano oil to my regimen, and when I camped in Indiana, I got a spider bite and two tick bites, but NO mosquitoes!!! Also, when I was bitten by the ticks, unlike my campmates, my bites didn't itch and didn't get infected....I attribute THAT to the oregano oil!
If you want a natural bug spray: 1.5oz spritz bottle + .25 oz dropper 1/2 full of oregano oil + filled w/ water = pizza scented bug spray!! This worked great for me last year
I however, prefer to injest both B1 and the oregano oil, simply because it will permeate throughout my ENTIRE body, vs a spray where I may miss a few spots.....hope this helps!
Thanks hanashi! I've been wondering WHICH of the B vitamins it is!
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