Our family has been spending a lot of time in the "Big Woods of Wisconsin" of late, where the blood thirsty mosquitoes are thick and persistent. We have gotten to try out a few mosquito repellents. We have not tested an extensive amount of repellents, just three to be precise, but, of the three, two stood out. The two that worked best had the active ingredient: Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus as 30% of the solution. We had a Colman brand spray and a Repel brand spray each with the active ingredient: Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus. They both work just as well as each other. We sprayed them on pretty heavily and they repelled mosquitoes for a couple hours. Not quite as well as the advertised six hours of protection, but still much better than the other spray we tried.
Don't waste your money on the Off! brand botanicals® spray. The active ingredient in that repellent is p-Menthane-3,8-diol. It is a derivative of pine oil extract. It only worked for 20-30 minutes before needing to be reapplied.
The price point for the Eucalyptus sprays was right at $5. I am not aware of what the Off! brand one cost, but what ever amount of money it cost, it was not worth the price. Maybe in conditions with less persistent armies of mosquitoes in would have faired better.
I would be interested in hearing your recommendations for natural, or somewhat natural, mosquito repellents. If you have any please leave a comment with that information!
2 comments:
That's good to know! I've been getting quite a few mosquito bites outdoors lately, and have been wanting to find something that actually works. It's no fun being awake half the night itching from the bites!
Thank you for the comment, Sarah! I'm glad you found our experience helpful! The itching is no fun and neither is seeing your children's faces looking like they have chicken pox!
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