Natural Insect Repellents (PHOTOS)

From Annie B. Bond with The Daily Green:

Whether you make homemade insect repellents or buy a safe brand, you can enjoy the outdoors without worrying about biting bugs.

I've dug deep into herbal lore for natural bug repellents that work. Living with dogs in tick country, loving to travel, and being chemically sensitive, my quest is personal. I was recently visiting a high-malaria risk area in Cambodia, for example, and as a result I felt I needed to take the best proven mosquito repellent available, but with my caveat: it also had to be nontoxic! I avoid DEET, the commonly recommended pesticide by pediatricians, but I needed something equally as effective. Tick and mosquito-borne diseases like Lyme disease, malaria and West Nile virus are no joke.

Fortunately, there are much safer alternatives found in natural food stores, and with carefully chosen essential oils, you can arm yourself with effective DIY formulas.

All photos and captions courtesy of The Daily Green.

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Don't let fear of bugs (or repellents) curtail your enjoyment of nature. By learning new, healthier ways to avoid insects, you can be outside as much as you want. Lifestyle changes combined with Herbal repellents are crucial to coexisting with bugs without coming to harm. > Related: The Most Affordable Natural Sunscreens

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Don't let fear of bugs (or repellents) curtail your enjoyment of nature. By learning new, healthier ways to avoid insects, you can be outside as much as you want. Lifestyle changes combined with Herbal repellents are crucial to coexisting with bugs without coming to harm.

> Related: The Most Affordable Natural Sunscreens

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About the Author

Annie B. Bond is the author of True Food: Eight Simple Steps to a Healthier You ($17.15 at amazon.com) and Home Enlightenment: Create a Nurturing, Healthy, and Toxin-Free Home ($6.20 at amazon.com). Learn more at anniebbond.com.

Published with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc.

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Comments

[Donna Frano]

08:35 AM on 08/29/2011

I swear (and so does my dog) by Liquid Net (all natural) to keep the mosquitoes at bay. http://www.liquidfence.com/liquid-net-insect-repellent.html

And, further testimony, for wasps and others of our blessed pollinators who sting and sometimes nest where they shouldn't, spray Victor's Poison Free Wasp and Hornet spray wherever you don't want them to nest. I DO NOT kill the critters themselves. Trust me, they don't build nest where this stuff has been sprayed, but it has a pleasant peppermint smell and does no harm to human or environment. For a LONG time (two years and counting now), no wasps will build where I sprayed. http://www.victorpest.com/store/sister-products/for-the-home/insect-control/M604

[SaltyWench]

04:40 PM on 08/25/2011

Cedarcide words great as well. Made from Texas red cedar. Though it does make you smell kind of like a hamster cage...

http://www.cedarcidestore.com/cedarproducts.html

[idyl]

10:40 AM on 08/25/2011

DEET is in the Toulene family of chemicals. It's basically like putting paint thinner on your skin. Ever seen how 100% DEET dissolves nylon, plastic, or fishing line? In a pinch, only use 30% at most (it works just as well). I travel a lot in mosquito ridden areas. My approach is always to cover up with light (avoid dark colors, especially navy blue) and tightly woven fabrics, and if needed put a little bit of 30% DEET on hands and face and neck. In clouds of mosquitos with no wind to protect you, a headnet or bug shirt is needed:

http://www.bugshirt.com/

[HappyBrit]

11:23 AM on 08/24/2011

Daily Vitamin B1 tablets. All you need to know :-)

[rMatey]

09:18 AM on 08/24/2011

I use those dryer sheets that make your clothes soft. Bugs don't like the smell. And they are non-irritating.

[idyl]

10:57 AM on 08/25/2011

Are you sure it's something natural in dryer sheets that is doing the protecting, and not the petroleum-based solvents and softeners?

[vanillacookie]

01:21 AM on 08/24/2011

I wonder if tea tree oil would repel insects? I know the smell repels me, but it also works very well for what I use it for. That Lysol smell it has is powerful!

[Left of Right]

01:08 PM on 08/23/2011

The best way to protect yourself from mosquitos is to take me with you everywhere you go. I draw them, and bees, and snakes, and scorpions, and centipedes, from miles away and while I am around, they concentrate only on me!

Proof: 978 billion mosquito bites, hundreds of bee stings (and I'm allergic), 1 copperhead bite, 3 scorpion bites, and 2 centipede stings. Oh, and a bite from a granddaddy long leg--they are venomous and it is said their mouth is too little to make a bite. I'm here to tell you that's not true! They bite!

Otherwise, thanks for all the good info from the article and posters.

[SavageLeto]

01:49 PM on 08/23/2011

Daddy long legs do not bite... You are thinking of something else...

They do not bite and are not venomous... They eat mites and have no reason to carry venom in anyway shape or form.

[Left of Right]

02:04 PM on 08/23/2011

Savage, you're right! I just looked it up, at least 1 source. Maybe it was a cellar spider (?): "Sometimes, the name daddy longlegs is used for another group of arachnids, the spiders of the family Pholcidae. These spiders are also called cellar spiders. Cellar spiders do have venom glands. However, there is no scientific evidence whatsoever to confirm that their venom can harm a human being. Not a single documented case exists of a person being bitten by one and having an adverse reaction.

Pholcid spiders do have short fangs, but not any shorter than other spiders that have been known to bite humans. The cellar spider's fangs are similar in structure to those of a brown recluse spider, which we know can and does bite humans.

This link has the picture and looks like a longlegs: http://insects.about.com/od/noninsectarthropods/f/daddylongvenom.htm

I was pulling weeds in front of a shed, felt something bouncing around in my bangs, brushed it with my hand and what fell was what I thought was a daddy longlegs. Didn't think much of it, but a few minutes later started having a local reaction on my forehead and within a few hours it got worse and worse: eye swelled shut and even had a water bag under my eye. Off to the doc and once again, treated with a cortizone shot and antibiotics. ( I think I'm allergic to all bugs!)

Thanks!

[vanillacookie]

01:15 AM on 08/24/2011

I got bit by a daddy long legs. Killed the sucker when it happened.

[MuckyPup]

12:14 PM on 08/23/2011

My natural insect repellent is my partner. If I'm anywhere outside with him, the bugs will go straight past me and feast on him. Works beautifully ;)

[Texas13]

11:27 AM on 08/23/2011

Another great product from a great "Pure" company.. Climb On! https://climbonp.accountsupport.com/cgi-bin/cart/agora.cgi?p_id=43

[Ayla McIntosh]

10:24 AM on 08/23/2011

Great tips

[MexiChick67]

10:05 AM on 08/23/2011

By accident our family found that mosquitos do not like Vicks Vaporub. We were camping and trying to keep mosquitos at bay with the usual barrage of the usual DEET sprays. They didn't work. We dabbed Vicks on our clothing and noticed that the mosquitos stayed away. Later we met some hikers who dabbed essence of eucalyptus oil on themselves for the same effect.

[eyelashviper]

10:16 AM on 08/23/2011

Camphor oil is also good...I found out by accident, after slathering my arms with Noxzema (the original formula) and going outside...not a skeeter came near, and the cream is soothing.

[Tyler-Durden]

10:02 AM on 08/23/2011

once upon a time i had to call my apartment's maintenance crew because ants were coming in through a skylight in the ceiling which i couldn't reach without a huge ladder.

the maintenance guy had a can of bug spray which he used around the window and across the ceiling.

i noticed the spray smelled like peppermint, and i asked him about it so he showed me the can. it was an aerosol bug killer, described as 'all natural', with the active ingredient being PEPPERMINT OIL.

it was definitely effective on the ants. and my apt. smelled like a big candy cane, instead of toxic fumes.

dang if i can find the product ANYWHERE.

[eyelashviper]

10:13 AM on 08/23/2011

You should be able to find it at a good health food store. Many carry essential oils, you just have to mix up your own spray in a bottle with water..

[oneyippie]

09:54 AM on 08/23/2011

"Add 10-15 ounces of essential oils per ounce of liquid Castile soap"

Don't you have that backwards? 10-15 ounces of any essential oil is a HUGE amount costing a lot of money. I think it's one ounce of oil per 10-15 ounces of Castile soap. That makes sense.

[MexiChick67]

10:00 AM on 08/23/2011

You are right. Essential oils are sold by the ounce and they are very expensive.

[Tyler-Durden]

10:07 AM on 08/23/2011

could also be 10-15 drops per ounce.

too bad PROOFREADING is sooo last century! get with the times, dude! accuracy and facts are irrelevant; only headlines and extreme sound-bite reactions matter to "journalists" now.

EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEEEME!! ha

[oneyippie]

10:10 AM on 08/23/2011

Yes, after I posted I noticed they were talking "drops" in another frame. That makes sense too.

[jedonspring]

09:28 AM on 08/23/2011

In Florida we're been bothered lately by gnats. A couple of drops of real vanilla behind the ears seems to get rid of them.

[mzrecycle]

07:27 AM on 08/23/2011

P.S. I've also learned that dryer sheets are good. The non-scented ones are just as effective as scented. Rub over exposed areas of skin. I then slip the sheet thru a belt loop.