Repelling Bugzzz

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Cairodel

Nomad
Nov 15, 2004
254
4
71
Cairo, Egypt.
We have insect-repellent "wet-wipes" available here containing 'citronella, pine oil, propylene glycol, isopropanol and lavendar perfume'. Yesterday morning on my first walk down the park, the flies were particularly active, so before my second trip (see avatar) applied one of these to my arms, face, ears and neck.
Within two hours, my skin was tingling everywhere that had been treated, and by the evening I was displaying all the signs of a sunburn that I would only get after more than three or four hours trek in the desert, and was feeling a bit "woozy". :soapbox:
My point is (HURRAY....!!) that something (probably the 3rd & 4th items) in the solution sensitised my skin to the effects of the sun in a very short time (less than half an hour), and that with the sunnier days ahead, could be something for you all to watch out for.
As an aside, I make up my my own repellent using Johnson's oil with citronella, lemon grass and aloe vera oils added in small quantities which works very well - I'll stick to that in future, and use the proprietary brand only after sundown. :rolleyes:
 

spamel

Banned
Feb 15, 2005
6,833
21
48
Silkstone, Blighty!
I heard a rumour that tomato plants will keep flies away, of course you can't cart one about with you. I decided to try this out and our balcony remains fly free so far! Maybe it does work!!
 

Tiffers

Member
Mar 10, 2006
49
1
Wiltshire
I had a similar reaction once and as I didnt used to burn at all it surprised me. When I looked at the ingredients though you are basically giving yourself a nice light coating of oil....

Just as an interesting point if there are any horse owners here. From August 31st (or thereabouts) pretty much most of the standard fly repellants for use on your horses will be illegal to sell. There are a whole series of ingredients that have been banned and there will only be one or two products available.

Tiffers
 
F

Freds Dad

Guest
Instead of rubbing on chemicals try vitamin B12 tablets. If you take 3 of 4 of these a day a few days before your trip into the woods or bug laden areas (quick trips to the park don't count) you'll find it does something to your sweat that the creepies do not like. Last year there was a big hoo-har about viamin b keeping mosquitos away. Woopee, said I, I've been doing that for 20 years since a nice Scout master/leader called Bud Hedblom showed me it while on a canoe trip down the west branch of the Penobscot river in North Maine USA. the alternaive is boil up yarrow achillea millifolium and rub the boiled down liquid on. the only trouble with this is you smell a little of compost. Another one is Avon moisurising cream. this was reported in the UK papers that the para's were using this in Iraq. I was shown this a few years ago by a freind who took it on a scout camp. It's nice to see the military keeping up with the worlds largest youth movement. Next year all my troop had pots of the stuff. The avon rep in my village couldn't work out why she sold so much in the summer until I explained why.
 

hilltop

Banned
May 14, 2006
110
1
55
edge of the peak district
neat tea tree oil . sold in herbalists and chemists, been all over the world and the only thing that comes close is deet but i dont like using it after melting some nylon gear with it a few years back, tea tree oil is the biz,
 

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