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Written by Stuart Goring
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I bet there’s quite a few of you that like me dread one aspect of the warmer weather - Culex spp, Culicoides impunctatus and all their mates. Mosquitoes, midges and all sorts of biting, sucking insects come out to play, leaving those vulnerable to at best an itch and at worst some serious illnesses.
 I’ve lived with being feasted upon all my life and so I’ve used a great many deterrents (and after-bite products!) through the years, each one offering a bit more than the other, sometimes at the expense of my watchstrap!
Over the past month I’ve done a little experiment with the product PreVent, which is an insect repellent made from pyrethrins. (extracts from African chrysanthemums). The experiment has gone something like this … I go out into the woods and spray my arms, neck and head with PreVent, I leave my legs unsprayed and vulnerable.
Application of the repellent is easy as the container has a press button spray cap that dispenses 50mg doses, 400 of them. I found the best thing to do was spray in a few places and then spread it about with the back of my hand. The container is just under 110mm long and about 20mm across so it’s easy to keep in your pocket or bag. Printed on the bottle are also some instructions for using the repellent for keeping a room clear of flying insects, mosquitoes and flies. The manufacturer claims that the protection should last up to 6 hours and although this might be possible I think you’re realistically going to use it more than that.
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 Overall this type of repellent is safer to use, especially on children and those with sensitive skin. It’s also more ecologically sound as it’s a natural product in an ozone friendly spray. It also tends to be less oily on the skin and has practically no smell.
The conclusion I’ve come to is based on the results of my less than subjective test: I managed to get 56 midge bites on my legs and 1 (yes one!) on my arm so I think that the effectiveness of the product speaks for itself. It’s easy to apply, effective and basically, ‘it does what it says on the box’. There are other choices out there, especially for more demanding environments but for most uses this is an excellent product that stands up to the demands of bushcraft as well as being environmentally friendly. This is a good product. |
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Stuart Goring
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