Natural Bug Repellant
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments
This week brings with it the the longest days of the year. Along with that comes mosquito season, at least here in Maryville, Tennessee.
Our family isn’t too fond of using chemical-based bug repellents. Spraying the kids down with unnatural sprays before they went outside to play just didn’t seem right, and so we turned to nature to see if we could find any solution. As it turns out, there are more than a few natural bug blockers (I guess Mother Nature knows best!), and we gathered them up and put them into a few of our products. It’s something we now feel pretty good about, as some studies have shown that repellents like DEET can have harmful effects (this one by a Duke Pharmacologist is particularly compelling).
Citronella, Pennyroyal, Eucalyptus and Lemongrass essential herbal oils are all distasteful to bugs, but are safe for use by humans. We’ve combined these four oils and have put them in both our Camper Soap and the Bug Off spray. Shower with the soap, or, before going outside sprinkle a few drops of water onto the bar and glide gently over your skin–you’ll love how it moisturizes your skin with olive and coconut oil, and bugs will hate that it repels them. Our family obviously swears by it, and use it before heading out to the garden or to the ballpark, but we’ve also had great feedback from customers throughout the years. Kathleen from Denver told me her mother is allergic to mosquito bites and therefore cannot go out if there is even a slight possibility of mosquitoes. She tried the Camper soap and does not get bitten any more. My favorite story is from Buffy Marie. She took the soap on a safari in Africa. Every morning she rubbed on the soap while her cohorts sprayed on the DEET. After two week she received only one mosquito bite (probably missed a place!) while her friends were eaten up.