DIY Insect Repellent

[loess]

simple, DEET-free and chemical free. two ingredients: alcohol and essential oil(s). You will need:

- Everclear (AKA grain alcohol, 190 proof). a pint should run you around $10. this stuff is illegal to sell in some states, so if you can't get it try denatured ethyl alcohol (usually available from hardware stores). it's cheaper and would probably work fine, but i've not tried using it. if you do get Everclear, please don't be dumb and hurt or kill yourself drinking a bunch of it.

- any of the following essential oils from your local health food store: lemongrass, cedarwood, citronella, juniper, lemon, myrrh, palmarosa, pine, rose geranium and/or rosemary.

- 3 oz plastic spritzer bottles/atomizers, available from Walgreens for like $3 for a package of four. or find a partially full perfume bottle or body spritzer, empty it out and rinse it well.

mix one cup grain alcohol to 2 1/2 teaspoons of essential oil. i used lemongrass oil and it worked great for the mosquitos here in southeast Nebraska, but a mixture of several different types of oils would be more effective for a variety of species in a variety of regions, in addition to ticks (rose geranium oil is the best for ticks) and other bugs.

a few important notes:

1) DO NOT APPLY THIS REPELLENT TO CHILDREN. alcohol will absorb through skin, and children are much more sensitive to it (duh), so too much can lead to liver damage.

2) grain alcohol is highly flammable. 'nuff said.

3) keep in mind that you can always crush the leaves of any of the plants mentioned above and rub them on your skin to repel mosquitos et. al.

4) if you get bit by a mosquito, you can crush a leaf of wild Plaintain leaf and rub it on the bite to soothe and reduce swelling. Plaintain is easy to spot, it grows all over the place in disturbed soil, which means cities, backyards, sidewalks. it's also edible and quite nutritious, but be weary of gathering Plaintain from industrial areas, near roads, and around old houses with lead paint.

 

[Beyond The Sun]

Thanks, that was really informative. Gotta love Everclear.

Question though. What is it about the grain alcohol that deters pests? Could you use a lower proof alcohol, or even solely the essential oils? Just curious.

 

[Mouse]

the grain is just the medium to dilute the oils.. kinda like spray on sun screen or hair spray.. you put it on, the acl evaporates and leaves your skin feeling dry but the oils are evenly distributed so as to not feel sticky or gross.


and I can attest to the danger of that fucking everclear. Just don't drink it. Don't. bad things happen. I'll never forget that episode til the day I die because I almost did.

 

[loess]

The alcohol isn't there as a deterrent; it's used as a base to carry and disperse the essential oil. Essential oils are highly concentrated and cause severe skin irritation and/or allergic reactions if applied undiluted. So you use alcohol as a base to carry and disperse the essential oil. You could just as easily use a moisturizing oil such as almond oil or coconut oil or a different vegetable oil as a insect repelling lotion. It wouldn't evaporate as quickly but it might also clog up your pores on a hot day?

I don't know why you couldn't use distilled water in place of the alcohol, but every homemade insect repellent recipe I come across searching Google says to use alcohol. Some essential oils aren't water soluble, so maybe that's why...for some reason alcohol must be a better carrier than plain water. I am kind of concerned about the strength of the alcohol in the above recipe because it evaporates more quickly than water (so you have to apply it more often, which in turn would dry out your skin more). So actually maybe a combination of distilled water and alcohol would be better in the recipe I posted above. And for kids I would go with distilled water + essential oil only, or coconut oil + essential oil. Even better would be fractionated coconut oil + essential oil...longer shelf life and fractionated coconut oil is light enough that it can be sprayed. In any case all of these ingredients are WAY safer than the evil DEET!

I have been geeking out about this stuff way too much lately

 

[Teko]

you can soak a paper towel, piece of cloth, or anything really in listerine and for some reason, that keeps the mosquitos away. also works well when sprayed on things. but i had the best results in soaking it on a paper towel.:arrgh:

 

[farmer john]

off topic but plantain is edible

 

[veggieguy12]

Great share, thanks!

 

[finn]

...

I don't know why you couldn't use distilled water in place of the alcohol, but every homemade insect repellent recipe I come across searching Google says to use alcohol. Some essential oils aren't water soluble, so maybe that's why...for some reason alcohol must be a better carrier than plain water. ...

Alcohol is basically a universal solvent, works on oil and water soluble stuff. For instance if you have a greasy mess, plain water won't do much, but alcohol will, though there are cheaper things for that.

 

[anne]

This is good to know! I've heard of applying plantain to mosquito bites but I never thought of making bug spray. I usually go without because I don't like the commercially made stuff and end up feeling miserable.

 

[christianarchy]

This is good to know! I've heard of applying plantain to mosquito bites but I never thought of making bug spray. I usually go without because I don't like the commercially made stuff and end up feeling miserable.

i'd heard something similar, but not that plantains or bananas help bites, but act as a mosquito (or perhaps insect altogether) repellent.
anyone else know if this is true?
it'd be a good mythbusters..

 

[tallhorseman]

I don't know if this is true or not, but I've read that if you eat a clove of garlic daily insects won't touch you...of course, neither will your girlfriend...CAUSE YOU SMELL LIKE GARLIC!!!

 

[spearchukka]

Lemon grass oil will work to some degree but it is not as potent as citronella oil (long term citronella has been implemented with a few health risks!).
Neem oil is by far the most effective and can be applied directly to the skin with many benefits. The better the quality of the oil, the better the results. There is no need to mix oils with alcohol, a better alternative is to use a carrier oil, grape seed oil is best but any edible oil will work (strong scented E.V. Olive oil may attract certain flies). Alcohol is not great for your skin, destabilizes certain oils and hastens the evaporation of the essential oils. Best of all are water miscible oils, these can be mixed with water, saving on pack weight. They are however harder to find and generally more expensive (never come across water misc. Neem oil either).
I use Neem oil as it is really good for your skin, insects generally hate it but.........it does smell like peanut butter and garlic mixed up.

Plantain is a tremendous plant with many benefits to the immune system and as forementioned by loess, it has great skin soothing properties. The most is to be gained from eating it (vitamins, nutirents and fibre), a small spoonful of the dried husks are great for thickening soups, the leaves can be treated as spinach (you do have to de-string leaves) and dried leaves are make an interesting tea.
BE CAREFUL not to pick Plantain track side! There are a lot of Residual and Systemic Herbicides sprayed by the RR co's to keep the vegetation off tracks, ever wondered how tracks unused for a decade or so often have little growth?!!!!
The Residual Herbicides are the worst and plantain is resistant to them....this means that the Plantain can exist whilst containing high levels of the chemical.
Hope this helps, this subject is 'my bag of ferrets' , be happy to answer any Q's on gypsy medicine/ wild nutrition.

 

[spearchukka]

Lemon grass oil will work to some degree but it is not as potent as citronella oil (long term citronella has been implemented with a few health risks!).
Neem oil is by far the most effective and can be applied directly to the skin with many benefits. The better the quality of the oil, the better the results. There is no need to mix oils with alcohol, a better alternative is to use a carrier oil, grape seed oil is best but any edible oil will work (strong scented E.V. Olive oil may attract certain flies). Alcohol is not great for your skin, destabilizes certain oils and hastens the evaporation of the essential oils. Best of all are water miscible oils, these can be mixed with water, saving on pack weight. They are however harder to find and generally more expensive (never come across water misc. Neem oil either).
I use Neem oil as it is really good for your skin, insects generally hate it but.........it does smell like peanut butter and garlic mixed up.

Plantain is a tremendous plant with many benefits to the immune system and as forementioned by loess, it has great skin soothing properties. The most is to be gained from eating it (vitamins, nutirents and fibre), a small spoonful of the dried husks are great for thickening soups, the leaves can be treated as spinach (you do have to de-string leaves) and dried leaves are make an interesting tea.
BE CAREFUL not to pick Plantain track side! There are a lot of Residual and Systemic Herbicides sprayed by the RR co's to keep the vegetation off tracks, ever wondered how tracks unused for a decade or so often have little growth?!!!!
The Residual Herbicides are the worst and plantain is resistant to them....this means that the Plantain can exist whilst containing high levels of the chemical.
Hope this helps, this subject is 'my bag of ferrets' , be happy to answer any Q's on gypsy medicine/ wild nutrition.

 

[spearchukka]

oh.........and the broad leafed plantain (Plantago Major) pictured above is the correct type, the narrow leaved plantain (Plantago Lanceolatta) is only edible in small amounts and is much more bitter.

 

[drinkycrow]

I don't know if this is true or not, but I've read that if you eat a clove of garlic daily insects won't touch you...of course, neither will your girlfriend...CAUSE YOU SMELL LIKE GARLIC!!!

... this totally works! onions work as well and raw garlic and onions are defuckinlicious...

 

[40 Hands]

... this totally works! onions work as well and raw garlic and onions are defuckinlicious...

Its what ive done all summer

 

[acrata4ever]

denatured alcohol is toxic to your liver absorbed through the skin.

 

[spraq]

I don't know if this is true or not, but I've read that if you eat a clove of garlic daily insects won't touch you...of course, neither will your girlfriend...CAUSE YOU SMELL LIKE GARLIC!!!

Me and my friends where spanging, as kids, and a guy gave us garlic and we where just thinking "what the fuck we can't buy beer with this" but he told us a bunch of interesting stuff about it and insect repellant was one of those things.

 

[ped]

Onions work because of the sulfur in them. So anything with sulfur will help repel mosquitos. Or so the wisdom goes. Don't know if it has actually been proven though.

 

[Ekstasis]

Vick's vapor rub is supposed to repel mosquitoes. I haven't got to try it yet.