DEET

I've been using the 3M 30% time release solution that comes in the bottle with the foam applicator. The attached applicator makes it so I don't have to get it on my hands, and doesn't add much weight to the bottle. I keep it in a small plastic bag in the event it leaks, though it hasn't yet.

I don't use DEET any more after I learned it repels fish, and you can't really wash it off yourself and or your gear. I have been using a product called "Cutter Advanced" with Picaridin for my skin. I bought it from hikelight.com. So far so good, it doesn't reek like DEET and feels a lot better. It says it won't harm plastics or synthetics.

Be warned, i have not been out during the worst of a hatch yet, I just switched this last fall. I have been carrying a headnet just in case. To note, I am a big fan of Permathin and use it on all my gear after a picked up a bunch of ticks right after I first started backpacking. Not one since. Good luck.

I use Repel with 30% oil of lemon eucalyptus and it has worked for me in heavy Sierra mosquito times… and I am a mosquito magnet, always get more bites than anyone if no repellent is available. Years ago it was the highest rated non DEET product in a study reported in the Wall St Journal, of all places. Before that, I used Bite Blocker, which came in second in that same study; it worked for me in SE Alaska on a trip, as well as the Sierra. There is reportedly something even better out now called Bio UD which performed better than DEET in tests. I'll try it when my current stuff runs out.

I also had some camera parts melted by DEET long ago, and haven't gone back to it.

well , this doesnt doesnt work for hiking, or in wind.

But I can say this, HANDS DOWN, THE MOST EFFECTIVE MOSQUITO REPELLENT THAT EXISTS IS THE THERMACELL DEVICE. This is a little $25 device that uses butane cartridge to heat a repellent soaked pad. It makes a mist of repellent that fills the air around you. Each pad lasts about 4 hrs.

I have sat in the swampy woods on still evenings with this by my feet in a deer stand many evenings in a cloud of mosquitos, without any coming withing 3 ft from me. Its so freaking wonderful, it brings tears to my eyes. The company could charge triple what they do for it and Id still buy it. Nothing else out there, nothing works like this.

Now to the point, the repellent is oil of chrysanthemum, or something like that.

There are repellents made with similar derived things, so they might really work. Ive used natrapel and been OK, as long as I used enough. Thats the problem, I dont like using much of anything I have to apply, so I basically depend on clothing treated with permethrin for hiking. spray minimum on hands, exposed skin

I lived in Costa Rica for a few years and realized early on that DEET, though effective, was not something I wanted to use on a daily basis. I began using lavender oil which I could apply directly to my skin and it worked well. Of course, at sunset in the tropics with the mosquitoes and ubiquitous no-see ums, you're never completely protected. Yet, I found lavender oil a viable alternative to other repellents that contain toxic chemicals. I also think it depends on how long you'll be needing protection. If it is only a few days, DEET has always been the most effective bug repellent, but I wouldn't want to use it for extended periods of time.

Long sleeve shirt and pants from tight woven nylon like supplex.

Netting over wide brimmed hat, tucked into shirt.

Look for "picaridin" or "Icaridin" in ingredient list on repellents.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icaridin
http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/PicaridinGen.html

I don't use DEET for the "melt plastic effect". Too much of my gear is plastic.
Have to read the ingredient list, though most have "active ingredient" on the front of the package.

I'm so glad to come across this post.
I am interested in what you said, Luis, regarding lavender.

I have a few questions though:

How did you fare in applying lavender oil to large areas of skin? Perhaps mixing it with something like coconut oil would make it into a spreadable substance? But whether or not the coconut oil would attract the buzzing beasts, I've not a clue.

Or perhaps mixing the lavender with Witch Hazel and spritzing it on the skin? Witch Hazel is an astringent, so maybe that would also assist in keeping the stinkin' suckers away…

A SOBO thru-hike of the AT is approaching in exactly one month, and we are starting in Maine so, yeah, dead center of the flying fury of insects (not to speak of ticks, which are a completely different subject here).

Something that would do the job without stripping my body of life (ahem, DEET) would be amazing. Your thoughts?

I've melted plastic too. Now I put my DEET in double package.

I tried Cedarcide Cedar oil but it didn't work

Thanks for all the opinions.

I've tried:
– DEET, works great for mosquitoes
– Permethrin, good for ticks, ineffective for mosquitoes
– Picardin, ineffective in my experience
– Citronella, worthless
– Headnet, works but not great at meals

I've not tried:
– Lemon Eucalyptus
– Bio UD
– IR3535

Our Boy Scout summer camp site is right next to a large patch of stagnant swampland. Perhaps I'll do some comparative testing next month and report back.

del

I never mixed the lavender oil with any other ingredients, but it may work. One thing to consider is that it is rather pricey so I used it sparingly. Probably the best investment I made was purchasing a silk long sleeve shirt and trousers that minimized, but did not completely eliminate bites. Some of the mosquitoes would still manage to get through, but at least I was comfortable. I don't know about Maine, but my ankles, back of the neck, and the lower sections of my wrists were always the most prone to bites, so I would apply the Lavender oil in those sections. By the way, the lavender oil has a nice scent, much better than any chemical repellant.

I have used homemade bug repellent ever since I was a kid and the stuff works well up in northern Ontario. Keeps all of the backflies/deerflies/horseflys away. Granted it does not smell the best so keeps just about anything else say as well.

Normally take a couple of days before the other ppl on trips with me start to use it as they are using the normal store bought stuff and still getting eaten alive and I don't have any bites

It is made using a mix of pine tar, oil of citronella and baby oil. Let me know if u are interested and I can pull out the recipe and post it

I do love the smell of lavender, so that would be a multi-use item for me–mentally therapeutic and keep the buggers away.

Bayden, I would love your 'bug dope' recipe. P-p-p-pleeease!

I avoid DEET like the plague. I tried permethrin last year (spraying my clothing until wet, letting dry, then wearing) with good success. I carry a headnet and gloves wherever I go, but last year they were not required. And we had a pretty bad mosquito season last year too.

I have tried picaridin, eucalyptus based, citronella; none have been effective for me. The timed release DEET stuff works well; concentrations of 30% and up have worked well for me, and seem to be just as effective as higher concentrations. I carry a headnet for camp, and basically only use the poison for during the day on the trail.

While DEET might not be that good for your skin, it's probably better than mosquito bites. Perhaps the more relevant issue is to determine how many days out of the year you're actually exposed to mosquitoes.

If it's primarily the trail, and not living in the tropics or some other place with a lot of mosquitoes, then we're talking days, maybe weeks. (Unless you're doing the PCT, etc.)

I'll take my special DEET blend of 3M and Ben's any day to keep bugs at bay and not be forced to wear extra clothing, headnets, etc, etc.

Here is the recipe for the homemade bug dope:

3 parts baby oil,
1 part pine tar (can be found in equestrian stores)
1 part oil of citronella.

actually i normally just add i bottle of the citronella oil. this is normally less than 1 part. Is is just there to help it smell a bit better

Try not to get any of the undiluted pine tar directly on your skin

so in other words if you had a 12 oz bottle of baby oil then add 4 oz of pine tar and up to 4 oz of oil of citonella. mix really well. lasts for a long time. One thing to note is that it is fairly oily and it will get on the outside of the bottle so I would recommend keeping the bottle inside a ziplock bag

We have used the gel baby oil and it works well just harder to mix. your choice

As I said before I have been using this stuff for years and almost never get bit when using it.

Bayden, that is invaluable! Acquiring the goods for it right now; can't wait to give it a try.
Thank you!

Another question regarding application: Is the mixture irritating to rub over large areas of your body, or do you typically dab it onto smaller areas?

I normally rub it on just like you would regular bug repellant

Awesome! Thanks for being so helpful

I just wanted to chime in on my experiences with various bug dopes.

To set the scene, I usually hike in the ADK's. This means lots of wet, swampy areas, rivers & streams, lakes & ponds, hills and mountains. Blackfly's are the bane of most of the NE and Canada. In the ADK's we get between 6-8 weeks where blackflys will coat a red granite rock to literal black. Some trails are low-land trails, like the NPT, most are mixed and some are high-land trails, like the Van Hovenberg Trail.

By far, the most effective bug deterent is heavy clothing and a fine head net. 100% of skin is covered with a layer thick enough or dense enough to stop bites. That said, I never use this. It is just too hot for hiking.

Second best is DEET/Permethrin. While permethrin is not really a repellant, it will kill ticks/mosquitoes/fleas/ants that may get into your sleeping bag and in your cloths. Coupled with high density nylon (DEET does NOT effect nylon) this will limit bites to two or three in a week, even in bug season. However, DEET does NOT work on Deerflies or huge assed horse flies. In some areas, they can still swarm you.

Third best (still with permethrin on my clothing,) Picarden works slightly better on mosquitoes, but not at all on blackflies (except for about 5-10 minutes after being freshly applied.) But, it only lasts about 30minutes to 1.5 hours. For comparison, DEET will last untill it is washed off or sweated off. I will use DEET knowing 4-5 applications in a week will be enough. With Picardin, I use a bottle per day. I got about 20 bites in a 4 day period.

Lavender Oil doesn't work in the ADK's except for a few mintutes of being freshly applied. Citronella doesn't work. I used three bracelets of citronella, my right arm got 12 bites. My left arm (DEET) got none. Over a three day period, I decided that was enough. Skin-so-soft doesn't work in the ADK's. Mosquitoes will still bite right through it. I believe the oils may deter the mosquitoes as much as the item being used, but this is a quess, only. Eucalyptus Oil works slightly better than citronella. It is not worth carrying to me. Pepermint, cedar, lemongrass all work as well as eucalyptus with varios effective times between 10 minutes and 30 minutes. An old time "bug dope" was kerosene and light tars. It was more effective than lemongrass. (I used it fishing the Black River in Forestport as a kid.) I remember getting about 1 or 2 bites per hour (and needing a bath when I got back…)

The risk of infection and disease is higher than the risk from DEET and permethrin. Permethrin should not be applied to skin or undercloths.

Just to play devils advocate here for a second:

I encounter countless people each year who base the safety or healthiness of a compound solely on its name. "All natural" remedies like a mold containing root that tale has it will help kill an infection must be safer than a bottle of penicillin because, after all, you're getting it from the earth and not a drug store. What many don't realize is that they may actually be doing more harm than good.

Drugs are almost always identified through a method called "screening." Typically, a company such as GSK will take a handful of soil, characterize all of the compounds in the sample, and run each compound against a specific disease. If the compound shows a positive response, it's selected, slight modifications made, and it's manufactured and sold. This for example is how penicillin, which comes from the mold Penicillium commonly found on bread, was discovered. The only difference between ingesting the moldy piece of bread (or some other root or extract or "natural" remedy) is you're also ingesting tens of thousand of other compounds, many of which are extremely toxic, and designed to lyse and kill all other non-plant cell.

DEET stands for N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide. Pine tar is primarily aromatic hydrocarbon, and what's one of the most common aromatic hydrocarbons? Toluene, as in the "toluamide" base in DEET. Though because you're not applying a pure compound, you're allowing your skin to absorb hundreds of other hydrocarbons, many of which are well known to cause cancer and be basis for some of the worlds deadliest compounds. Add to this the fact that DEET has never been definitively linked to any human health issue (according to the CDC, there have been only 6 deaths from 1961 to 2002 related to DEET, with 3 of them being intentional overdoses), and suddenly DEET doesn't sound so bad. And even in 15 years, if they do discover some 25% chance link between DEET and a health risk, there's a 100% chance if you get bitten by a mosquito with EEE, you're not going to be doing too well.

My point? Every substance has a weird synthetic sounding name, and often times, the "natural" compound you're taking is the same as the "synthetic" one. In the end, pine tar or DEET, it's the same basic compound, and considering how much better DEET works, and how much more it's been studied, I prefer to go with that.