Mosquito repellants

[cm39]

Wasn't sure wether to put here or beauty but here goes!
Went to Spain last year and it's the first time in my life I got bitten quite badly on my legs. Know it's a common thing but it put a bit of a downer on the holiday tbh due to me feeling like I looked awful.
What's a good product to use for anyone whose suffered before please x

Citronella supposed to be good and tea tree oil to treat bites.

Only stuff that I’ve found really works is from New Zealand - you can get it online these days. It’s called repel and comes in sticks. The stuff they sell is either crap or melts all your plastic/ rubber items and makes dye come off everything you touch (deet)

This is repel

Sorry I meant he stuff they sell in the U.K. is crap - in the likes of Boots etc.

Bug off spray is good but you can’t get that here either (its popular in the Caribbean)

This is what Off! Looks like

www.pharmacydirect.co.nz/Repel/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8KO2lcuB3AIVCLDtCh2xrg_QEAAYASAAEgKUVfD_BwE

I live in mosquito land. Super strength Jungle Formula seems to keep them away. Avon Skin So Soft is also quite good if you can't bear to drench yourself in deet. I think that frequent application is the key as in a hot climate it sweats off.

For bites:
Anthisan cream

emergency household treatment for bites:
vinegar
dry soap

Anything with deet in. Also keep windows shut at night with ac on, if you dont have fly screens in the windows. And buy yourself a can of mosquito killer. Prevention being the best thing. We do all the above and might get a bite or two over 6 months.

By the way the worst time is evening, as the sun goes down, dusk.

I live in the Canadian Rockies where mosquitos are really bad. A high strength (25-30%) DEET based repellent works, but, as a PP mentioned, it is a very harsh and toxic chemical and it can damage leather furniture when your skin makes contact with it, melt nail varnish, etc.

Unfortunately nothing gentler that I've tried works for our mozzies. (SSS and citronella are totally ineffective in my experience.)

I tend to skip repellent a lot of the time because it's so grim to use and instead just cover up as much as possible, stay indoors of an evening when they're really bad and also I take daily antihistamines when being outdoors at the worst times is unavoidable.

Probably the only tip out of that lot that you might want to try on a holiday is the non-drowsy antihistamine?

I go to Caribbean very regularly. Jungle formula works for me - but not the spray, the roll on is more effective. I buy from Savers it's £2 or thereabouts.

I never forget to use the roll on whilst there, I carry it out with me so I can top up every few hours. Definitely has to go on when that dusk chorus starts. But you can get bitten both day and night.

Also use Avon Skin So Soft, the one in the green bottle.

If you're in a high mosquito area then a stand up oscillating fan in your room - it blows them about, they don't like it.

You can buy an electric insect killer to plug in and leave in your room.

People do use Bop or Off spray. Mainly for spraying your room and then shutting the door before heading out for the day. Not for when you're sitting indoors.

I've never known citronella to work.

You can buy mosquito coils if you can stand the smoke.

Daily antihistamine tablet in case you get bitten as it helps with itching, and stopping the bite from raising.

Trousers and loose fitting long sleeved top for evenings makes sense. If like me you don't always want to wear that then you just have to be vigilant about repellent

Deet is not the only option though- there is a relatively new alternative to deet (still a chemical but it is not as harsh and does not melt plastic- you never realise how much stuff has plastic in until you wear deet!). As I linked to previously- the Repel stuff contains it. It’s called picaridin

Yes, meant to say the Off! spray is for the room - not you.

Jungle formula does not work well for me. None of the boots stuff work either. Mozzies love me unfortunately.

The only stuff you can buy in the U.K. that really works is deet based. It’s not well blended though and smells bad, is very greasy. Honestly better to buy online from abroad as our market for insect repellent is not very developed because we don’t have a huge mozzie problem like other countries. You can get better stuff in a corner shop in the Caribbean, for less. We’re flogged crap products for silly prices. Probably something to do with the EU. Perhaps I should go into insect repellent imports post Brexit

repel doesn’t smell bad btw. It actually smells really good and is non greasy

I can’t go without insect repellents- especially in the tropics.

DP usually gets savaged by mosquitos, but someone told me that if he took a vitamin B every day the week before hols and every day during it would prevent bites. It totally worked! He just got a cheap £land B complex bottle and he couldn't believe it. Not one bite. I on the other hand used spray but got bitten 🤷🏼‍♀️ it's something to do with the scent coming off your skin when you take them apparently.

It's true about Vitamin B apparently, the garlic one is a myth tho.

Who knows why mosquitoes are more attracted to some...

Best stick to what works for you

Picaridin based repellents have been available in N.America too for a good few years BlueKittens.

The one I tried was as effective as DEET at repelling biting bugs for a very short while but it needed far too frequent reapplication (wearing off in under a couple of hours, despite claiming that one application should be effective for 12 hours!)

I'll try different brands and see if they've all got the same problem, or if some last better than others.

You need something with DEET in it. Seriously, my legs are like a feast for mosquitoes and I get eaten alive. Jungle formula is the only thing which works.

All the other tales about eating garlic and citronella don't work.

Bought high strength Deet for my trip this coming weekend (involves walking through woodland and wet areas - will it melt my plastic glasses frames and lenses?

A quick google confirmed that it does melt certain plastics- the key to use seems to be careful application and washing hands afterwards...

Vitamin B, a spray called odomos and a local citronella spray that we get in Greece. I take antihistamines daily anyway and find thatvinegar or germolene are good at getting rid of bites if they do happen. We also burn the spirals on the balcony and keep all windows closed.

lettucewrap the difficulty I’ve found is containing the deet when sweating in hot climates. Yes you can wash your hands, but I find with sweat, deet travels. I’ve had melted bags, clothes, phones, earphones- all sorts.

mountainpeak thank you for sharing all your experiences- people like you who rely on this stuff daily provide much better advice and insight than those of us who travel 2 or 3 times a year. As far as I know the picaridin not available in U.K. yet- not that I’ve seen

Antihistamines are fine for the med so that bites don’t appear, but if you’re travelling in the tropics - places with risk of serious, fatal diseases, then you really need to avoid getting bitten in the first place. Sorry if that’s obvious! My mum also needs to avoid getting bitten as she is allergic and has very bad reactions (eg massive boils the size of an orange appear and her whole leg becomes inflamed)

Thanks so much for the replies.
I've never been bitten until last year and got quite a lot, started in the night I woke scratching behind my knee to find a huge lump and from there it got worse. So think it was in the bedroom. Going to the same place this year and am worrying about it!
I'll buy it all!!!
Does it go on before or after suncream during the day?!

Bluekittens, think I’ll be looking at non deet alternatives today.
The holiday is in Northern and Central Europe so it’s more about our reactions to the bites, rather than deadly disease.