Get ‘em off without OFF

Thanks to kozzmen on Flickr

As a kid I was always the member of our family most bitten by mosquitoes. My mom said it was because I was so sweet, which is not far from the truth. I don’t mean “sweet” as in nice and well-behaved, but made of sugar! If you are what you eat, I was a big scoop of Rocky Road ice cream while growing up. We spent four years in Metairie, Louisiana, which was about four years longer than I would have liked. Between the heat, the humidity and the bugs, I was almost constantly sick except for a few months in winter. The bug problem down there was horrible. Big trucks would come by and spray a cloud of pesticide down all the streets a couple times a month. The neighbor kids would go out and dance in the cloud. I was so angry at my mom for not letting me join in! (Kids.)

And the bites. Oh, they hurt and swelled and itched like mad. Everyone else got these nice little white bumps that healed in a day or two. I got huge clear blisters on top of the white bumps that would get infected even if I didn’t scratch. Mom wouldn’t let me leave the house without being sprayed, head to toe, in the strongest “bug juice” she could buy. I always smelled like a camper, and not in a good way.

As an adult, one of the biggest misgivings I had moving to the Southeast from the Pacific Northwest was the bugs. All my kids get bites, but not more than one bite every couple days, and only one child has a bad reaction to the bites. I kind of expected it from my allergic and eczema-covered child, but she doesn’t really get bitten. It’s my carb-loading, sugar addicted, immune-suppressed Christy that gets eaten alive by the nasty bloodsucking insects here. And, like mine, her bites are truly nasty. When she is bitten, our best bet is to immediately get ammonia on the bite. Sometimes that keeps it from forming a blister, and the bite stays a nice, small white bump like “normal” people get.

Since I’ve been studying nutrition, I’ve heard several reports that a diet of carbs and sugar attracts biting bugs. That makes sense to me. And we are making small, slow, long-term changes to our diet. But in the meantime, mosquito season is in full swing here already. I do not want to spray poison all over my children. The skin is an organ, after all, and what goes on it goes into our bodies. I can’t imagine many worse insults to a growing child’s body than to pump an organ full of poison! What’s a mother to do?

I found an insect repellent at the Mercola site last year and gave it a shot. It was pretty badly overpriced, so when we ran out, I made my own based on the ingredients on the label. I am surprised at how well it works!

Homemade Insect Repellent Spray (Citronella style)

In a spray bottle, combine a half ounce each of citronella oil, lemongrass oil and peppermint oil in four ounces of distilled water. Add three drops of grapefruit seed extract and shake well before each use.

I get all the oils and extract at the health food store. I make a small amount each time so the essential oils don’t lose their potency.

My kids hate the smell of citronella, so I will occasionally use the following recipe instead. I find it isn’t quite as effective for the “sweet” among us, but works as well as the citronella variety on those that aren’t as prone to bug bites.

Herbal Insect Repellent

lemon peels and orange peels
mint or sage leaves
witch hazel
grapefruit seed extract

Put several lemon and orange peels and mint or sage leaves in a non-metal pan and add water to cover. Bring to a boil and steep 5 minutes. Let cool overnight, covered, in the same pan. Strain out the solid ingredients and mix the water half and half with witch hazel. Add three drops of grapefruit seed extract. Put in a spritz bottle and shake before using.

If you prefer something a little more long-lasting, you can infuse the herbals into oil:

Herbal Insect Repelling Oil

Warm a cup of coconut oil just to melting and pour into a quart-sized mason jar. Grate in the peels of one lemon and one orange. Bruise a handful of mint or sage leaves by squeezing them in your hand, then add to oil. Cover and let stand for a month before using. Strain out solids and add to a lotion bottle. Add three drops of grapefruit seed extract. Shake before each use.

If you are going camping or hiking in the woods, a good addition to any of these recipes would be a few drops of the liquid from a pressed clove of garlic to repel ticks as well.

Please, please test a small patch on your skin before spraying any of these formulations all over!