Natural Mosquito Repellants

[asdflkj]

I live in a mosquito-infested area. Are there any natural repellants I can use (preferably not store bought)?

[feline01]

You could try consuming alot of B-12, maybe extra nutritional yeast. A doctor told me and my husband last year that mosquitoes don't seem to like B-12. I was never particularly bitten alot but my husband was a walking dinner plate to them, when he began taking 200mgs of B12 a day, they stopped biting him.

[vegma]

That's good to know! My son and I are "walking dinner plates":p too! My dh isn't as sweet, I guess!:D

[ariix]

Interesting... I hope the B12 spray I ordered arrives before I go to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for a conference next week, so I can try that out! I hear all there is there are mosquitoes! :p
I've also heard you can use citronella essential oil, I guess you just dab on a bit on exposed skin areas...

[PikkuMyy]

The New England Journal of Medecine did a big study and found that of all natural repellants, our friend the soybean's oil worked better than any other. So if you buy a commercial natural one, make sure that soy oil is the main ingredient. If you can't find one, you can make your own using soy oil (vegetable oil) and some other nice essential oils like lavendar and citronella to make it smell better and be even more effective. They did say you needed to apply it much more frequently than chemical ones but that it worked about the same.

[ariix]

Well, my B12 spray actually did arrive before I left for the conference, and so I was taking that and I made soy oil repellent too. I mixed it with a few drops of tangerine oil to make it smell nice. Who knows for sure if it was those things or not, but I didn't get bitten even though some people I was with were getting bitten! :)

[PikkuMyy]

I need to be wearing it at night! Last night I got a big ole bite on my butt and it's not fun! I also have about 5 others from the nights before.

My question is, how did the mosquito get under the covers to get to my butt, bite it, and get back out without being squished? I guess she might not have made it back out...

[ariix]

Originally posted by PikkuMyy
I need to be wearing it at night! Last night I got a big ole bite on my butt and it's not fun! I also have about 5 others from the nights before.

My question is, how did the mosquito get under the covers to get to my butt, bite it, and get back out without being squished? I guess she might not have made it back out...
Hmmmm... I get bites at night like that sometimes, but it's not mosquitos... It's because my stray cat friends bring in fleas! :p

[alexis]

I get bites on places like the cartiledge of my ear, the side of my pinky and even in between my toes. Those buggers are sly, they really are. Carry a bottle of lavender oil, apply it neat (or diluted if you have sensitive skin) to exposed areas or just drop it neat on hemlines of your clothes. And use the same oil for treating a bite. I'm yet another walking dinner plate, especially when I visit my boyfriend's place.

[asdflkj]

Thanks for all the great replies! I ended up in the Everglades (where the mosquitoes are ravenous in the summer!). I just can't stand DEET; it's so potent, it took the stain off of our table. Like I'd want to put that on my skin.