TIP! Make your own bug spray
It smells better, it’s better for you, and the bugs just adore it! I mean…the opposite of that.
This TIP! is one that I requested from my very own sister, who shares a lot of my DNA, which mosquitoes love to slurp up1 through their stupid anatomical straws. One day, someone will find tiny bits of our genetic code encased in amber. We will be cloned, sister. We will be cloned. Or, maybe just made into a decoration for the head of a rich man’s cane!
She started making her own bug spray when her similarly afflicted child needed a thing that is not Bottle Full o’ Chemicals, and now, they both smell fantastic. And as far as I can tell, are welt-free. Or at least welt-lite.
I just mix a few drops of lavender oil and tea tree oil in water and shake it up. I keep it near the door or in her diaper bag in a plastic squeeze bottle. I apply it via washcloth or cotton ball (when she was smaller). I use it on myself too! I can’t be 100% sure of its effectiveness but it seems to work, and it smells great.
My sister’s purse. And her bottle of oil. And her thing of sunscreen. SUMMER!
- FUN FACT! It’s not that mosquitoes love some of us over others, it’s that our bodies react differently to the thinning agent that mosquitoes have in their saliva. Kids tend to get “huge bites” that are actually just their immune systems being like “Oh HAIL no. Not on MY WATCH.” Whereas our old and tired immune systems–by now super used to skeeters and their dumb spit–are like “Fine, fine. Have your bloody snack. We have bigger things to worry about.” Less fun fact: Skeeter Syndrome is a thing I do not recommend doing an image search for. ↩
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Susan Howson
Susan Howson is managing editor for this very website. She writes THE BEST bios.
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