Mosquito/bug repellant

[shootingstar]

What is your go-to mosquito repellant? After the flood waters receded, now there's a big problem of alot more mosquitoes in our area because of more standing water/pools. I live near a major river with grasses, bushes, etc.

Bites for me, tend to double in size. And for whatever reason, mosquitoes are more attracted to me than other folks. A perpetual problem with me, that I don't enjoy camping in deep wilderness.

[NbyNW]

I tend to attract mosquitos as well. I've heard that can sometimes be related to blood type.

I hate wearing chemical insect repellents. Instead, I choose to eat lots of garlic.

Also, there is clothing that has repellent embedded in the fiber, the fabric is called Insect Shield. It's sold under a number of different brand names, but I don't think it's available in Canada. I don't think you can even purchase it online from a US site and have it shipped. I tried to buy some when it was bug season in Edmonton and found that I just had to wait until my next trip to the US to get it. When I go camping, I always bring a jacket and pants that convert to shorts made of this stuff. I have found it works pretty well.

[OakLeaf]

Bite Blocker or Bug Band (the spray, not the wristband). Both of them are based on soybean and geraniol, and they work very well. I'm a total mosquito magnet, too, if I'm on the premises no one else has to worry about mosquitoes, but either of those will keep them away. Never had a bite as long as I keep them applied ... DEET you can go longer between applications, but toxic or not, you have to worry about it melting all your stuff. The ONLY advantage DEET has over the less toxic stuff and less corrosive stuff is that you can go longer between sprays.

With the caveat that soybean/geraniol isn't rated for ticks, I've had three ticks crawling on me and one bite this year, and every one was when I had *not* put on the bug spray, so I tend to believe they repel ticks as well. Deer flies, which are the biggest problem in daylight hours here, they definitely repel.

I think there's a reason you can't import the permethrin-infused clothing into other countries ... I wouldn't have it touching my skin.

[shootingstar]

The thought of use DEET makes my skin crawl, though I have used it the past.

Deer flies --ugh. And they hurt!

So I appreciate these recommendations so far.
After all day long bike touring rides, I've donned light wind pants and long sleeved shirt in 30 C degree with 100% humidity summer weather in the woods. It drives me nuts and makes me...hot, miserable. But I will do it for sanity... For some of us, it must be the unique odors of how our body breaks down food, enzymes that makes us so attractive to the critters.

[goldfinch]

Deet. I am in tick country. Just about everyone I know here has had Lyme disease.

[Jolt]

Repel Lemon Eucalyptus is pretty good, if you'd rather use something more natural rather than DEET. That's what I usually use and have had good experiences with. I will use DEET if I am somewhere that there are lots of really bad mosquito borne diseases (like my trip to Kenya a few years ago) but usually prefer to avoid it. Also going to try the Badger anti-bug stick this year and see how that is.

[Pace]

I have a Columbia Insect Shield shirt that supposedly works - I haven't actively noticed any bites when I'm wearing it, although I did watch a lady bug land on the brand lettering on my shoulder one day.

But I have used Sawyer's various repellents with pretty good luck. They do have a gear-safe permethrin spray that works well on camping gear. I like their picaridin formula since it has less alcohol, which means your skin doesn't dry out as much and absorb the DEET. From what I've heard, their bug repellant lotion is supposed to be the best form of application, since it stays on top of your skin (rather than being absorbed like sprays and other alcohol-rich alternatives) and is spread more evenly. Lotions tend to have one of the longest retention rates also, so you shouldn't need to reapply as often.