It is officially bug season out here in Wyoming, and sometimes a perfectly gorgeous & pristine hike can swiftly turn into a nightmare with a thick swarm of mosquitoes. And we want to be able to protect our sanity, and our bodies from these pesky little guys. But you KNOW how toxic substances like DEET are, and those natural bug sprays you’ve tried haven’t done the trick.
The answer doesn’t seem attainable, how do you stay away from harmful chemicals while so having a natural bug spray that actually works?
When it comes to natural remedies and products, I hear quite often, from beginner natural users, that they ‘don’t work”. But when I do some digging around the subject, I usually find, that the learning curve hasn’t been found out yet. For these remedies & products to take full effect, we have to learn how to work with them, while understanding that they aren’t chemicals, or pharmaceuticals.
The training that all of us have gone through throughout our lives, is to have a quick fix and solution in the form of fast-acting drugs and chemical product applications. However when we look at the long-term effects of these kinds of applications we don’t like the results.
Not only are they harming our bodies, but the environment as well. Understanding that when working with herbal remedies and topical products, the exact opposite of that quick fix is going to occur.
Bug Spray is one I hear a lot of gripes about. That maybe it worked for a short time, and then the bugs started swarming. Or even that the bugs were attracted to the spray. This is where understanding the plants, as well as what bugs repelled by is important too. This is my herbalist quick fix to understanding how to work with these essential oil sprays.
Most bug sprays that are natural are made with natural bases like glycerin, topical oils, or extracts like witch hazel, with the essential oils added into the blend. The essential oils that are in the spray are what actually repel the bugs from wanting to come near you.
The sense that are off putting to them are things like citronella, tea tree oil, cedar wood oil, and another one that I’m forgetting right now… these essential oil scents are not ones at the bugs are attracted to, where things like lemon, rose, other sweet smelling essential oils the bugs really love. And generally we love putting those on our bodies much more than the less appealing scents.
The first component of essential oil application is to address the fact that Essential oils are volatile.
This meaning, they take flight, or rapidly evaporate from the surface they are applied to. This is how we smell them because they come off of the surface through the air to reach our sensory organ, the nose. Think about, when you spray some essential oils in your home, or use natural cleaners scented with them, you don’t have a perfume that lingers past 45 minutes or so. This is precisely because once they are taken in from the atmosphere, eventually there are none left.
Talking about bug spray, It is key to remember this component of essential oils. To use the essential oils effectively for a bug spray, when you’re going to be out in the wild for extended periods of time, remember that the essential oil sprays act as a temporary barrier.
Expect to apply the Essential Oil Based bug spray onto your skin, clothing, and hair every 2-3 hours while you are outside. This will keep a barrier of scent around your body while you are outside.
By applying the bug spray throughout the day, you will find the natural alternatives to be much more effective. Keeping a fresh scent all day long and be able to successfully work with an all-natural and safe Bug Spray for you and the whole family.
Working with natural bug sprays is the safe alternative for working with chemicals especially ones like DEET.
