Friday, 30 June 2017

Essential Oil Insect Repellent Mixtures

By Karen Wood


The summer is here, and it's great spending time outside, enjoying in nature and feeding insects. Well, this part of the whole summer experience is probably not so appealing. And it can be simply avoided using essential oil insect repellent. It is simple, perfectly natural and amazingly effective. And you can even make your own signature mixtures, depending on your taste.

There are so many beautiful plants that will keep mosquitoes away from you. They do not appreciate, for example, eucalyptus, geranium or peppermint. They also dislike lemon, sage and even thyme. Lavender is always a good solution for similar problems, and rosemary also have certain advantages. You can design your own favorite mixture, or simply buy already mixed ones in your store.

Flies and gnats dislike eucalyptus and peppermint as well, but they are especially sensitive when it comes to tea tree oil, or Malaleuca. They also won't come near you if you use cedar wood oil or maybe Patchouli. Geranium and rosemary will also work really well if you want to protect yourself from these nasty insects. There are also some essential oils you do not want to use, because they actually attract some insects, for example lemongrass.

Ticks, on the other hand, dislike plans such as geranium, cedar wood, peppermint and popular tea tree oil. Thyme is another plant ticks will gladly avoid, and all this can be used in protecting your family efficiently. The best thing is that you can make your own, personal mixtures, and create really appealing scents you will enjoy wearing.

DIY repellents can be in form of a lotion, or diluted and applied using a spray bottle. Some of these lovely scents are well-known, and you probably have some of these oils in your home already. Buy those you don't have and start preparing your favorite mixtures everyone will enjoy wearing. Besides, your home will be a really pleasant place as well. Smelling so lovely.

Any essential oil should not be applied directly on the skin, especially some that are known for being aggressive on the skin, such as cinnamon. When you dilute them using some kind of a carrier oil, they become much gentler. Carrier oils should be neutral and gentle, such as avocado oil, coconut or almond oil or something similar.

For a small quantity of this rub-on lotion you can use two table spoons of selected carrier and approximately eight drops of essential oils total, in desired combination. You may use, for example, 2-3 drops of peppermint, with a drop or two of eucalyptus, combining this with your favorite scents, for example lemon. Citruses can be quite aggressive as well.

For making a spray repellent, you have to add distilled water and witch hazel in your designed mixture, because oils will certainly clog the spray without this. You may replace witch hazel with, for example, vodka, in one small quantity, of course. You should never include plants such as lemongrass in any repellent, because bees simply love this scent, and this really would not be a very good idea.




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