So I went to buy some insect repellant the other day. Now I don’t like deet in any respect except as an insect repellant and there’s nothing better. There on the shelf, side by side was spritz bottles of Deep Woods Off and Repel. That gave me an opportunity to read the labels of both and compare. Repel has 40% and DWO has 25% deet. Both were 6 ounces and Repel was a dollar cheaper. This is a no brainer. HTH



Pag

Here I Carry A Fly Swatter
For the black horseflies. They showed up here about there years ago. I killed four last weekend. It was a productive day.

Repel is good stuff
Sportsmen Max at 40 percent we’ e had mosgouitos swarming, land on your face and take off without biting.



Repel 100 is 98+ percent DEET. Put it on your clothes, not your skin, and they won’t even land on you. Costs a little more.

Deet for clothing,
Cutters Natural for face and other exposed skin.

we use to theorize that after a certain

percentage it didn't matter. In other words maybe 60 or 75 percent deet is just as effective as lets say Ben's l00. I swear by my mixture of "ol woodsman" and deet as bein' the best. For a while it was marketed as "Jungle Formula".It is a little easier on your skin than straight deet. Now you just carry a bottle of each (deet and ol woodsman) and mix on your skin. You got to get a good stink on to keep the bugs away- its that simple.

here's a link:

http://www.oletimewoodsman.com/

My theory
You only need 10% more DEET than the person next to you.

What happened to DWO?
I have three little spritz bottles of Deep Woods Off, all purchased more than three or four years ago, and all listed as 100% DEET. I’ve always been totally satisfied with how it worked (use sparingly and spread well). Decades ago I used Cutters, which was about 30 percent, and that was okay for general use, but then on a trip to the Boundary Waters I found out why so many people preferred the stronger stuff. It was a darned good thing my hiking buddy had enough Muskol (100%) for both of us on that trip. Expecting the Cutters to work with 30% DEET turned out to be nothing more than wishful thinking.

Warning !
Deet is great stuff, but don’t let the spray get on your headlamplens or the face plate of your GPS.

It will etch right in



If your just sitting around a Thermacell is the only way to go.



jack L

Picaridin vs Deet
I live in central Florida and take many trips to the Everglades and have had very good luck with Picaridin based (as compared to Deet) repellent. Picaridin is a relatively new Deet alternative that will not destroy plastic/fabrics. Only brand I have seen locally is Natrapel.



Some info on the differents types is at http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/insect-repellents.html .



Greg Stamer

In the North
DEET works best for me.



Natrapel works best in the South for me.



Everyones chemistry is different.



I apply both with the back of my hands so there is no risk of dissolving plastics.



When were you last bit on the palm of your hands anyway?

I like DEET in my coffee

like that theory!

I suffer
I cant tolerate deet at all, Makes me sick (: .

Have a bug shirt. I can spray either deet or permethrin on cloths ahead of time that doesn’t bother me but no way in hell any deet on my skin. I tried Picaridin but it didn’t seem to stop any bugs at all.

Which bugs do you need to repel?

Repellant labels state what bugs they work against. I have used both lemon Repel and picaridin-based liquids to repel mosquitoes effectively. Deer flies and horse flies, can't remember for sure but I think both chems worked on those also.

Some also claim to repel ticks. Check the labels.

I hate DEET because it ruined some expensive sunglasses and I knew someone who ruined bike shorts with it. Nasty stuff, and it did NOT repel no-see-ums.

Check the % picaridin used in a specific product, too. The same brand might use different concentrations for different items, e.g., spray vs lotion vs balm.

Coal tar an’ Spam drippin’s
Dat de ticket!



FE

An’ puff on 'em stogies
Woiks ta rappel us youmens too.

I didn’t know spam had drippings …
until it came out the other end! Or is that the drippings you are talking about?



Jack L

Don’t mix Deet and permethrin type
repellants on yourself at the same time, ever.



Synergistic effect, very bad, neurotoxic, will make you very sick.



I mix several essential oils (a few drops of each) into water or something alcohol like mouthwash, for use on my skin. Take a wad of cotton, moisten, add a few drops of oils, and wipe. Time to make up a spray bottle again with the oils, premixed. There is a pet “natural” insect repellant that I just try to duplicate the same ingredients, called “Nature’s Defense,” discovered years ago that it didn’t work for repelling flies very well, but mosquitoes really don’t like it.



Any mixture of tea tree oil, oil of lavender, oil of citronella, can add oil of peppermint and oil of clove, oil of thyme, and /or, depending on how sensitive your own skin is. A few drops of each with some alcohol and water in a spray bottle can be done also. Some people use neem oil (I think it stinks too much.) If you’re sensitive, you may want to test out each ingredient separately first.



Also, insects such as flies really don’t care for zinc based ointments, such as used in sun blocks. If I’m going to use suntan lotion anyway, I make sure it has zinc in it. I will mix some of this heavy-duty white zinc cream that comes in a tube, with straight coconut oil (out of the kitchen) to dilute it down for use on areas I don’t want both sunburnt and bitten, such as the face/arms. A little goes a long way ! This way I can make a tube of this expensive $ zinc based suntan cream last the summer. Between this, and the final application of the herbal mixtures, the mosquitoes pretty much leave me alone. Also, you can use diaper rash cream ointment for the same purpose, if it is cheaper.



Keep the zinc based creams out of your eyes, obviously.



Do not use herbals on cats. Cat’s can’t tolerate essential oils because their livers can’t deal with it.

avon skin so soft for ne see ums
didn’t find it worked well on blackflies or skeeters but it was good against the noseeums

actually the ol woodsman
aint too far from it- major ingredient is pine tar