Shoo Away Those Buggers! Making Effective Mosquito Repellents At Home

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For a family in mosquito country, needing to use mosquito repellents throughout the Summer is just a fact of life. The thing is, the main ingredient in the most popular products is DEET, which has recently been called into question as potentially damaging to children's developing nervous systems -- and potentially harmful to adults as well. Yes, there's evidence to the contrary as well, but is it worth the chance? Anything you put on your skin is immediately absorbed in to the bloodstream. The folks making it known that DEET might be dangerous don't have a grudge against the DEET makers -- they have no reason to make an issue unless the potential for harm was there. Given that, did you know that making your own natural formula is totally easy? And that there's natural ingredients that have been shown to be 10 times more effective than DEET? You can make gallons at a time if you want! So here's a primer on making your own effective insect repellent formulas at home, and even how to use these same ingredients to repel the buggers from the space around you as well.
Pungent natural aromatics have been used throughout the ages to repel biting insects. We're all very familiar with Citronella, which is in fact an essential oil distilled from a grass. In all the natural mosquito and insect repellent formulas, essential oils are the ingredients that keep the bugs away -- the rest is just inert "carrier", either lotion or liquid. Making your own version of these is as simple as filling a container with your carrier of choice, then measuring your essential oils and mixing the whole thing together. And if you're one of those folks who really wants to go the "all organic" route, making your own allows you to do it.
Commonly available aromatherapy tools also make it easy to repel insects from your home as well. An "aromatherapy diffuser" is a common tool for dispersing essential oils into the air around you. Simply using one of the oils known for its repellent action will repel bugs from your environment and not just your body. Couldn't get easier! You'll just want to make sure you find a diffuser that can output a high concentration of oils in to the air, so check on specifications -- one's that simply warm the oils to release a little scent will probably not do the trick.
So how about it -- prepared to make your first all-natural topical mosquito repellent? The basics are this: Your concentration of essential oils is anywhere from 5 to 10 percent. The higher number is most common, but if you find you or your loved ones are sensitive to such a strong formulation, just lower the amount of oils a bit. Some of these essential oils are so effective, as we'll see, that a 5% concentration will work just fine. First, choose your base: either an unscented lotion or, if you'd like to make a spray, use either low-alcohol rubbing alcohol (like the 70% kind, or even lower), or if you can get it in your state, Everclear will work well. If you'd like to avoid alcohol, use witch hazel, which is also available at regular grocery and drug stores. Once you've chosen your base, you'll just measure your essential oils and add them to it. If you're making 4 ounces total, then A 10% concentration uses 240 drops essential oil -- if you have something that will measure milliliters, that's 12 ml.
Which essential oils to use? The most common ones in many of the natural repellents is Geranium or Rose Geranium. Geranium is nice because the aroma is appealing to many people, so you won't mind using it. The you'll find Citronella, Lemongrass, Cedarwood and sometime kind of mint, be it Spearmint or Peppermint. But the grandaddy essential oil for mosquito repelling is actually Catnip. Research was released a few years ago that noted Catnip to be ten times more effective than DEET! In all the natural formulas, you'll find a blend of oils, as it's likely several oils combined will be more effective than any single one alone.
You can put all these oils together like this: When making 4 fluid ounces, fill your empty bottle up with just under 4 ounces of your base. If you'd like to use just Catnip essential oil, simply add 6 milliliters (120 drops) of Catnip essential oil to your bottle, shake well and you're done! If you'd like to use these other oils, try adding to your base: 8ml Geranium (or Rose Geranium), 3ml Cedarwood, and 1ml Peppermint. Feel free to mix and match with what you have on hand to give you a 10% concentration. At the same time, if anyone using the formula finds it too intense, make something with a lower concentration.
You can use precisely these same formulas for repelling insects from the space around you, just of course without the base cream or spray. The most powerful aromatherapy diffusers are "cold-air nebulizing diffusers" which make a mist of pure essential oil. They don't mix the oils with water and they don't warm them to evaporate them. The trick here is to find the right concentration of essential oil in your surrounding air to do the job; you'll want to use the least amount necessary. A good place to start might be diffusing a single oil, or blend, at the lowest setting continually -- this isn't something you do if you're wanting to smell the oil -- as your nose will become accustom to the aroma -- but might be best for mosquito repelling. If this works, then try running the unit only 15 minutes at a time ( a mechanical appliance timer will help here), decreasing the "on" period until you get to the lowest setting that keeps the bugs away. This way you'll conserve your essential oils, and make repelling mosquitoes all summer more affordable.
And there you have it -- a quick look at how easy it is to use essential oils as insect repellents during these Summer months, with the great relief knowing you're choosing organic and natural oils over questionable synthetic ones for your health and the health of your family.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

For more on the therapeutic value of aromatherapy essential oil, and one of many important oils individually such as patchouli, visit The Ananda Apothecary online.

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