STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

lynnie · Chanel

keeping mosquitos away?

Marg · Kenneth Cole

Lynnie, supposedly citronella... but I learned today while at the Farmer's Market that scented geraniums are natural repellants. I bought a big one and potted it in a huge pot on our patio. It's pretty fragrant, the one I got is apricot.

Lilykind · Hermes

Lemongrass. If you can find lemongrass oil and use it as moisturizer, that would be awesome. It smells better than citronella IMO.

relrel · Marc Jacobs

are you speaking just in general, or more on a while im on a hike or camping or doing outdoors stuff? if it's the first, there are a ton of essential oils that work to keep bugs away (lemongrass, lavendar, tea tree oil, eucalyptus). but if its the latter, i would just recommend wearing the essential oils, and nothing else. no perfume, no hairspray/gel, no scented body wash, or anything like that. there are also a couple different foods you can eat that will make your body odor less than appealing, garlic is one of them. course, you would require you eat enough garlic to make the odor come out of your pores and then you would probably be repellant to human males as well!

are you speaking of keeping mosquitos away from your apartment in the city? i don't know what the area is like around you but i would do a quick look around to see if there's any standing water where they could be breeding. if you find something like that (even just a puddle in the corner of a roof) you can call your city's department of health. they should actually have a west nile virus hotline where you can report stuff like that.

marigolds are one of the best natural bug repellants on the market, and they are extremely easy to care for. you can generally buy them already prepotted in lovely holders from lowes and the like and then put them near your window for the sunlight.

im not a fan of chemical sprays or anything mass produced for these types of things, but avon is supposed to make a really nice smelling but still mosquito repellant spray, skin so soft, i think, is the name of it.

hope that helps! i hate mosquitos! im actually allergic/super sensitive to any sort of insect bite and actually swell horribly from a little bite. you should see me in the summer time if ive spent any amount of time outside near water!

luckyclover · Dooney & Bourke

relrel wrote:

im not a fan of chemical sprays or anything mass produced for these types of things, but avon is supposed to make a really nice smelling but still mosquito repellant spray, skin so soft, i think, is the name of it. hope that helps!

The avon stuff is supposed to work really well. I like this cutter skinsations stuff- it works really well for me.

also my friend got one of these ..it is cheap but looks really nice and walgreens had them for buy 1 get 1 free. HTH

-- Edited by luckyclover at 11:54, 2006-06-04

Aurora · Marc Jacobs

Not sure where you are wanting to keep them away from you at but a trick I learned and use is to keep the ceiling fans running at all times when I am home. Mosquitos are attracted to us by the heat we give off so when the ceiling fan is going we are cooler and the heat we give off is whirled away from us so they can't find us as easily. Yeah it sounds crazy but it works for me and it keeps the mosquitos away from me.

shopgirl82 · Chanel

i have done about one camping trip a year, and i have relatives that live on a lake in MN...so unfortunately i know about mosquitos. something i like, and doesn't take up a lot of space and is probably something you already have, is dryer sheets. just rub them on you and they will keep those buggers away.

i can't find it, but for your house, there's repellent incense coils that work really well. we got our at walmart i think. i bet regular incense might work well too.

I'm reminded of an e-mail that i got, so i thought I would post it here:

1. All this time you've just been putting Bounce in the dryer! It will
chase ants away when you lay a sheet near them. It also repels mice.
2. Spread sheets around foundation areas, or in trailers, or cars that
are sitting and it keeps mice from entering your vehicle.
3. It takes the odor out of books and photo albums that don't get
opened too often.
4. It repels mosquitoes. Tie a sheet of Bounce through a belt loop when
outdoors during mosquito season.
5. Eliminate static electricity from your television (or computer)
screen.
6. Since Bounce is designed to help eliminate static cling, wipe your
television screen with a used sheet of Bounce to keep dust from
resettling.
7. Dissolve soap scum from shower doors. Clean with a sheet of Bounce.
8. To freshen the air in your home - Place an individual sheet of
Bounce in a drawer or hang in the closet.
9. Put Bounce sheet in vacuum cleaner.
10. Prevent thread from tangling. Run a threaded needle through a sheet
of Bounce before beginning to sew.
11. Prevent musty suitcases. Place an individual sheet of Bounce inside
empty luggage before storing.
12. To freshen the air in your car - Place a sheet of Bounce
under the front seat.
13. Clean baked-on foods from a cooking pan. Put a sheet in a pan, fill
with water, let sit overnight, and sponge clean. The anti-static agent
apparently weakens the bond between the food and the pan.
14. Eliminate odors in wastebaskets. Place a sheet of Bounce at the
bottom of the wastebasket.
15. Collect cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet of Bounce will
magnetically attract all the loose hairs.
16. Eliminate static electricity from Venetian blinds. Wipe the blinds
with a sheet of Bounce to prevent dust from resettling.
17. Wipe up sawdust from drilling or sand papering. A used sheet of
Bounce will collect sawdust like a tack cloth.
18. Eliminate odors in dirty laundry. Place an individual sheet of
Bounce at the bottom of a laundry bag or hamper.
19. Deodorize shoes or sneakers. Place a sheet of Bounce in your shoes
or sneakers overnight.
20. Golfers put a Bounce sheet in their back pocket to keep the bees
away.
21. Put a Bounce sheet in your sleeping bag and tent before
folding and storing them. It will keep them smelling fresh.

****i don't work for bounce

luckyclover · Dooney & Bourke

Thanks shopgirl. I've read that before but had forgotten that it was good for ants. Yesterday a friend of mine was asking how to keep ants from coming in.

Pepper · Kenneth Cole

Avon Skin So Soft - It smells nice and is a bug repellent in one and it makes your skin ultra soft.

bex · Chanel

something i found interesting is those ladybug clips that you can get at Baby-R-Us. apparently ladybugs are predators of mosquitos and the clips put out a sound like a ladybug (which we as humans can't hear)...

my friend who was a new mom last year wore one while camping and didn't have any issues with mosquitos. i thought it was a cool idea for anyone b/c it didn't require any sprays, oils, etc.