Moonstruck in Jersey's Blog

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

I am making a homemade insect repellant blend today.  I know, sounds a little weird, but it works.

We lived in Florida for four years and when we were first there I became  fine dining for a variety ( and it is endless in FL!) of insects, but especially mosquitos.  Most people get an itchy little red bump when bitten, but not me, I get huge, painful welts.

I couldn’t stay in the house as we have dogs that needed to be walked, but

I hate bug sprays.  I hate the smell of them, the feel of them and especially what they are made of.  There had to be a better way.

I had been making my own cleaning products with essential oils way before companies like Method and Seventh Generation became mainstream; so, I started looking for recipes to make insect repellant.  I found lots of them and they were all good, I just wasn’t necessarily thrilled with some of the smells of certain essential oils.

So, I ended up taking what I liked from a few blends and came up with this one that I would like to share.

Insect Repellant Blend:

• 20 drops of thyme
• 20 drops of lavender
• 24 drops of lemongrass
• 20drops of peppermint
• 25 drops of blender oil – Jojoba or sweet almond
• 1 cup of water
• 4 teaspoons of witch hazel

This makes one cup.  Put it in a sprayer bottle and it is good to go.

I never have a problem with mosquitos now and the best thing is it is all natural, so it’s safe even for the kids and it smells fresh instead of like chemicals.

I almost always purchased oils on the Internet, but you can also purchase at places like Whole Foods.

I hope you will give it a try.  You have nothing to lose except the itch!

Peace