During the summer, people tend to spend as many hours as possible outdoors. Trips out of town, to the country, working in your own garden in the evening, picnics - all this is an obligatory part of summer leisure. Young children especially enjoy this pastime. Only one circumstance can upset vacationers - annoying blood-sucking insects.
Often their proximity becomes intrusive to such an extent that it becomes a real test for everyone, and even a special mosquito net installed indoors does not save from numerous insect bites, especially in the evening, flying into the light of lamps.
Let's protect ourselves
Mint. 4 tbsp. spoons of fresh mint leaves pour a glass of water, keep on low heat for 10 minutes, let brew for 15 minutes, strain, add 1 glass of vodka, cover with a lid and cool. Pour the product into a spray bottle and spray on your skin or clothing before going outside.
Vanilla and cinnamon. Pour two pinches of cinnamon and 1 chopped vanilla pod into a glass of any vegetable oil. Leave for a week in a dark place, shaking occasionally. To protect yourself from mosquitoes, oil your temples, wrists, and ankles.
Sagebrush. 2 tbsp. Pour boiling water over spoons of wormwood herb, let it brew for half an hour, strain and lubricate exposed skin with the infusion.
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Citronella. The oil of this plant can be bought at the pharmacy. Citronella is so effective against bloodsuckers that industrial mosquito repellents are made from it. Add 20 drops of essential oil to a jar of face or body cream and lubricate exposed skin with it.
Essential oils. Prepare a natural mosquito repellent lotion: fill a glass ⅔ full with vodka, add 50 drops of essential oil of geranium, mint, rosemary or cedar, add water to the top of the glass and stir. Apply the resulting lotion to your skin before leaving home.
Subtleties
The home remedy is distributed in a thin layer over open areas of the arms, legs, neck, and shoulders. No extra effort is required for rubbing.
The mixture protects against mosquitoes for 2 hours. If bites are felt after this time, reapply the homemade product. Therefore, it is recommended to pour the composition into a glass bottle with a lid and take it with you.
Author's note
Kirilova Olga
There is no need to prepare the emulsion in large quantities. Ingredients at hand. The new product with a rich scent protects better.
You can use the solution as much as you like. This is not a chemical drug with side effects on the body.
*After reading the article, leave your opinions and reviews in the comments. Your suggestions will improve the functioning of the site.
Let's process clothes
Basil. This herb is effective even in dry form. Sew a cotton bag, fill it with dry basil herb and put it in your pocket before heading into the forest. It will be better if you make several bags and place them in each pocket.
Vinegar. Vinegar-based mosquito repellents take a long time to prepare, but the results are worth it. 1 tbsp. a spoonful of dry lavender herb and 1 tbsp. Pour a spoonful of dry rosemary into a glass of vinegar. Leave in a dark place for 10 days. Don't forget to shake the jar! The resulting product is sprayed onto clothes. If you want to use it on your skin, dilute it by half with water. The vinegar smells quite strong, but the smell will go away once it dries.
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Natural Natural Alternatives to DEET
As with almost every household item, you can make natural bug spray inexpensively and quite effectively. This recipe only takes a few seconds and can be varied depending on what you have on hand. I've included several options so you can try whatever you have the ingredients for.
Let's clean the house
Oil burner. Those who love aromatherapy will certainly acquire such a device. It can be used as an alternative to an industrial fumigator. The aroma lamp is a saucer that is heated from below. Water is poured into a saucer, then essential oil is dripped at the rate of 2 drops per 5 m² of room area. When heated, the oil will evaporate, filling the room with the aroma of medicinal plants. Geranium, cedar, lavender or chamomile oils are suitable as natural mosquito repellents.
Geranium. Plant this plant on the windowsill. Mosquitoes do not like strong odors, but geranium smells quite strongly. So there are significantly fewer bloodsuckers in apartments where geranium grows.
Eucalyptus. A decoction of this plant can save you if the fumigator runs out of liquid. 1 tbsp. Pour a spoonful of eucalyptus with water, keep it on low heat for 15 minutes, let it brew until it cools and strain. Now the eucalyptus decoction can be poured into the container where the mosquito repellent liquid used to be, and plug the fumigator into a power outlet.
Candles. Buy a regular candle in the store and melt the wax in a water bath. To do this, pour water into a saucepan and place a tin can there. Place a candle in the jar. When the wax has melted, remove the wick and add 10 drops of eucalyptus, rosemary or lavender oil to the wax. Mix well. Then take a glass jar, place the wick in it and pour out the melted wax. As soon as it hardens, the anti-mosquito candle is ready.
Household supplies
Some household products that we use in everyday life can also be used in the house to repel mosquitoes.
- Laundry soap . To prepare a mosquito repellent, you need to rub 100 g of laundry soap. Then the soap shavings should be diluted with a liter of warm water. Surfaces can be treated with soapy water. This will be enough to let the insects know that they are not welcome in your home. You can use tar soap in a similar way.
- Ammonia . Nobody likes the pungent ammonia smell. It is unpleasant not only to people, but also to insects. To get rid of mosquitoes, 100 ml of pharmaceutical ammonia is diluted with a liter of water. Wipe surfaces with the product or spray it indoors. When treating a room with ammonia, it is recommended to protect the skin and respiratory system. Children and pregnant women should not be in the room while it is being treated with ammonia.
Let's fumigate the area
Juniper. While relaxing by the fire, you can try to protect yourself from mosquitoes. Throw a few twigs or juniper cones into the fire. Mosquitoes don't like the smell of such smoke!
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Bay leaf. When burned, it also releases an aroma that is unpleasant for mosquitoes. However, if you throw laurel into a fire, it will burn instantly. Therefore, it is better if you heat a frying pan or metal can over a fire and lightly “fry” the leaves.
Coffee. Place dry coffee grounds on a saucer or foil and set it on fire. The result is a completely safe fumigator!
In the country
- Get some fish. Place fish - gobies or rotans - in your country pond. They feed on mosquitoes.
- Plant marigolds. It is better if the flower bed with these plants is located near the gazebo or terrace where you like to relax. The smell of blooming marigolds will repel mosquitoes.
- Don't forget the garlic. Mosquitoes do not like the feathers of this plant.
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Light and sound
There are devices that help control mosquitoes without releasing toxic substances into the air.
Ultrasonic repellers. They make a sound similar to the squeak of a male mosquito. With this sound the male attracts the female for mating. To fertilized female mosquitoes (and only they bite), such a squeak signals danger. The device repels mosquitoes quite effectively, but it is not very comfortable to use due to an unpleasant squeak.
Lamps. The light from the lamp attracts mosquitoes, and a low-power electric current is passed through a special grid inside the lamp, which kills mosquitoes. The only drawback of the lamp is the unpleasant smell that appears due to the abundance of fried insects on the grill.
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Smells that attract mosquitoes
Not all strong scents repel insects; some have the opposite effect. Mosquitoes are attracted to odors:
- carbon dioxide . Why this happens is not known exactly, but observations show that it is so. Perhaps mosquitoes flock to carbon dioxide because it is exhaled by warm-blooded animals and humans, whose blood mosquitoes need for the survival of the species;
- acetone _ This smell is present in the smell of people with diabetes, and mosquitoes bother them more than others;
- lactic acid . In particular, this substance is found in human sweat, especially if he suffers from cardiovascular diseases. Such people suffer greatly from mosquito bites;
- mushrooms _ It is on the love of insects for the mushroom smell that many traps designed for mosquitoes are based.
Knowing which smells mosquitoes love and which they are afraid of, you can scare away blood-sucking insects from yourself, your loved ones, and also from your home.
Date: 07/13/2021.
Is the bite dangerous?
General practitioner Irina Vechnaya:
– A mosquito bite is not very dangerous. Malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, Zika virus and other serious diseases are carried only by mosquitoes living in tropical countries. It is also impossible to contract AIDS or any type of hepatitis through a mosquito bite. True, domestic mosquitoes can inject allergens and pathogenic microorganisms into the skin. Therefore, the appearance of inflammation or hives at the site of the bite is not excluded. In this case, antihistamines and external anti-inflammatory drugs will help out.
What will relieve itching?
Mosquito bites cause a lot of trouble, forcing you to scratch the sore spot until it bleeds. How to quickly relieve itching?
Our expert is dermatologist-cosmetologist, candidate of medical sciences Anna Karpova.
When bitten by a mosquito, the most important thing is not to scratch the affected area. After all, during a bite, insects inject saliva into the skin, which may contain toxic substances. When you scratch the bite site, blood circulation in this area increases, the insect's saliva is carried through the bloodstream, the affected area increases - and the itching becomes stronger.
If you couldn’t resist and you still scratched a mosquito bite, the following will help get rid of the itching:
External agents with anti-inflammatory and antiallergic components. It is desirable that the drug be fat-based, which will create a film on the skin and limit the spread of saliva injected by the mosquito. This is why creams designed to treat insect bites work better than sprays and lotions, which evaporate too quickly from the surface of the skin.
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Antihistamines. If you have been bitten very badly and you have counted at least ten mosquito marks on your body, it is better to take an antihistamine orally - this will first help localize the itching and then completely get rid of the discomfort.
Home remedies can also help fight mosquito bites. For example, you can use:
Lemon juice or any essential oil (tea tree, lavender) . Both lemon juice and oil have anti-inflammatory properties and cool the skin, which means it helps relieve itching.
Question answer
How do mosquitoes and flies get into the house if there are mosquito nets on the windows?
Ammonia. Has an even stronger cooling effect.
Just keep in mind that you should not rub anything into the bite site. Any product is applied with light movements.
If a wound has formed at the site of the scratched bite , you should not use home remedies. The wound must be disinfected with a preparation containing aniline dye (green paint, fucorcin) or an alcohol-based product. You can also apply a wound healing drug to the sore spot. You should not leave damaged skin without treatment, otherwise, scratching the sore spot will increase the itching and increase the area of the wound.
How to drink apple cider vinegar
The most controversial method of fighting mosquitoes is the ingestion of a solution of apple cider vinegar.
The method was tested in the South American army: 3 days before field exercises or a forced march, the soldiers drank a solution of apple cider vinegar - a tablespoon three times a day. We continued the experiment during the campaign and returned to the barracks without a single bite.
Proportions with water
1 tbsp. Dilute apple cider vinegar in a glass of boiled water. Amount of water 100 – 200 ml.
Admission rules
Take orally on an empty stomach 3 times a day, half an hour before meals, around lunchtime, or before bed.
How does it work
As vinegar accumulates in the body, the composition of the blood is renewed. Sweat becomes sour, mosquitoes do not land on the skin.
Author's note
Kirilova Olga
Use this technique with caution. The effectiveness of ingesting apple cider vinegar against mosquitoes has not been proven.
In addition, undergo an examination before starting the course in order to eliminate possible contraindications. With gastritis or peptic ulcers, acid causes damage to the human body.
