What is the best bug repellent?

[Rudy Vey]

My wife always gets attacked by some little black gnats whenever she is in our garden, morning, during the day or even in the dark. They attack her and bite, even through clothing. Nobody else gets attacked, I have no problem at all, and our dogs are fine, too. She still has the marks from three years ago. These critters are tiny black flies, she used the standard bug repellents and nothing works for her (Cutter, Bullfrog etc does not work).
What can be done, is there anything that would help her, she loves to be outside, but these bug really making it hard for her. Any recommendation would be appreciated.

 

[Tripnastic]

I think the main thing to look for in an effective repellent is DEET. The higher the better. If you go with something like Off Deep Woods you might have better luck.

 

[DSB]

I think the main thing to look for in an effective repellent is DEET. The higher the better. If you go with something like Off Deep Woods you might have better luck.

+1. I hate the way DEET feels on my skin, but there is no better bug repellent that I have found.

 

[DavyRay]

The above poster is right. The accepted wisdom is that high DEET concentrations are the best. Some DEET bug-repellents are as high as 80% DEET.

Other products with some following are Avon Skin-So-Soft, and Pinaud Clubman after shave.

Mosquito coils help some people. They work well if it is not windy. OTOH, I don't know if they work for black flies.

 

[DSB]

My wife always gets attacked by some little black gnats whenever she is in our garden, morning, during the day or even in the dark. They attack her and bite, even through clothing. Nobody else gets attacked, I have no problem at all, and our dogs are fine, too. She still has the marks from three years ago. These critters are tiny black flies, she used the standard bug repellents and nothing works for her (Cutter, Bullfrog etc does not work).

Knize Ten is a fantastic scent, wore nothing else for over 25 years!

Rudy, have you considered lending your wife the Knize Ten?

 

[Space]

Let me tell you when I was in the far north of Australia, I got eaten alive by mosquitoes the size of helicopters! and I was bitten by spiders at least 3 times. So, I tried two kinds of Deet after a while. Both were completely ineffective! completely! and it stunk! it really felt like I was putting poiison on my skin, so I never felt comfortable putting it on my face.

lemon juice worked for me but not for more than an hour.

maybe it's just me though, as when I am at a BBQ it seems like I am the person all the bugs like to bite.

 

[Swampfox]

Lilac Vegetal repels everything.

If I am on a regular garlic regimen it helps. Apparently bugs don't like the taste of my skin or my blood when garlic is in my system.

 

[buyandhold2018]

try some essential oil of lavender

 

[petr]

I use a thermacell turkey hunting in the spring ... and it works.

Not so much if a breeze is blowing.

http://www.cabelas.com/link-12/product/0019305515912a.shtml?cmCat=perf&rid=0987654321&cm_mmc=Performics-_-CSE-_-GoogleBaseUSA-_-0019305515912a&mr:trackingCode=BA7084C8-958E-DF11-A0C8-002219318F67&mr:referralID=NA

 

[BEAR DEN]

Lilac Vegetal repels everything.

The correct answer!!

 

[RichGem]

Lilac Vegetal repels everything.

If I am on a regular garlic regimen it helps. Apparently bugs don't like the taste of my skin or my blood when garlic is in my system.

beat me to it.

 

[Swampfox]

The correct answer!!

beat me to it.

Of course you could always have this....

 

[RichGem]

Ray buddy? Back a way from the People of Walmart. Do it slowly. Do it now and no one gets hurt. This is for your own good. Trust me. I've played a doctor on tv.

 

[Swampfox]

Ray buddy? Back a way from the People of Walmart. Do it slowly. Do it now and no one gets hurt. This is for your own good. Trust me. I've played a doctor on tv.

Are you afraid I will post a pic of you?

 

[muskokabrian]

I live in an area well known for black flies and mosquitoes. What we call black flies are also known as biting gnats in some places, so maybe this is what you're referring to.

In any event, I've searched and experimented with a lot of different kinds of bug repellants including a lot of natural ones and Native formulas. From my experience, none of the non deet forumulas are particularly effective. Selling "Skin So Soft" as a bug repellant is a stroke of marketing genius but pretty useless in fighting critters. Colognes with floral scents may attract mosquitoes and black flies as they are nectar feeders. Avoid scented soaps.

I won't put deet on my skin. I've found that spraying an old cap fairly heavily as well as the cuffs and collars of your jacket and pants works well. If it's hot and you don't want to wear long sleeves, just spraying your clothing and your shoes should work fairly well.

I haven't found any brands better than others but I find a 25% deet concentration sufficient.

I once had a bottle of 100% deet (Muskol before they banned the 100% formula) accidently open in my pocket where I had my swiss army knife. It ate the plastic right off it. Since then I won't put it directly on my skin.

 

[beyboo]

15 responses to a bug repellent and not one of them says "Williams"

 

[thunderball]

Mmmmmandom!

 

[Swampfox]

15 responses to a bug repellent and not one of them says "Williams"

Forgot about that one. I could only think of LV.

 

[BCatl]

Stay away from the LV< the bugs will come from everywhere.

Lemon juice may not feel good on the skin. Maybe a drop or two of lemon oil on a hanky around the neck. Just hope these flies or knats aren't the citrus variety!

 

[jlanger]

Living in MN, where the mosquito is the second official state bird, I've found that Deep woods off or the 3M mosquito repellant Ultrathon, seems to be fairly effective. I usually try to spray this on clothing but sometime when your wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt you don't have much of a choice. I just make sure to take a shower when I'm done.
When I was a little kid my dad and I would go into the big pine forests in Northern MN and go blueberry picking. There would be deerflies and moquitoes big enough to carry me away. My dad would have me wear a hooded sweatshirt and jeans and then he'd spray the daylights outta a can of Off, usually the 90-100% formulas. I remember that he and I would have swarms of deer/horseflies buzzing around us but we'd not get bit at all. Damn those blueberries were good though

Anyways good luck. For some people they just are natural mosquito attractors, there is evidence to prove this I believe, and scientific evidence that DEET does work better then anything else out there, I know that some of the lemon extracts do work OK, but aren't nearly as effective as DEET.