Natural Insect Repellent Wipes

Today I thought I'd share my recipe for a natural insect repellent.  For some reason the mosquitoes and blackflies this season seem to be even more horrible than usual. It may be due to all the standing waters as the recent floods subside, but whatever the reason I am finding them really bad. 

I've always used  whatever commercial bug spray that was recommended safe for children, but as I have been educating myself to the harmful effects of chemicals I have been horrified at some of the things I have found. As well, my 3 year old grandson is  allergic to DEET. We found this out his first bug season.  All I did was spray a tiny bit of the child strength popular brand on his clothing to deter some bites and within minutes he was being rushed to  the emergency where he spent the next few hours being treated for a very severe reaction. The child strength version I had used contains very minimal amounts of deet.  This means family members can't use it either for fear of touching him and transferring some of this toxic stuff inadvertently.

This isn't really a bad thing.  We shouldn't be putting poisons on our skin anyway.  So this is what I came up with this season.  There are a ton of places you can find homemade insect repellent recipes. I especially liked this one from Wellness Mama .  She gives you options and you can choose what you want to use. I looked for the ingredients that were common plants locally and this is what I came up with. 

First I picked some Mullein leaves in my yard because of its soothing effects on your skin, and using the heat infused method I infused  a combination of grape seed oil and sunflower oil with the mullein leaves. 

Once it was ready, I strained it really well through several layers of cheese cloth and made my repellent.  For this I added essential oils of   citronella , cedar wood, and lavender.  All for their natural abilities to repel those nasty little critters.

The next step was finding a way to apply.  I don't like spray because its too easy to get into the eyes and on your clothes if you don't want it there.  So my daughter in law gave me the idea of using it like the homemade baby wipes. 

I took a good quality strong paper towel , I used Sponge Towels, and remove the core of  the roll.  A hint here, don't start the roll but keep that first sheet glued, it makes it easier later on.  I cut one third of the roll off, this was my measurement so it would fit easily into a used wipes container.

 



 

Next I put the paper towel into the container and poured 4 ounces of the insect repellent mixture over it and let it soak in.

 

 

 

Then just feed the center of the roll up through the opening and you have a perfect way to apply.  I used the paper towels that have the choose a size option so I could use just a small sheet. It's all you need. 

You could even put a few of these sheets into a sealable sandwich bag to take with you, to share with friends or just to reapply when you need it. 


My Bug Repellent Recipe.

4 oz of infused oil (I infused mine with mullein but you could use any plain carrier oil. Grape seed oil on its own would be nice.)
Blend In:
20 drops of citronella essential oil
20 drops of  cedar wood essential oil
20 drops of lavender essential oil.

I choose these ones in particular because of their specific deterent qualities. The bonus is it doesn't smell too bad either.