Dr. Mercola has said "Most insect repellants out there are loaded with toxic chemicals, including the pesticide DEET, which is so poisonous that even the Environmental Protection Agency says you should wash it off your skin when you return indoors, avoid breathing it in and not spray it directly on your face. Think about it--if this chemical can kill mosquitoes, it can likely do some harm to other life forms too." Now if the EPA is saying that, you know it has to be terrible! DEET is terrible, and I get the same feeling I get when I see someone spraying DEET bugspray that I do when I see spray sunscreen. I have to fight the urge to grab it out of their hand and run far far away.
So, lets talk about bug sprays using essential oils. Are these going to work as good as those DEET loaded alternatives? I am going to venture to say "no", but I am willing to sacrifice a little "protection" to ensure that I am not poisioning my body and especially my kids with every spray!
There are tons of variations of "recipes" for essential oil based bug repellent. I think the key to all of them are Purification, so I am giving you this one because it has a lot of other oils as well. If you don't have one of these others (most of them are in your starter kit), I would just leave it out and try without it. But make sure you have the Purification!
Protect your family from bugs and from all of the chemicals in those commerical bug sprays. Use some essential oils and once again, your health will thank you!
