Natural Insect Repellents
Made from Essential Oils
By Peg Aloi
If you like to spend time outdoors, and don’t enjoy getting eaten alive by mosquitos or deerflies, then chances are you tend to use some kind of insect repellent. Citronella candles are nice at night, but we can’t always be right next to them. Yet, most commercial insect repellents used on the skin are not all natural like those citronella candles. In fact, some commercial formulas are downright chock-full of nasty chemicals. They tend to smell really awful, too, in my experience. Some formulas even contain the ingredient known as DEET, which is not a repellent, but an actual insecticide meant to kill insects! You definitely do not want this ingredient in any product you’re going to put on your skin.
It’s possible to make your own natural insect repellents using natural essential oils; they will effectively keep mosquitos and other biting insects away and will smell great! You can add any essential oils you want to your blend, making it into a signature fragrance blend if you want.
Most insect repellent blends contain citronella, which is a plant that naturally repels mosquitos. You can make yours without citronella, but I do recommend it. One essential oil that can be substituted for it is geranium, which is a related plant and smells similar, though is slightly more flowery and pleasant than citronella. In addition to creating natural insect repellents in a water base, you can also add essential oils to unscented candles. Be careful though, because essential oils can be flammable! Just put a few drops of essential oil on the top of an unlit candle, away from the wick area. Light it carefully, and when the candle wax melts the essential oil will warm up and disperse into the air creating a natural insect repelling aura of fragrance.
It is worth noting that natural insect repellents are not generally very effective against the types of mosquitos that spread dangerous diseases in tropical regions, according to scientific studies. So, if you are traveling in such regions and want to avoid mosquito-borne transmission of dengue fever, etc., you will want to look into more potent formulas. But for the average North American or European camper or gardener, natural formulas can, and do, work very well if applied frequently.
Making Your Own
You will need a glass bottle with atomizer attachment (look for these online or at your local health food store). Amber or other colored glass is best as sunlight can degrade essential oils’s effectiveness over time. It’s important to use glass because essential oils can eat into plastic as well.
You also need a small amount of clear alcohol as a dispersant—clear vodka works fine. You can also use gin, which will gain a slight juniper berry fragrance. You also need distilled water.
You’ll probably want to make at least a 4-ounce bottle of insect repellent. You can always make more if you need it. Store in a cool, dark place (not on the seat of your car in summer!) and it should last you an entire season. You can store it indoors over the winter, but may need to refresh it with some additional essential oil again in spring.
Natural insect repellents have a gentler action than commercial formulas and so must be applied more often. This is a small price to pay for being able to avoid the harsh and toxic chemicals in the store-bought brands. Spray lightly onto your exposed skin—close your eyes when spraying your face. The light misting action of the atomizer will provide a good layer of protection. Be sure to shake the bottle gently before use, as some of the essential oil molecules need to be broken up a bit to blend together after sitting for a while. The smaller the molecules the easier it is to spray them, so if you see balls of oil floating in your bottle, shake gently until they are dispersed and dissolved again.
The main essential oils used that are most effective are: citronella, cedarwood, lavender, lemongrass, peppermint, geranium, and patchouli. You can use any or all of these, but again, using some citronella is the best mosquito preventive. These essential oils are all fairly inexpensive and can be purchased from your health food store or online. It is not necessary to use organic or wildcrafted essential oils for insect repellent.
You will also want to add some essential oils to help create a pleasing fragrance The following are recommended to help create woodsy, green fragrance blends with the essential oils already listed: lemon, lime, sweet orange, clary sage, frankincense, black pepper, palmarosa, petitgrain, fir, and sweet basil. These are also moderately priced.
You may want to avoid some of the sweeter, more cloying essential oils (such as ylang ylang, peru balsam, jasmine, etc.) because these may actually attract insects! Also, be sure you are using 100 percent essential oils, not fragrance oils or other scented products.
Creating a Fragrant Blend
Fill your 4-ounce glass bottle about eight-tenths full of distilled water. Add a teaspoon of the vodka or gin. Then you will begin to add drops of essential oils. Start with a simple blend, perhaps citronella, cedarwood, lavender, and lemongrass. I like the peppermint in a blend because it has a slight cooling effect on a hot day. Speaking of peppermint, if you are making these blends for children to use, they are perfectly safe, but peppermint can have a somewhat stimulating effect on kids before naptime or bedtime.
Gently blend the mixture by putting the atomizer top firmly on the bottle and gently roll the bottle between your palms. This is a more effective method of blending than shaking the bottle. Then spray onto your skin. The scent should be gentle, but not too faint and not too strong, either. You can add as much essential oil as you like, but usually somewhere between twenty to thirty drops is enough. If your essential oils don’t come with dropper tops you can purchase a dropper to use.
If you want to spruce up the fragrance, slowly add additional oils until the blend comes together. You can leave it overnight, roll gently, and try again to see how it’s coming together fragrance-wise. It is possible to create a really pleasing, woodsy fragrance enjoyed by men and women alike. Patchouli can be very overpowering, but a small amount helps to harmonize other scents. Cedarwood is likewise strong and can overpower the blend, so don’t use too much of it. Basil and clary sage are both nice green scents, and also go well with black pepper and lemon or orange, along with some citronella, lavender, and cedarwood. Continue to experiment until you get the blend you want.
Some Recipes to Try
These recipes will provide very nice blends for your natural insect repellent. Don’t worry if you don’t get the droplet count exactly right—there can be fun in experimenting!
To your distilled water and alcohol base, add:
Recipe #1:
10 drops citronella
4 drops lavender
2 drops peppermint
2 drops patchouli
3 drops sweet orange
3 drops lemon
Recipe #2:
8 drops citronella
3 drops cedarwood
3 drops lavender
2 drops basil
2 drops black pepper
3 drops lemon
3 drops patchouli
2 drops clary sage
Recipe #3:
8 drops citronella
3 drops lemongrass
3 drops lavender
3 drops geranium
3 drops clary sage
3 drops sweet orange
3 drops black pepper
Peg Aloi is a freelance writer and media studies scholar. She has written on diverse subjects ranging from color symbolism in film to aromatherapy to women’s sexual health. Her blog The Witching Hour (at Patheos) explores popular media related to witchcraft, paganism, and the occult.