citronella

23 August 2016

Review Eco by Sonya Personal Outdoor Spray
For anyone not following me on Instagram/Twitter you might not be aware that I've just come back from my Sister's wedding in Skiathos. Despite my extended family being Greek I have never visited this part of the world before now (usually we hop across to Spain or Portugal). My sister is a regular to the island so advised me to bring inspect repellent because from her experience the Greek bugs like the sweet taste of English blood. I haven't used repellent since my year long trip backpacking Australia. I did a little research on natural alternatives as I wanted to avoid DEET and in the end I bought Eco by Sonya Personal Outdoor Spray. I must admit I was sold on this for the fact it's an Australian brand and a good price in comparison to similar products.

I've never had much problem with bites when travelling but as we had the wedding I didn't want to take any risks. Last thing I wanted was photos with my legs covered in red bite marks. Eco by Sonya Personal Outdoor Spray is a blend of essential oils - peppermint, tea tree, cedarwood, coriander, basil, clove, lemongrass and citronella. For me, the fragrance was gorgeous and I was more than happy to wear it. Some non-natural insect repellents have a horrid odour but this was a refreshing perfume, for me the peppermint was the dominant note. The bottle is plastic so great for travel and the spray gave a perfect spritz of product. Myself and my husband were liberal with application and I guess we used around half the bottle in 7 days (I left the remainder with family to finish it up).

Did we get bitten? I experienced one bite on my ankle on the very last day of the holiday and the Hubby had none. I think that's pretty good and on that basis I would happily buy Eco by Sonya Personal Outdoor Spray again.

Sarah x

18 September 2012

Vegemite
I've had a couple of requests for my recommendations for natural inspect repellent. I have to be honest I never pack insect repllent when I go on holiday but then again it has been a while since I ventured to an exotic location.When I backpacked Australia my friend was having allergic reactions to bites but I never suffered any bites. There is a great old wives tale about eating to keep the mozzies at bay. Apparently it's to do with the Vitamin B's. I have searched the internet and opinions are mixed as to whether there is some truth behind this tale. I certainly wouldn't be taking any risks, a nat bite is one thing but mosquitoes carry diseases.

If you are off to an exotic location you need to protect yourself against being bitten.  The illnesses carried by mosquitoes need to be taken seriously but there is controversy over DEET (N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide). It is often recommended that the best repellents on the market are those containing DEET but there have been concerns raised about toxicity. I have read that when using repellent containing DEET you may be better off not spraying directly onto your skin but onto your clothing. If you would like to learn more about DEET I will list at then end of this post the articles I read.

Natural repellents which you may wish to make sure are included in products are citronella and lemon eucalyptus. Products you may wish to research are as follows - 

I was pleasantly surprised at the number of repellents from well known brands. My post is intended as a guide and I recommend you surf the internet to see what else you can find. Let me know in the comment section if you have tried any of the products mentioned above. I would be interested to know whether you were happy with the results.

Sarah x

Links to Further Reading - 
Naturalnews.com - Insect repellent DEET is toxic to brain cells
survival.outdoorlife.com - The Toxic Truth About DEET and Permethrin
protectourbreasts.org - The DEETs about safer bug spray
rodale.com - 4 Natural Alternatives to Toxic Mosquito Repellents

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