How to Repel Mosquitoes with 3 Natural Ingredients

With the summer sun comes summer pests. And the most irritating of all summer critters? Mosquitoes. These little suckers are known to crash your evening bonfire for outdoor picnic and send you home with itching, painful welts all over your body. Not only that, but mosquitoes have been linked to a variety of potentially life-threatening diseases. Needless to say, it’s crucial to keep mosquitoes away.

While there’s a lot of guessing on the internet on how to do just that, not all of it actually works. But this 3-ingredient DIY repellent, brought to us by Household Hacker, is simple to make and proven to ward off those pesky mosquitoes! Watch the video below to see how you can whip up this easy repellent before your next barbecue.

Creating this concoction only takes a few minutes, but using it gives you up to six hours of anti-mosquito protection! Plus, because you’re using these all-natural ingredients, there are no harsh chemicals involved.

The base of this repellent is a lovely smelling lemon eucalyptus oil – lovely smelling to us, not so much to the mosquitoes.

Otherwise, you’ll only need two other ingredients to make your own bug spray.

YOU’LL NEED
– 30 drops of lemon ecalyptus oil
– 1 tsp. vanilla extract
– 4 oz. witch hazel

The reason lemon eucalyptus works best to magically banish bugs is because of a compound it contains called menthoglycol. This compound has been shown to work just as well as the compound found in most repellents, DEET, but it doesn’t have the potentially harmful side effects of DEET.

You can also use citronella oil or lemongrass oil instead, but your spray will have to be re-applied every 30 minutes. To find lemon eucalyptus oil, look in the natural foods section or the vitamin section of your local store.

Vanilla extract is optional, but it has been found to help improve the effectiveness of the spray…plus it smells just so darn nice.

And, finally, witch hazel can be substituted with rubbing alcohol, vodka, or cooking oil – anything that will keep the oil and water from separating and help blend the mixture together.

STEP 1: Add all 3 ingredients into a container.
STEP 2: Stir well, so everything is mixed thoroughly. The color should resemble watered-down gravy. Yum.
STEP 3: Use tin foil (or an actual funnel if you have one) to funnel the mixture into any spray bottle. Spray all over before going outdoors for up to six hours of mosquito repellent.

We don’t know about you, but we can’t wait to try this spray in the summer months to come! What do you think of this DIY mosquito spray? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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