Here’s the Truth About That Nail Polish Tick Removal Trick

Summertime is fun, but you know what’s not? TICKS! And, unfortunately for all of you hot weather-lovers out there, we are currently living through one of the worst tick infestations in the history of our country. If you’ll remember, we gave you the full scoop at the beginning of the season; this included stories of invasive Asian bush ticks that were terrorizing New Jersey and the Southwest-dwelling Lone Star ticks that are giving people red meat allergies.

Nope, we’re not kidding!

Here’s the reality–it’s a scary time to be an outdoorsperson, but just because the tick situation is out of control in many parts of our country, doesn’t mean that you need to shun the woods, grass, and even your favorite pooch. There are many ways you can protect yourself from getting targeted by ticks in the first place, and even if you DO find one on you, it doesn’t mean that you’re an instant Lyme disease patient or doomed to be a non-red meat-eater.

The trick to stay protected when you do get bit is to get the tick off of you as soon as humanly possible–especially if the little bugger has managed to bury its way into your skin.

But, before that happens, you need to figure out how to remove it. Trust us, the job’s not as easy as it looks!

The first thing that most people do when they find themselves in this unfortunate situation is, of course, to take to the good, old internet. After all, the handy invention does do a smashing job of delivering necessary info QUICKLY–and when you find a tick about to bury its way through your epidermis, it’s definitely “necessary info” time.

But–and this is a big but–not everything you read on the internet can be trusted…

Shocking, right?

For instance, if you Google the phrase “how to remove a tick,” one of the first results that comes up is a highly-contentious method called the “nail polish tick removal trick.”

According to various (questionable) sources, one of the easiest ways to get a tick to unlatch from the skin’s surface is to smother the pest in nail polish. Supposedly, the noxious fumes and chemicals from the beauty product suffocate the tick and it will simply fall off of the skin shortly after coming in contact with the lacquer.

We have to admit that when we first heard about this supposed tick-killing hack, it didn’t seem like such a terrible idea. After all, most nail polish formulas are highly-toxic–there’s no way that an itty-bitty bug could stand to survive a swim in the smelliest polish from your collection…

But, we looked into the hack further because we just weren’t completely convinced that something that’s that simple would so quickly kill one of the most notoriously stubborn insects around. Luckily, we researched this method a bit more and came across some very interesting alternatives.

Intrigued yet?

To get the final answer as to whether or not the tick-killing nail polish hack works, be sure to watch the video below. In it, you’ll learn about more traditional–and highly-effective!–ways to remove those disease-filled pests quickly and efficiently. Remember, stay safe out there, folks. If you find yourself walking through a wooded or grassy area this summer, there are likely ticks nearby, patiently waiting for a warm body to latch onto. Scary, but true!

We’d love to hear your take on the nail polish tick removal hack. Have you ever tried it before? If so, did it work for you? How do you protect yourself from ticks?