We are going camping this weekend, (we're praying for good weather!), and I haven't found the right bug spray. I'm looking for ones without DEET in it but haven't had much luck. I did find a bug spray that contains picaridin, but I haven't heard of it before and I'm not sure if it is safe for my kids, who are ages 5 and 2. I know about Skin So Soft, but I don't think that I can get it by Friday and I have also read some articles saying that it is not very effective. Thank you for any feedback you may have.
-After doing a little research I found this article on picaridin for anyone who may be interested.
http://infectiousdiseases.about.com/od/prevention/p/picar...
If you are in the northern Il area, a good place to go is Pro Bass. They have bug spray for the extreme and "family" bug spray that is deet free. Also in many forms, spray, lotion and wipes.
Melaleuca has some products that will keep the bugs away. Do you know anyone with Melaleuca products ?? There is no DEET --- they are all natural products.
I have Melaleuca products but I do not know where you live and how close you are.......
L.
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our office recommends bull frog. or you could locate an avon rep and I hear skin so soft works great. a lot of reps keep it in stock. good luck,.
I looked all over too and I found an all natural spray by Burt's Bees. I think I found it at Jewel, where they have a whole section of Burt's Bee stuff. They also have a bunch at Woodman's in Carpentersville. It also smells pretty bad but it doesn't have any deet. I also just recently bought another deet free bug spray at Toy's R Us by all the summer play stuff and suntan lotion. Have fun on your trip.
FYI we bought the one from Whole Foods and it stinks to high heaven!!! Like citronella (sp?) We had to open all the windows in the house and my husband who is against using any chemicals at all said we are not using that again! We got the skintastic for families.
I've used Cutter All Family, which has lower levels of DEET in it, when we're up in Michigan in extreme mosquito season. Otherwise Iv'e been using the California Baby citronella lotion which my daughter thinks smells great and has kept us bite free thus far.
I did use the Cutter Advanced wipes (with Picardin) in Puerto Rico where it was very buggy (DEET is not allowed in the Biobay and Rain Forests there) and left with no bites as well.
Mercola.com has a summer survival kit that includes sun screen and bug spray I got it a few weeks ago and used the sun screen on my kids (19 mon. and 5 yrs) it worked VERY well. I haven't used the bug spray yet but it is deet free and all natural, it's safe for pets and kids(who love on their pets and put their hands in their mouth). Even if you can't get it in time(my came the next day after I ordered it) I would highly reccomend getting them anyway for the rest of the summer, go to mercola.com and look under products. Let me know if you have a hard time finding it and I can send you a link.
My girls are 7 and 5. While DEET is somewhat of a concern, I personally prefer to use a lower dosage of DEET than go with a product without. From what I have read the altervative products just are not as effective. Since we will be in the woods, I got the girls a 7% DEET formula in one of the OFF products. As far as straight Skin So Soft--I've used it before and it did not seem to work well. As a side note, I tried the Deep Woods wipes last year and would not recommend them if your child has sensitive skin. They made my daughter's face feel like it was burning. Good luck.
We went to Whole Foods to find our insect repellent. We got All Terrain Kids Herbal Armor (Deet Free with SPF-15). It is not a spray, though. It is a lotion. We've only used it once, but it seemed to work pretty well. We had originally gone there to get California Baby but they were out. Happy camping!
