I have been experimenting with deet-free mosquito repellents for years! Before now I had to make my own completely from scratch because I won’t use any essential oils other than Young Living Essential Oils on my skin. There’s just too much corruption in the essential oil industry and after a ton of research, Young Living is one of the only companies I trust.
To make my own completely homemade mosquito repellent I would use a little bit of vegetable glycerine, witch hazel or vodka, and then Citronella, Lavender, Eucalyptus, and Tea Tree (melaleuca alternifolia). I’d put it all in a spray bottle and spray it on myself, my kids, and our dog without worry!
But honestly, I’m not a huge DIYer (at all!) and I’d MUCH rather use something that’s already made!
I have FALLEN IN LOVE with Young Living products and their Insect Repellent is hands-down THE BEST deet-free insect repellent I’ve ever used!
But, because it’s in a squirt bottle, you have to get it on your hands and rub it onto your skin. Which is not an issue… unless you don’t have a place to wash them after applying and don’t want oil on your hands.
I saw these spray bottles on Amazon and immediately ordered a couple to see if they would work with the insect repellent. OH MY GOODNESS I’m in love! It works SO well (better than I had hoped for) and sprays an even spray all over.
I just filled the 5 oz bottle up halfway with the insect repellent and then filled the other half with Vodka! I always have cheap vodka on hand for making homemade perfumes, room/clothing sprays, and homemade vanilla extract!
The label from the Young Living insect repellent bottle peels right off too and attaches to the spray bottle!
The mist is very fine and even my super-picky kid that dislikes certain textures said that it felt amazing going on! #win
The insect repellent is only $38.95 wholesale, and even with very regular use I don’t use up the whole bottle in one season (and that’s here in Texas where the mosquitos are NUTS). Now with the spray bottle I’m only using half of the bottle so it’ll last even longer!
You can get a wholesale Young Living membership (like a Costco or Sams Club membership, but even better!) right here!
You don’t have to sell anything ever, but a wholesale membership means that you don’t have to pay retail prices! Woohoo!!
You can get just a membership with a basic starter kit for $45 which gives you the discounts (just like you pay a fee to join Costco or Sams Club to get discounts) plus a bottle of Stress Away and a few other goodies…
OR, what most people do, is get a Premium Starter Kit so that they get an essential oils diffuser and 12 different ESSENTIAL essential oils for a HUGE discount! The kit retails for over $400 but you can get it when you get a wholesale membership for only $165 (and the wholesale membership is included in the price!)
It’s totally up to you, and you get the discounts either way, but most people end up getting the premium starter kit anyway because it’s such an incredible deal, so you might as well start off with it!
Once you have a membership, you can buy the insect repellent at the wholesale discount!
Also, if you’ve had a Young Living membership before through this blog, but haven’t ordered within the past year, no worries! Just text “Reactivate” to 281-410-1488 and I’ll step you through how to reactivate again so that you can grab the insect repellent!
Disclaimer: The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please confirm any information obtained from or through this web site with other sources, and review all information regarding any medical condition or treatment with your physician. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking medical treatment because of something you have read on this website. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease.
WOW we are going camping in a few weeks and I will def try this!!!
Do you spray it on like the other repellants?
Yes, you can spray your camp chairs and tent flaps. Spray more often than commercial formulas but you wont mind. It smells that good.
I’ll have to print this one out. Bugs, in general love me and I swell up like crazy from those skeeters!
Thanks for posting it!
I hate bug sprays, they smell horrible! I can not wait to try this 🙂
Taking B1 everyday during the summer will also repel the mosquitos. They will not like the taste of you.
We use a ceiling fan if we are just sitting outside. Keeps them away.
Took advantage of the free Kindle Book!
Thanks!
I will concoct this together and let you know, thanks…
Will definitely have to try this as I do live in the infested setx area..right now the Mosquitos are horrible since we got rain recently which we needed bad but not the bugs..
Love this (and really love the idea for making your own vanilla extract! My husband thinks I’m nuts but that is totally going to be my next project- yay!!!)
Great idea! I’m all about the made from scratch products : )
I will be making this tomorrow!
Can you make this with another kind of essential oil? I heard lavender was not so good for cats and I don’t want to harm my kitty’s
Is this safe for pets, too? Like dogs? Our dogs LOVE to play outside, but I don’t let them stay out long in fear of them getting all bit up by the pesky mosquitoes..
We fill a spray bottle with Listerene and spray the area outside where we will be at! It works great for picnics, camping, outdoor firepits, weiner roasts, boats!! Just spray the area where you are and repeat if the little pests start “bugging” you again!
i am from south east texas =) and i will try t his when i get back from vacation
What size spray bottle?
Where do you buy packages of whole vanilla beans and for the cost of $9.02?
what’s your recipe?
Looks like you and I switched places. You can see the mosquitos in the DARK down here! Thank for the info; can’t wait to try it.
we use at our farm 1/2 and 1/2 – 1/2 water and 1/2 Skin So Soft. This i can spray on my horses and it stays on them since it has oil in it. Keeps the horse flies and yellow biting flies of my horses, and me!
@Wacissa Manor I’ve used straight skin-so-soft for years. It use to come in a spray bottle, it works so well. I use to pour it on the corners of my beach towel too, worked like a charm!!!
I’m surprised the lavendar/vanilla/cinnamon don’t attract the bugs more?
Wouldn’t they have to bite you (and inject their itch-inducing, bump-producing poison) to know they don’t like you? So this would keep repeat offenders away, but I don’t think repeat offenders are really a problem. This would still give every mosquito at least one good shot at you. And where I live in SE VA, that means about a million per day :))
Bugs are often attracted to the scent of your skin (hence, the reason why they bite some people more than other people), and taking certain vitamins may change that scent enough that they are no longer attracted to you. Different things will work for different people.
We simply use the old fashioned Listerine, the gold colored kind, and water. About 1/4 cup Listerine in a quart spray bottle. Fill up with water. Doesn’t smell bad, and the mosquitoes don’t seem to like it either.
The Listerine worked well for me. I tried the mint Listerine this year and it hasn’t worked so I’ll go back the old Gold Listerine.
i use 2/3 baby oil to 1/3 dettol (do you have that in the states? its a disinfectant). makes loads and is great for camping
I’ll give this a try. I live in East Texas and my son and I are “Skeeter Magnets”. Deep Woods Off is our go to, but mostly we stay indoors when the skeets come out at dusk. I grew up in Dallas and we always had Martin Bird Houses. Martins eat tons of Mosquitoes. You have to have a “Martin House” to attract them. Looking forward to trying this mixture. So much more pleasant smelling!!! Now, I want a Martin House. Canton, first Monday, here I come!
I have horses and live in Southeast Alabama, so I’m always trying to fight mosquitoes as well as a myriad of other pests around the barn. So far, the best thing I’ve found is Avon’s Skin So Soft mixed with some citronella oil and and water (or instead of water (for my horses) a cheap fly repellent like Bronco). Works like a charm.
@Hey Paw @missy72190
I am wondering if the one from avon has deet in it? My husband and I do so much out doors with our kids and, he wont use anything with deet in it.
Since thickness and consistency are key factors in lotions and creams, it is important to understand the manufacturing process that determines viscosity.
Is this for the yard or for people or both????
I use it on people, for the yard I sprinkle minced garlic all around. 🙂
This whole business of mosquitoes need some serious consideration. Let’s see, everyone pretty much seem to try almost everything but have you thought about neem, full strength with natural coconut oil mix together? The neem is suppose to be an insect deterrent and the oil makes the insect loose it’s appetite. The neem bush grows plentiful in areas of south America and that’s exactly where the fight is. Come let us experience the victory together, with God’s help of course.
Oh by the way, you will never get the benefits if you are not prepare to tolerate the smell. It certainly work great if you can get over the smell.
Blessings to each of you for trying
Try taking 500mg-1000mg of vitamin C tablets a day through the hot summer. Though it takes at least around a month of doing so first, before the humid summer kicks in, for it to really take effect and be/soak in your system really good. Mosquitos won’t even think twice about your blood; it’d be like drinking pure acid for them.
wouldn’t the lavender oil attract bees? And wouldn’t the lemon bleach clohes? I’m not being difficult I was just curious how it works?
Lemon balm is a herb… it won’t bleach your clothes
Insect repellant, homemade or store bought, only works as a short term deterrent for mosquitoes. They are not attracted to the “smell of your blood” or skin, or sweat, etc., they are attracted to the carbon dioxide we are exhaling when we breathe. The greater the number in the group (be it animals or humans), the higher the concentration of carbon dioxide in that area and the more mosquitoes that will be attracted. All a bug spray does is mask the carbon dioxide present temporary so it doesn’t really matter what you put in it. Straight witch hazel reapplied every half hour works fine on its own or you can combine it with baby oil to prevent it from over drying your skin. Mosquitoes have no sense of taste, only the females drink blood and only when they are breeding. If you havea tendency to react to the anticoagulant they inject before feeding, your best option is to wait patiently for the little sucker to finish feeding because it will eventually suck out the anticoagulant they inject while feeding. Dab vinegar, toothpaste (NOT GEL), oatmeal, baking soda, or lemon juice on the bite to soothe it.
If you take brewers yeast (pill form) 3 times a day it turns your blood poisonous to mosquitoes. It takes a couple of days to take full affect.
Please can you tell me where you got these exact spray bottles? They look very heavy duty/good quality! And what size?
Thanks!
Thank you so much for this post! I am super prone to bug bites and the bug spray from the stores stinks so much like chemicals I’m almost afraid to spray it all over me. I have included this in my Sunday Shares post for useful sites at http://www.doomestic.com Thank you again so much!!
Sounds like a great alternative. I am definately going to try. Have you tried it against our pesky Dallas chiggers? I live in the country and fight them every spring/summer.
Hello, can someone please tell us what size spray bottle? It seems the amount of liquid added would be very important. Also, if you add the witch hazel, is there a recommended amount? I really want to try this, but would like to get some better measurements.
Thanks!
I read somewhere where you use a 16oz spray bottle.
Do you need to refrigerate the homemade lavendar and lemon juice insect repellent.
I know “they” say that pure lemon juice by itself don’t work to repel
mosquito’s, but it sure has worked for me here in N.C.
and it repels men, too!
I’d like to try your mixture, but it seems to me an important piece of information has been left out and only a few people have mentioned it…what size spray bottle did you use? Your directions say to mix all the ingredients and then fill the rest of the bottle with water but if one uses a bigger bottle than what you have used, the mixture will be too diluted and won’t sufficiently repel bugs. Thank you for any help you can give–I’d love to try this but want to get it right!
This works great! #oils4everyone
If you make your own Vanilla and Vodka wouldn’t you smell like Vodka. This wouldn’t be good for children or areselfs
I love finding chemical free recipes that also save me money…thanks for sharing!
#oils4everyone
Thanks for this recipe! We are in Kansas and get a lot of mosquitoes in the spring/summer. I wonder, would this work for all bugs – like chiggers? Thanks!
yes Nicole this will work on 90% of other bugs as well as mosquitoes.
where do you buy the oil’s ,from what store cause i would to make this for the summer coming up.thank you for the great idea…
Hey Rosemarie! I buy the oils from Young Living – you can see why I chose to use Young Living essential oils here in this post: https://www.survivingthestores.com/how-to-use-essential-oils-where-to-buy
I wonder if this would work if I added vinegar to it instead of the water or witch hazel, to repel ticks, too. Any ideas anyone?
I havent tried the recipes but I would caution using the formula if one is going to be out in the sunlight as some of the essential oils can be photoxic (increasing effects of sunburn).
As a person that those darn mosquitoes love, I will hafta try those. I heard that you could also use a dryer sheet. Tried it and it works but only for a little while. Avon has a good one out with both sunscreen and repellant that works pretty good. I’ m in Oklahoma City and its gobs of mosquitos and flies just as soon as it gets the least bit warm. Ugh!
My dad always told my not to scratch, but to use hot water as hot as you can stand it for the itch and it makes the sting or itch go away. It always worked for him, and I tried it, and it does help. Another thing that I do, if I can’t stand real hot water is, I would just kind of slap the area and it would kind of help too.
Warm up a teaspoon and press it on the bite…helps
Please spot test all of the essential oils prior to use. Most are volatile and can have skin reactions. I personally have to watch Ti Tree Oil (Melaleuca alternifloria). Also if your ‘greenness’ is at full throttle, check the source of the ‘vegetable Glycerin’ some comes from Palm Oil and this production is linked with the reduction of habitat of orang a tang’s.
I’ve tried a couple of recipes, and we haven’t been impressed. By we I mean my teens/young adults and me. They don’t last nearly as long as commercially prepared, and while we are worried about chemicals, I’m more concerned with mosquito bites and the disease they spread. We’re in FL, so we need repellant just about year-round.
This may sound silly, but am wondering if using vodka, is it OK for children. I know that using regular repellant is bad because it absorbed into the blood stream. Would the vodka do the same?
Where do you buy vegetable glycerine?