Alternative Solution to Toxic Bug Repellent. Tested by NBC Affiliate.
NBC Affiliate Tests Essential Oils as Bug Repellent
By Dan Armstrong
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 6:56 p.m.
Many people think there are two seasons in Michigan: winter and road construction. But they’re wrong! The road construction season runs at the same time as mosquito season. NBC25 put several products to the test and you can decide what’s best for you.
Our trek begins at Gillroys Hardware in Clio where we size up the sprays. “It’s pretty much got the same stuff,” says assistant manager John Thomas. He says the sprays have different packaging, labels, and that’s about it. They do the same work.
We also see an interesting contraption: an insect fogger.
Thomas says, “It’s propane powered. It emits a fog over your whole yard, and it’s going to kill the bugs. It’s going to last couple days, real effective.”
NBC 25 bought a can of Off spray and a new product, Skin Armour. You wash yourself with it, and it’s supposed to keep the bugs off.
We also test a natural concoction of thieves oil, lemon, purification oil, peppermint, and lavender. They’re provided by Tom Sheppard of Mt. Morris who got them from Young Living Essential Oils. Sheppard says, “You can dilute it with water, put it in a spray bottle and it’s just as effective, spray yourself down, go outside at night, and the mosquitoes are going to go ‘Who’s this guy?’”
NBC 25 intern, Rebecca DeMars, will go the natural route. NBC 25′s promotions assistant Bryan Fork will try out the bug soap, and NBC 25′s Dan Armstrong will use the spray. After ten minutes of standing by standing water here are the results.
First, the natural recipe. DeMars says, “It worked pretty good. The mosquitoes landed on me, but i haven’t gotten bit.”
Now, the bug soap. Fork says, “It worked really well. It was easy, once we put it on, mosquitoes didn’t bother me at all.”
Finally, the spray. Armstrong says, “I didn’t have anything land on me, so I think we have three winners.”
The biggest difference is in the price. The spray is around $7. The soap is $15. The combination of essential oils can be around $100, but the oils are natural and non-toxic. All three products warn against getting it in your eyes.
The cost of the Young Living essential oils to make your own nontoxic spray is really misleading, here’s why…
One 15ml bottle of Young Living essential oil contains about 250 drops. When used in a 4oz. spray bottle filled with distilled water you’ll use anywhere from 6 and 10 drops (depending on how strong you want it.)
Therefore, buying a bottle of the blend “Purification” at wholesale costs $17.75… $17.75 divided by 250 equals 0.017 cents per drop.
So, even if you make a stronger spray (using 10 drops), the amount of Purification essential oil you’ll use to make the 4oz. spray is going to cost .71 cents.
Further, you’ll be able to make “25″ – 4oz. spray bottles with one bottle of Purification. So you can see that the REAL VALUE IS IN USING ESSENTIAL OILS.
There is another great essential oil from Young Living called “Palo Santo” (from a tree in South America relative to Frankincense). It is much better at keeping insects away – MUCH BETTER! As a matter of fact, it even kills ticks.
Palo Santo costs $32.75 (wholesale) and is available in a 5ml bottle (yes, a smaller bottle and more expensive than Purification)… but it kills ticks that are embedded, and it even keeps away the insects of the Amazon jungles, Purification won’t do either.
Young Living Essential Oils are the best. They’re 100% natural and plants are grown on virgin farmland that has never seen pesticide. Besides being a great bug repellent, there are many other uses including, first aid and aromatherapy to mention just a few.
Visit www.MrsB.YoungLivingWorld.com to learn more.
If you are interested in the Young Living Products, please feel free to contact me thru my web-site or email be at OilsByMrsB@gmail.com
Another great site to visit is our corporate blog www.youngliving.com SponsorID#958058
