Beat Those Pesky Mosquitoes This Monsoon. Naturally!

Yes the monsoons have finally hit us, giving us all much needed relief from the rather brutal rays of the sun. Kids love monsoons the most, perhaps! After all, they get to splash like professionals in the mud, have hot crisp snacks, or admire their rather colourful umbrellas and raincoats? They come with one big turn –off though, being a heaven for all sorts of nasty creepy-crawlies, especially the meanest of them all – mosquitoes. We all know what mayhem they can cause, everything from malaria to dengue. The commonly available mosquito repellants in the market contain harmful chemicals like DEET which can be quite harmful to the skin and may even cause serious issues like nausea, vomiting or loss of concentration, as enumerated by the respected journal SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. 

Thanks to some easy-to-make-at-home, natural alternatives which work well against these small monsters too!  Here are some we gathered for you

The Garlic repellent:

We know that garlic’s acidic pungent smell can be sometimes a bit too much to bear. Guess what, garlic and mosquitoes are sworn enemies. That’s because its essence contain a natural compound called Allicin, which have strong anti-microbial properties that the mosquitoes don’t quite like. Try this crafty garlic repellent and see how the mosquitoes shoo off, like petty robbers, into the night. 

Ingredients: Minced garlic, Mineral oil, Lemon juice 

How to concoct this: Just mince a few cloves of garlic, and keep it in a cup of mineral oil for around 24 hours. After that, just take a teaspoon of the “oil” in a bowl, add 2 cups of water and a teaspoon of freshly squeezed lime juice. Mix it thoroughly and strain it. Pour it into a spray bottle, shake it like a martini, spray it around the room, and enjoy the difference! 

_{Source: diymaniacs.com}

Neem repellent:

It is an old wives’ tale now that Neem is a damn good mosquito repellent. You can believe this without a hint of mockery, for Neem indeed has strong insecticide compounds, which repel all insects including mosquito. So why not try it out as a repellent! Super easy and super effective!

Ingredients: 5 ml Neem oil, 2 ml organic liquid soap, 1L distilled water 

How to concoct it: Just take a spray bottle, add water to it, pour in the other liquid ingredients and then shake it up, with all the mosquito hatred you can muster. Ready to use! Just apply to your skin, and see wonders happening in the air and in your mind. Sleep safe!

_{Credits: isha.sadhguru.org}

The Fragrant repellent:

How often do we wish that our common repellents would smell nice? Vanilla in a mosquito repellant? Possible! Besides the goodness it adds to desserts, it has certain aromatic compounds, slightly alcoholic, that most insects hate. Combine this with the natural repelling properties of lavender, and voila! You get a repellent that is super effective and smelling like Eden. Try it out!

Ingredients: 15 drops of lavender essential oil, 3-4 tablespoons of organic Vanilla extract, 3-4 tablespoons of lemon juice, Distilled water

How to concoct it: Pour the first three ingredients into a 8 ounce spray bottle, fill the bottle then with distilled water, shake it like the expert bartender, and it’s ready to be sprayed on either on clothes or skin. And this is one repellent that your kids will love for sure.

_{Source: rusticescentuals.com}

The Eucalyptus repellent:

While the land of the Kangaroos is the common habitat of Eucalyptus, it’s quite common here too. The essential oils of Eucalyptus have strong insecticidal and anti-microbial properties that mosquitos don’t find cool. So try this simple repellent and see how those nagging gangs vanish into thin air literally. 

Ingredients: Sunflower oil, Eucalyptus oil 

How to concoct it: Take a small spray bottle, mix the oils in the ratio of 1 part eucalyptus to 10 parts sunflower oil and add that to the oil, and just spray. All of your life’s troubles (mosquitoes, for now) would vanish!

_{Source: htstylecraze.com}

With these 100% safe, natural, organic and effective mosquito repellents, your kids and family can breathe easy and have enjoy the monsoons! And yes, don’t just allow these natural blood lovers to reign with impunity, always remove any source of stagnant water please. 

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