Anti-Tick Essential Oils

Ticks wake up with the arrival of warm spring days. They can not only deliver discomfort to their bites, but also pose a risk to human healthoften being vectors of serious infectious diseases, among which borreliosis, encephalitis, ehrlichiosis. Essential oils from ticks for people can help in cases where you need to protect children or adults who prefer non-chemical methods of scaring away bloodsuckers.

What smells scare away ticks

To protect against bloodsucking parasites, many people use tick preparationscontaining chemical components that are harmful not only to arachnids, but also to children. All of them contain toxic components: diethyltoluamide, insecticides that can cause various negative reactions on the skin and in the respiratory system of a person.

Therefore, many try to avoid the use of "chemistry", and to protect against ticks and mosquitoes use only natural substances. According to studies by sanitary experts, there are many types of essential oils that can deter blood-sucking pests from both humans and animals.

The most effective of them are those that emit a spicy, bitter or sour smell:

• tea tree oil;
• eucalyptus;
• peppermint;
• lemon oil.

Other essential oils similar in effect are also used to repel ticks: anise, basil, cloves, geranium, lavender, cedar wood, lemon balm, fir, juniper, rosemary and citronella.

All of these odorous substances can cause ticks to feel dangerous and tend to escape away from their source.

Important!

In undiluted form, essential oils are not recommended, because they can cause skin irritation, redness, etc. When buying, you need to make sure that the substance is natural, not synthetic. It should be transparent, the smell will disappear slowly (the exception is citrus), do not leave spots on paper or fabric. Synthetic products leave greasy spots, while natural ones leave stains with a slight pigment staining.

Advantages of use and methods of application

Benefits of using essential oils against ticks:

• the availability of this method;
• higher safety of use, because chemical protective equipment can cause allergic reactions, especially in young children;
• speed of use and effectiveness, because the product applied to the skin immediately begins to scare away ticks and other bloodsucking and its effect lasts up to 24 hours;
• long shelf life of the prepared mixture - up to 6 months.

There are several methods for applying essential oils from mosquitoes and ticks to your skin or clothing:

• using an impregnated cotton swab;
• the use of a wet towel, which is important when there are no other convenient aids;
• you can use a roller for cleaning clothes: it is moistened with essential oil and held on the surface of the clothes several times, the advantage of this technique is the uniformity of the repellent layer applied;
• it is recommended to do the processing of clothes from the spray gun in advance and put it in a plastic bag, blocking the air access for a day;
• spray the mixture in the form of a spray from a bottle with a dispenser;
• wearing a scarecrow bracelet with mite essential oil applied on it, a leather or wood product on which the aromatic mixture is applied is the basis, a great advantage is that the product does not need to be applied to the skin, which means that you can avoid allergies.

Important!

Before applying essential substances to clothing, a sample should be taken in a small area hidden from the eyes to make sure that there are no traces on the fabric.

Security measures

The main rule of using any essential oil is to make a test before applying it directly to the skin to find out if a person is allergic to the ingredients of the mixture. To do this, mix 1 tsp. any vegetable oil and 1-3 drops of the selected essential, anoint on the wrist or inner zone of the forearm.

Important!

It is necessary to monitor your condition for at least 12 hours: if redness or itching appears during this time, then this aromatic mixture is not suitable.

Another way to check for allergies is to take a breathing test using a cotton swab dipped in 1-2 drops of essential oil. If when holding it to the nose and 8-10 inhalations of flavored air for 5 minutes there is no dizziness, coughing or shortness of breath, increased heart rate, then it can be safely applied.

You should also be aware that some types of essential oils are not recommended for use in the following situations:

• do not apply to the skin in very hot weather;
• during spraying, make sure that the product does not get into the eyes;
• during pregnancy, it is not recommended to use lavender, juniper, mint and lemon balm essential oil;
• with hypertension - exclude mint, basil and juniper;
• with hypotension - you can not use lemon, lemon balm and tea tree;
• aromas of thyme, rosemary and basil are contraindicated for patients with epilepsy and kidneys;
• when using drugs with iron and iodine, lavender oil should be excluded.

Aromasmes and their preparation

There are several recipes and methods for preparing mixtures of essential oils that can be used for tick protection. All of them are quite effective and safer for health in comparison with chemicals.

Before going to nature, you can use any etheric product whose smell afraid of ticks, - eucalyptus, lavender, rose oil, etc.

To protect against ticks, it is recommended to use aromatic mixtures, which are prepared from several components based on base vegetable oil. For the base, you can use sunflower, corn, olive, oil from wheat germ, grape seed or apricot, etc.

On a note!

After mixing, the aromatic oils can be stored in glass or ceramic containers for six months, preferably in a cool place, avoiding the penetration of moisture into them.

Recipe 1

The mixture consists of the following ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. l base;
• 10-25 drops of geranium oil (palmarosa) or any other.

Important!

Each essential oil can be used for 3 weeks, and then take a break or change the composition of the mixture. It is better to use several aromatic compositions alternately.

Recipe 2

The main components that can be poured into a 55 ml spray bottle:

• grape essential oil - 45 ml (base);
• broccoli - 5 ml;
• eucalyptus oil or lemon - 15 drops;
• lavender - 30 cap.

Recipe 3

The main components that need to be mixed and poured into a bottle with a dispenser:

• 1-2 tsp clove oil;
• 200 ml of pure water with 1 tsp. alcohol or 50 ml of cologne.

Using tick spray is a more convenient option, because when spraying, you can process not only the skin, but also clothes or bedding, as well as litter and the habitat of pets.

Recipe 4

A mixture of essential oils for the shower:

• any etheric - 15 drops;
• soybean oil - 5 ml;
• Cleanser or shower gel - 30 ml.

Tick ​​Essential Oils for Kids

It is recommended that babies and older children use one of the most gentle and calm remedies for protection, which rarely causes allergic reactions. This is lavender oil from ticks, which has a pleasant smell with floral and woody notes that drive away many insects: mosquitoes, ticks, moths and others. Before using it in a child, it is necessary to check for individual intolerance. If you are allergic to oils, you should use others baby tick remedies.

To avoid allergies, it is recommended to apply mixtures with essential oils not on the baby’s skin, but on clothes, a stroller, etc.

On a note!

Lavender and tea tree oil also help treat bites from mosquitoes, ticks and even bees: they reduce swelling of the skin, itching and redness. With the formation of combs and wounds, an aqueous-alcoholic mixture helps: by 0.5 tbsp. boiled water and alcohol tincture of calendula is taken 15 cap. lavender or other oil.

Do essential oils help with ticks

As evidenced by the reviews of those who regularly use various aromatic mixtures to deter “bloodsuckers”, the effectiveness of such drugs lasts only a few hours. Therefore, for a longer walk, it is recommended to take a bottle with essential oils or a napkin saturated with aroma, which can be used after reducing the intensity of the repelling odor.

The proposed recipes will allow everyone to make aromatic oils from various ingredients and use them with high efficiency throughout the summer season, including when walking with a child in the park, in the woods, on a picnic or on a hiking trip.