Essential oils against ticks
Content
Blood-sucking parasites wake up with the arrival of spring warm days. They can not only deliver discomfort with their bites, but also represent a danger to human health, often being carriers of serious infectious diseases.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 bloodsuckers.
What smells scare ticks
To protect against blood-sucking parasites, many people use ointments and aerosols containing chemical compounds that are harmful not only to ticks, 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 humans.
Therefore, many try to avoid the use of "chemistry", and to protect against ticks and mosquitoes use only natural substances. According to the research of health service specialists, there are many types of essential oils that can repel blood-sucking pests from both people and animals.
The most effective of them are those that emit spicy, bitter or sour odors:
- tea tree oil;
- eucalyptus;
- mint;
- lemon oil.
Also, other essential oils similar in action are used to scare ticks: anise, basil, clove, geranium, lavender, cedar wood, lemon balm, fir, juniper, rosemary and citronella.
All listed odorous substances can cause a tick's sense of danger and the desire to run away from their source.
Important!
In an undiluted form, essential oils are not recommended, since 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 volatilizes slowly (except for citrus), do not leave stains on paper or fabric. Synthetic products leave greasy stains, and natural - stains with a slight pigment staining.
Advantages of use and methods of use
The advantages of using essential oils against ticks:
- availability of this method;
- higher safety of use, because chemical protective equipment can cause allergic reactions, especially in young children;
- speed of application and effectiveness, because the product applied to the skin immediately begins to scare off ticks and other blood-sicking and its effect lasts up to 24 hours;
- long shelf life of the prepared mixture - up to 6 months.
For applying essential oils from mosquitoes and ticks on the skin or clothing there are several ways:
- with the help of a soaked cotton swab;
- the use of a wet wipe, which is important when there are no other convenient aids;
- You can also use a roller for cleaning clothes: it is moistened with essential oil and carried out on the surface of clothes several times, the advantage of this technique is the uniformity of the applied layer of repellent;
- It is recommended to make the processing of clothes from a spray bottle in advance and put them in a plastic bag, blocking air access for a day
- spray the mixture in the form of a spray from a bottle with a dispenser;
- wearing a repellent bracelet with essential oil from mites applied to it; a skin or wood product to which the aroma mixture is applied is the basis, a great advantage is that the product does not need to be applied to the skin, which means you can avoid allergies.
Important!
Before applying essential substances to clothing, a sample should be taken on a small area hidden from the eye to make sure that no traces of the fabric will remain.
Security measures
The main rule of using any essential oil is to make a sample before it is directly applied to the skin in order to find out if there is an allergy in a person to the ingredients of the mixture. To do this, mix 1 tsp. any vegetable oil and 1-3 drops of selected essential, anoint on the wrist or the inner zone of the forearm.
Important!
It is necessary to watch your condition for at least 12 hours: if redness or itching appears during this time, then this aroma mixture is not suitable.
Another method of testing for allergies is a breath test with a cotton swab moistened with 1-2 drops of essential oil. If you bring it to the nose and 8-10 breaths of flavored air for 5 minutes. dizziness, cough or shortness of breath, increased heart rate is not observed, then it can be safely used.
You should also be aware that certain types of essential oils are not recommended for use in the following situations:
- Do not apply on the skin in very hot weather;
- during spraying spray to ensure that the tool does not fall 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;
- patients with epilepsy and kidney contraindicated aromas of thyme, rosemary and basil;
- when using drugs with iron and iodine, it is necessary to exclude lavender oil.
Aromasses and their preparation
There are several recipes and methods for preparing blends of essential oils that can be used to protect against ticks. All of them are quite effective and safer for health than chemical preparations.
Before going to nature, you can use any ethereal remedy, the smell of which the mites are afraid of - eucalyptus, lavender, rose oil, etc.
To protect against ticks, it is recommended to use aroma mixtures that are prepared from several components based on basic 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 aroma oils can be stored in a glass or ceramic container for six months, preferably in a cool place, avoiding the ingress 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 alternately several aromatic compositions.
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 or lemon oil - 15 drops;
- lavender - 30 cap.
Recipe 3
The main components that need to be mixed and pour into the bottle with the dispenser:
- 1-2 tsp clove oil;
- 200 ml of pure water with 1 tsp. alcohol or 50 ml of cologne.
The use of mite spray is a more convenient option, since when spraying, it is possible to treat not only the skin, but also clothing or bedding, as well as bedding and the habitat of pets.
Recipe 4
A mixture of essential oils for the soul:
- any ethereal - 15 drops;
- soybean oil - 5 ml;
- Cream or shower gel - 30 ml.
Essential oils from ticks for children
For babies and older children it is recommended to use one of the most gentle and calm means for protection, which rarely causes allergic reactions.This is lavender oil from ticks, which has a pleasant smell with floral and woody notes that repels many insects: mosquitoes, ticks, moths and others. Before using it in a child, it is imperative to check for individual intolerance.
To avoid allergies, it is recommended to apply mixtures with essential oils not on the baby’s skin, but on clothes, strollers, etc.
On a note!
Lavender and tea tree oil help to treat bites from mosquitoes, ticks and even bees: they reduce skin swelling, itching and redness. In the formation of scratches and wounds helps water-alcohol mixture: 0.5 st. boiled water and alcohol tincture of calendula is taken 15 cap. lavender or other oils.
Do essential oils from ticks help?
As evidenced by the reviews of those who regularly apply various aroma mixtures to scare away the “bloodsuckers”, the effectiveness of such products lasts only a few hours. Therefore, with a longer walk, it is recommended to take with you a bottle of essential oils or a napkin soaked in a scent, which can be used after reducing the intensity of the repellent odor.
The proposed recipes will allow everyone who wants to make aroma oils from various ingredients and use them with high efficiency throughout the summer season, including when walking with a child in a park, in a forest, on a picnic or a hiking trip.