Keep Pesky Mosquitoes Away With A Little-Known Essential Oil Trick

When the weather warms up, you know it's time to get outdoors. Sun-soaked hikes and warm evenings spent outside with friends, what could beat it? Well, there's at least one pest that can ruin these sweet, sunny memories, and that's the mosquito. Not only can these buzzing pests leave you with itchy bug bites, they can also carry a number of dangerous diseases according to the World Mosquito Program. That's why it's key to keep mosquitoes away, but the traditional mosquito repellents can be incredibly unpleasant to spray on your skin and have an unpleasant odor. Luckily, a bit of thyme essential oil can be just what you need to keep these buzzing pests away.

Thyme essential oil contains thymol, which has been proven as an effective insecticide according to multiple studies, and repellent against mosquitoes. Essentially, the strong fragrance can mask human-emitting odors which makes it difficult for pests to track their hosts. Thyme is among a number of plants that can ward off mosquitoes, and has similar properties when burned, but you can't use it topically, making an essential oil key. And just because it's a natural repellent doesn't mean it's ineffective — one study by the American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA) found that thyme essential oil was 91% effective as a topical repellent, which is stronger than N,N-diethyl-m-methylbenzamide, also known as deet. 

Don't go slathering yourself in thyme essential oil just yet. Despite being safe for topical use, essential oils are highly concentrated, and when applied undiluted, can cause adverse skin reactions and smell unpleasantly strong, which most people can't tolerate. Thankfully, the study from the AMCA found that essential oil was still effective at just 0.05% diluted concentration, so a little oil will go a very long way, and combining them with a skin-safe carrier oil such as coconut or jojoba oil can improve the duration of the essential oil. 

To use thyme essential oil as a repellent, just add a few drops to enough carrier oil to cover any exposed skin, and massage the combo in. You can also add other essential oils with repellent properties such as clove or citronella and experiment with the fragrance. How long these natural repellents stay effective varies greatly on the exact concentration of essential oils, but can last between 1.5 and 3.5 hours, so if you're planning on being exposed for longer, be sure you have plenty of your thyme-infused repellent balm on you. Despite the research that backs this as natural DIY repellent, note that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not include thyme or thymol in their recommended active ingredients for preventing mosquito bites. This is especially important to remember if you are traveling to an area that faces mosquito-carrying diseases such as Zika or Malaria.