Homemade Mosquito Spray

Remember the sad face boy with his over swollen mosquito bites on his face and back? Well, I am happy to report that he is doing better, and although I have been giving him oral medication, I suspect that other than letting the bites run their course, this homemade mosquito spray that I use helped a lot as well.

In the summer, I too, get these oversensitive skin reactions. They are almost like heat rashes mostly on my legs and sometimes on my arms that become these angry red patches. They itch and hurt and are very sensitive to touch. I get them in the winter too, but not as much as the warmer months. I suspect it is some type of eczema, although I have not had the doctor look at them.

A lady at the farmer's market a couple of years ago had this mosquito spray that she was selling. She said it was a natural solution to keeping mosquitoes at bay, but that it also helped the itch and the sting of the bites should you get them. I asked if she thought it could help one of my angry red areas on my leg. She sprayed some on right then and it was instantly cooling and soothing. I bought some from her and then went back the next month to buy some more. Before, my spots would take weeks to resolve even though I tried every cream or ointment imagineable to make them better. After using the spray daily, my spot was all gone within two days.

I use the spray every time I get any type of itchy spot. My son likes to have it sprayed on his itchy spots as well. Since I use it all throughout the year, I was not able to go to the farmer's market to buy some more during the winter months. She had said the ingredients were just witch hazel, tea tree oil, and lavender oil, so I started making my own.

It is nothing scientific, but it works just the same. I simply fill the spray bottle almost to the top with witch hazel then I put in about 10 to 20 drops each of the tea tree and lavendar oils. I buy the witch hazel for a dollar or so a bottle at Target, and I bought the oils at Sunflower market, a local health food type store. They last a long time since not very much of them are needed each time I refill the spray bottle.

I love this stuff and use it almost every day. It has truly been a life saver.... or at least a scratch saver!

Sad Face

This sad little lovey has a swollen face. Under his left eye is swollen so that his eye is almost half closed, and his right cheek is swollen so that it looks like he has a jowl. Admittedly in the above picture, he is being a little on the dramatic side and is making his mouth sadder than it actually looks. He likes to pose!

He woke up the other morning with what looked like mosquito bites on his face and then his eye started swelling. I let it set for a day before I called the doctor. He thinks that it is the mosquito bites mixed with the fact that he is already congested due to a sinus infection. Since all his lymph nodes are already swollen and then he was bitten on his face, behind his ear, along his jaw line, and his neck, that it is a secondary reaction to the being bitten in such key places. He said to try Zyrtec or Claritin, since I had already been giving him Benadryl without much of a change.

When I went to the pharmacy, the pharmacist said that the Zyrtec or Claritin would probably not do much, but trying wouldn't hurt either. She said to try Benadryl. When I told her I already had, she just looked at me with that "oh" kind of expression. I said, "So what you are saying is that it basically has to run its course." She said, "Sorry."

I did give him the Claritin and the Benadryl along with his antibiotic when we arrived home. It did look a little better today, and he said was not as miserable feeling as yesterday.

Tonight we were outside, and he didn't have a shirt on because he wants to be like the Incredible Hulk. He came running up to me and said, "You gotta look at my back!" Upon his turning around, I saw four large welts about an inch long each from newly acquired mosquito bites. I first said that it was time to put his shirt back on, and it was time to be inside for the night.

I have put on the mosquito spray and we have sprayed the mosquitoes in the house with Listerine, which kills them and is non-toxic so we are not spraying bug spray on ourselves. But these mosquitoes are everywhere this year since we have had so much extra moisture. The mosquitoes are outside and inside. A friend asked, "How do they get inside?" I said, "They come in because the kids come in and out about a hundred times a day, and half the time they leave the door wide open." It is like fighting a losing battle all day long against these tiny nuisances!

We will continue to spray away, but I look forward to the time when the mosquitoes are done for the year. I cringe everytime I look at a new bite mark on one of the kids!