Homegrown: Gnat time

Yikes! I've just been attacked, again, by some nasty gnats. The bugs - tiny black flies that are also called buffalo gnats - seem to have made an earlier appearance this year in Eastern Iowa. Black flies generally stick around until mid-June, but I'm hoping they will disappear as fast as they surround me in their bite-fest swarms.

I recently received a "Tackle Gnats" kit from an unexpected source. The box contained a sample of Absorbine Jr., typically used as a topical pain reliever. The makers of Absorbine Jr. have latched on to the secondary use of the product as a bug repellent. According to the company, the combination of several of the ingredients in Absorbine Jr., such as natural menthol, absinthium oil, wormwood oil, and other herbal ingredients, gives the product a unique scent that gnats apparently do not find appealing.

“Last year, we noticed an increase in the number of inquiries to our customer service department regarding Absorbine Jr. and its ability to help with gnats,”  Robert J. Wallace, vice president of sales at W. F. Young, Inc., noted in a press release. “We don't make any claims that Absorbine Jr. helps in this way, but it really has become a word-of-mouth phenomenon.”

One of the company's public relations agents told me that Absorbine Jr.'s formula is FDA-approved as an external analgesic and as effective relief from gnat and insect bites.  “The product has been trusted to provide fast, effective relief for over 100 years,” she noted, with the recommended use of no more than 3 to 4 times on the affected area per day.

I remember when Avon's Skin So Soft was also finding a secondary use as bug repellent; a product that Avon eventually developed into a “bug guard.”

Lately, I've reverted back to something my grandmother had us apply before going out to the gardens on her farm in Chelsea: vanilla extract.

What works for you? Are there other insect repellents that you find effective?