Midges - how can I keep them off me?

Get these midges off me!

To deter midges (or other insects), many people make their own repellents, have pet remedies or just buy a repellent. Many plants and herbs have insect repellent properties, some examples are citronella, bog myrtle, lavender, lemon eucalyptus, camphor, rosemary, eucalyptus, balm, lemongrass, thyme, rue, pennyroyal, catnip, wormwood, cedarwood, marigold, peppermint, chamomile and others. Some can be planted as a deterrent, others only work on the skin. The only natural repellent that is legally usable in sprays in the UK and the EU is lemon eucalyptus, known as citriodol, which is the one we sell. Midges also don't like smoke; there's a village in Scotland that lights a bonfire at one end when midgies are about. When the wind changes they light a bonfire at the other end. Maybe the smoke hides the smell of carbon dioxide, or it just makes the midgies choke!

When midges are really bad, even a great repellent like ours doesn't keep them all off, so use our Midge Head Net, which has a very fine mesh and is a comfortable net which goes over the head and shoulders, with a loose elastic to draw the net in below the neck. Some people reckon dark colour clothing is best to keep midges away, we think this is urban myth as when we wear our black head nets tucked inside white T-shirts, the midges seem to be evenly around both. Our own design nets have a collarette below the elastic to tuck into or lay over the top of your T-shirt or top.

We sell midge repellent and other midge products, we're totally biased, so don't believe a word of it, if midgies started to die out and affect our business we'd have to start the Midge Preservation Society.

Where and what is a repellent!

If you want more facts, there's:
back to main page about midges
back to when do you get midges
back to where do you get midges
what to do if you have a midge bite