Does any one know of a good home remedy for a chigger preventive?
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Your best bet in defending against chiggers is prevention. Avoid infested areas if you know where they are.
Wear loose-fitting clothing and avoid sitting or reclining on the ground when camping, picnicking or working outdoors.
Insect repellents containing Deet are nasty and toxic, but you can use them on your clothes.
Geraniol- based products are also effective, but I'm not sure that other natural insect repellents would help much if you're in a heavily infested areas.
If you think you may have been exposed, be sure to launder clothes in hot (125-degree) water as soon as possible after returning home, and shower and soap yourself several times.
Bathing in hot water after exposure may dislodge the chiggers themselves but won't get rid of the itchy pimples that formed where they were feeding.
Antihistamines and corticosteroid creams or lotions usually are recommended to relieve the itching, although I would be inclined to try herbal products first, such as tea tree oil or Tamanu Oil.
Sulfer works for some people, but I am extremely allergic to it.
Sorry there is no fool proof way to avoid them, those little buggers are tough!
I'll be watching this question like every 15 minutes from now on...we live in Chigger Central and my skin reacts something awful to these nasty critters. Big itchy welts, then blisters, the lot. Nothing wards them off [all those 'deep forest' type sprays] and nothing quells the itch. I can walk out the front door for 20 minutes and pick up 5 bites--no matter what I've daubed myself with. Alcohol on the bites does help, popping blisters relieves the itch, bandaids and neosporin provides the final touch. If you come up with a 'chigger preventive' you could probably retire as a millionnaire!
Mix baby powder with sulfer powder and put it on your socks and the bottom of your pants. It's always worked for me.
Long pants long sleeves fabric softner sheets
I don't know a preventitive, but once you get bit coat the chigger area with clear nail polish. The chigger can't breathe then and dies. Yes, I've used it and it works.
Maggie
I have found that a preparation of 10 drops of Patchouli in one ounce of a carrier oil such as coconut oil. Rub this on your skin very conservatively and they will leave you alone. Also in this politically correct state we live in, the chiggers prefer to be called insect-Americans. The c-word is offensive to them.
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