Bug Repellents That Work

Summary

Summary of "Bug Repellents That Work" Episode of The Wirecutter Show

Release Date: May 28, 2025

Introduction

In the "Bug Repellents That Work" episode of The Wirecutter Show, hosts Christine Cyr Clisset, Kyra Blackwell, and Rosie Guerin delve into effective strategies for repelling mosquitoes and ticks. Joined by Doug Mahoney, a seasoned Wirecutter senior staff writer specializing in pest control, the episode provides actionable advice grounded in rigorous product testing and expert insights.

Understanding Mosquitoes and Ticks

The conversation begins with Doug Mahoney sharing his personal experiences with Lyme disease, highlighting the persistence and prevalence of tick-borne illnesses. His testimony underscores the importance of effective bug repellents in everyday life.

Doug Mahoney [00:35]: "The symptoms of Lyme are very tricky. They're just these sort of general flu-like symptoms. Muscle stiffness. Personally, I feel it in the neck. I get a really stiff neck."

Mahoney emphasizes that Lyme disease can recur multiple times, illustrating the relentless nature of tick interactions.

Preventive Measures

Before applying repellents, the hosts and Mahoney discuss environmental controls to minimize mosquito and tick presence around the home.

Doug Mahoney [05:40]: "The first thing you want to do as far as mosquitoes go is you want to get rid of any standing water that's around. The problem with standing water is that's the breeding ground for mosquitoes."

Key preventive strategies include eliminating standing water, using bug-repellent light bulbs, and maintaining a well-mowed lawn to deter ticks.

Repellents: Types and Effectiveness

The core of the episode focuses on various repellents, their mechanisms, and effectiveness.

1. DEET

   • Description: A synthetic chemical developed in the 1940s.
   • Effectiveness: Highly effective against both mosquitoes and ticks.
   • Safety: Considered safe when used as directed, though often confused with the harmful pesticide DDT.

   Doug Mahoney [10:04]: "DEET is a synthetic chemical repellent. It was developed in the 1940s. It is very effective against ticks, it's very effective against mosquitoes, and it is used on a global scale, and it's considered a safe repellent."

2. Picaridin

   • Description: Developed in the 1980s, derived from the pepper plant.
   • Effectiveness: Comparable to DEET without DEET's drawbacks.
   • Advantages: Pleasant smell, non-oily, does not damage plastics or synthetics.

   Doug Mahoney [12:42]: "Picaridin... has about the similar repellency as DEET. But it doesn't have a lot of DEET's drawbacks."

3. IR3535

   • Description: Less common, often combined with sunscreens.
   • Effectiveness: Effective but not as widely available or versatile as DEET and Picaridin.

   Doug Mahoney [14:25]: "IR3535... typically is sold in sort of an all in one product with a sunscreen, which generally isn't a great idea."

4. Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus

   • Description: Not to be confused with essential oils, it's an extract from the lemon eucalyptus tree, also available in a synthesized form called PMD.
   • Effectiveness: Good repellency, though shorter duration compared to DEET and Picaridin. Strong odor can be a deterrent for some users.

   Doug Mahoney [15:32]: "Oil of lemon eucalyptus... it has very good repellent capabilities. The repellency duration is typically less than that of DEET or Picaridin."

Insecticides: Permethrin and Usage

Moving beyond topical repellents, the discussion shifts to insecticides, particularly permethrin, and their role in personal protection.

Doug Mahoney [20:42]: "For bug control... the most useful insecticide is called permethrin, especially if you live in tick country."

Key Points:

• Application: Applied to clothing, not skin. Effective for about six washes or up to six weeks.
• Safety: Toxic to cats when wet; must dry completely before allowing pets nearby.
• Effectiveness: Offers long-lasting protection, reducing tick bites by up to 74%.

Additional Methods: Spatial Repellents and Fans

The episode explores spatial repellents like Thermacell and environmental adjustments such as using fans to deter mosquitoes.

Doug Mahoney [26:00]: "You could even just get a simple fan if you're just enjoying like a back porch or a patio. Mosquitoes are very weak fliers compared to most bugs."

Key Takeaways:

• Thermacell: Creates a protected zone by vaporizing repellents, effective in calm environments.
• Fans: Simple and cost-effective method; mosquitoes struggle against strong air currents.

Common Misconceptions and Advice

Mahoney debunks myths surrounding insect repellents and insecticides, cautioning against ineffective products like citronella candles and bug zappers.

Doug Mahoney [27:37]: "Bug zappers... do not attract biting flies really at all. And they do attract pollinators."

Tick Removal and Lyme Disease Information

A significant portion is dedicated to proper tick removal and recognizing Lyme disease symptoms.

Doug Mahoney [28:21]: "I find that a pair of sharp tweezers is the most effective way to go about it."

Key Points:

• Removal Technique: Use tweezers to grasp the tick firmly near the skin and pull straight out without squeezing.
• Lyme Symptoms: Can range from bullseye rashes to flu-like symptoms and muscle stiffness. Not everyone develops visible rashes, making symptoms easily confusable with other ailments.
• Reinfection: It's possible to contract Lyme disease multiple times.

Final Tips and Takeaways

The hosts share their personal strategies inspired by Mahoney's advice:

• Christine Cyr Clisset: Plans to reassess the use of spatial repellents like Thermacell.
• Kyra Blackwell: Intends to try Picaridin for personal protection.
• Rosie Guerin: Opts for a high-powered fan as a low-budget solution.

Christine Cyr Clisset [32:25]: "I'm going to try Picaridin. Yeah, just spraying a little bit on me before I walk out the door and see how that goes."

Conclusion

The episode wraps up with the hosts reflecting on the importance of effective bug repellents and promising practical solutions for the spring and summer months. Doug Mahoney’s expert insights provide listeners with a comprehensive understanding of available options and best practices to protect themselves and their families from mosquitoes and ticks.

Notable Quotes

• Doug Mahoney [05:35]: "It's not going to stop us now. I will keep working to get you the facts."

• Doug Mahoney [09:39]: "The reliable repellents are the ones that have been approved by the EPA."

• Doug Mahoney [22:56]: "Permethrin... can actually kill the insect."

Resources

For more detailed product recommendations and tips mentioned in this episode, listeners are encouraged to visit The Wirecutter website or refer to the show notes available on their podcast platform.

Transcript

[Kyra Blackwell]

I'm Helene Cooper.

[Rosie Guerin]

I cover the US Military for the New York Times.

[Kyra Blackwell]

So I'm sitting in my car in.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

A parking lot outside the Pentagon. I had a cubicle with a desk inside the building for years, but the Trump administration has taken that away.

[Kyra Blackwell]

People in power have always made it difficult for journalists.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

It hasn't stopped us in the past.

[Rosie Guerin]

It's not going to stop us now.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

I will keep working to get you the facts. This work doesn't happen without subscribers to.

[Rosie Guerin]

The New York Times.

[Doug Mahoney]

The symptoms of Lyme are very tricky. They're just these sort of general flu like symptoms. Muscle stiffness. Personally, I feel it in the neck. I get a really stiff neck.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Can you get it more than once?

[Doug Mahoney]

Yeah, I've had about five. I've been treated about five times.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

So basically, there are no limits to how many times you can get it?

[Doug Mahoney]

Unfortunately, no.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

I'm Christine Cyrclassette.

[Kyra Blackwell]

I'm Kyra Blackwell.

[Rosie Guerin]

I'm Rosie Garant and. And you're listening to the Wirecutter Show.

[Kyra Blackwell]

This episode is called Bug Repellents that Work.

[Rosie Guerin]

Hey, pals.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Hey there.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Hey.

[Rosie Guerin]

So I'm really excited for this episode. Today is all about how to repel ticks and mosquitoes.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Weird thing to be excited about, I.

[Rosie Guerin]

Know, but it's going to be practical.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

That's right. We're doing the good work here.

[Rosie Guerin]

Mosquitoes are annoying. They keep us inside. Sometimes in the summertime, they can ruin an evening on the patio. But honestly, they also transmit diseases like malaria, dengue fever, Zika. These are problems that exist in this country and they're getting more prevalent year after year. So while this is not terribly sexy stuff, I think with our guest today, our friend Doug Mahoney at the helm, I'm gonna learn and hopefully walk away with some practical advice from him.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Absolute. Actually, Doug's third time on the show. He's a wire cutter senior staff writer who previously schooled us on how to fireproof your home and how to get rid of mice and rats. So you can go back and listen to those episodes if you haven't already. They're really riveting.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

That's right. Doug is a wealth of information. He also happens to live on a hobby farm in the woods of New Hampshire. So testing insecticides and repellents is not just part of his job. He's really living it day in and day out with his family. He actually has to really deal with these bugs all the time.

[Rosie Guerin]

Method acting.

[Kyra Blackwell]

That's right.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

He's a lifestyle. He's a true method. Method actor.

[Kyra Blackwell]

But you don't have to live on a hobby farm to know that everybody can be tormented by mosquitoes at one time or another. And many of us have had to check ourselves, our kids, or our pets for ticks. Spring is here and summer is on deck, which means this is the time we spend outside. And it's going to need to include sunscreen and bug repellent.

[Rosie Guerin]

So after the break, we're going to get all the tea from Doug. The difference between a repellent and an insecticide. Which repellents work, which which ones frankly don't, plus the one cheap product hack that works every time. Stay tuned. We'll be right back. Support for this podcast comes from Estee Lauder. They really duped Beauty Sleep Estee Lauder's Advanced Night Repair Serum helps your skin look like it got eight hours of beauty sleep even if you didn't in just one sleep. See immediate radiance and a reduction in fine lines. It really is beauty sleep in a bottle. Get ready to glow with Advanced Night Repair serum@estee lauder.com friends don't let friends miss a good beauty sleep dupe.

[Doug Mahoney]

The New York Times app has all.

[Rosie Guerin]

This stuff that you may not have seen. I can immediately navigate to something that matches what I'm feeling.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

The way the tabs are at the top with all of the different sections.

[Rosie Guerin]

It'S just easier to navigate that way. There is for everyone the personalized page, the utep.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

That one's my favorite.

[Kyra Blackwell]

I can also save my articles easily in this area right under the byline.

[Rosie Guerin]

It says click here if you like to listen to this article. I like that the cooking tab on.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Top is really easily accessible. So if I'm on my way home and I'm just thinking, oh, what am.

[Doug Mahoney]

I gonna make for dinner?

[Kyra Blackwell]

I'll just quickly go on to cooking.

[Rosie Guerin]

And say, oh, I've got this in my pantry.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

I'm gonna try out some of these.

[Rosie Guerin]

Recipes I see in here.

[Kyra Blackwell]

I go to games, always doing the.

[Rosie Guerin]

Mini, doing the wordle.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

I loved how much content it exposed me to things that I never would have thought to a news app for.

[Rosie Guerin]

This app is essential. The New York Times app all of.

[Doug Mahoney]

The times all in one place. Download it [e-mail] app.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Welcome back. Our guest today is Doug Mahoney and he's a staff writer on the home improvement team who specializes in reporting on tools, plumbing, outdoor power, equipment, and pest. And we always love having him on the show.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Doug, welcome.

[Doug Mahoney]

Hi. How is everybody?

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Good.

[Rosie Guerin]

We're great, Doug. We're always happy to have you back. My first question and statement is that I hope Wirecutter pays you $600 million a year to test mosquito and tick repellents because that sounds like masochism or sadism. I think it's sadism.

[Kyra Blackwell]

It's sadism, yeah.

[Rosie Guerin]

Is this testing ruining your life?

[Doug Mahoney]

You know, it's actually, it's not. Thankfully, I'm not required to do any field testing. I'm not sticking my arm in a box of mosquitoes like they at the.

[Kyra Blackwell]

EPA or anything like that, or like Fear Factor.

[Doug Mahoney]

No, no, nothing like that. It's most. It's mostly research.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Let's step back a sec and talk about how you can prevent mosquito and tick bites in the first place. So from your reporting, we know that how you treat mosquito and ticks is similar, but I kind of want to know what can you do in the first place to just prevent having mosquitoes and ticks in your yard, in your environment? Are there things you can do around the house?

[Doug Mahoney]

Basically, yeah, definitely. So the first thing you want to do as far as mosquitoes go is you want to get rid of any standing water that's around. The problem with stand standing water is that's, that's the breeding ground for mosquitoes. So if you have a tarp and it has sort of like a puddly area on it, you want to get rid of that. If you have a bird bath, you could put these little products in it that actually change the ph of the water. You can also change out your outdoor light bulbs. There's things, they're called bug bulbs. It's a slightly different hue that doesn't necessarily attract insects. As far as ticks go, keeping your lawn mowed fairly short can help. They prefer the tall grass over shorter grass.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

So basically you're trying to create a very uninviting environment around your home. For rugs make the mood lighting terrible?

[Rosie Guerin]

No, nothing to drink, only overhead lighting.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Yeah, right. So, okay, great. So once you've kind of taken care of some of those things around the house, you've changed your lights, you've gotten rid of the standing water, you're keeping your. Your lawn nice and mowed. Let's talk about the other options for dealing with these bugs. Repellents and insecticides. Repellents first. How do they work?

[Doug Mahoney]

So repellents that's like DEET and Picaridin, they can be applied to your skin, they can be applied to your clothing. And the way that they work basically is that a mosquito, they see the world through this huge array of receptors. Somebody described it to me once as like all of the microphones that would be in front of a politician from 20 years ago. They don't have it anymore. But. And that a repellent will block a wide number of those receptors. And so it will basically confuse the insects. So they won't really understand that your a food source.

[Rosie Guerin]

Okay, Doug, so you're not field testing. That's a relief. But how are you actually testing these products?

[Doug Mahoney]

So in general we don't test for efficacy with really any bug related gear. We actually rely on all the studies that are out there and there are a ton of them. As far as testing ourselves, there's just too many variables. There's sort of all these different types of insects. I think there's over 200 types of mosquitoes. Things depend as far as like what season is it, like where are they living. So performing any kind of comparative test would be very, very incomplete. Ultimately it really wouldn't tell us much. What we do test for is we always get our hands on the products and we test more for usability. So for mosquito repellents we look for how well they spray, if they have an extra like a safety cap, if they what sizes they're available in, that sort of thing.

[Rosie Guerin]

I know a lot of folks who are concerned about spraying chemicals on their skin. Are essential oils an option? Is that a thing that will actually work or are you sort of just perfuming yourself?

[Doug Mahoney]

Yeah, essential oils, they actually do not work very well as repellents. There are essential oils that certainly have repellent characteristics, but they getting back to those receptors we were talking about, they only block a limited amount of those receptors. There are other problems with them. They're also extremely volatile. So as soon as you put them on your skin, they could be gone within a half an hour or so or 40 minutes. They don't provide very long term protection. There's also very minimal oversight from the epa, so there's no efficacy testing. Looking at different products. You really have absolutely no idea what you're getting. You have no idea how long it's going to last. You have no idea how strong it is. So it's just too much of a mystery. It's just not a category that we have any comfort in at all. And we don't recommend any of those products.

[Rosie Guerin]

Okay, so essential oils don't necessarily work. What are the repellents you've tried and tested that actually do work?

[Doug Mahoney]

The reliable repellents are the ones that have been approved by the epa. The chemical repellents approved by the epa. And there's. There's really four as far as products you can get on the shelves. There's DEET, there's Picaridin, there's one called IR3535, and then there's oil of lemon eucalyptus.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Okay, so let's break those down because I feel like I'm familiar with most of those names, but I'm not really clear on what the differences are. So let's start with deet. What is it and why do you recommend it?

[Doug Mahoney]

Well, DEET is a synthetic chemical repellent. It was developed in the 1940s. It is very effective against ticks, it's very effective against mosquitoes, and it is used on a global scale, and it's considered a safe repellent.

[Rosie Guerin]

I remember as a kid, my mom was concerned about us using mosquito repellent with deet. I always thought it was because of that Joni Mitchell lyric about putting away the ddt. And then someone at some point conflated DDT with deet. Is that why DEET has a bad rep or what's the deal?

[Doug Mahoney]

Well, there's a couple things. One is that it is often confused with ddt. DDT was an insecticide developed around the same time, ended up being associated with a number of adverse effects. So it's no longer used, has the similar name. So I think it's confused. And there, you know, DEET is. These are considered safe, but there's no guarantee that there won't be some reactions at some point with some people. So that has been the case with deet. I believe that most of those have involved the misuse of it. If used properly, these. These should be safe products.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Repellents like DEET can come in different potencies. So how do you know which one to choose? Like is DEET, I don't know 100% better than 25%.

[Doug Mahoney]

They do come in different percentages, and it's the percentage of the active ingredient, but it does not equate with effectiveness. So 100% DEET is not twice as powerful as 50% DEET. The case with DEET is once you get to about 25 or 30%, the effectiveness levels off, but just the duration of protection gets longer. So 30% DEET gets you about seven hours, where 100% DEET gets you about 10 hours of protection. But the 100% DEET is not more repellent than the 30% DEET. If you go with less than 25% DEET, then you're not getting the maximum amount of protection that DEET can afford.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

So let's say you are camping and you're going to be out in the woods a lot. Maybe it would be worth wearing that 100% because you might want a little bit longer coverage or something. Why would you ever go for 100% when you could just be fine with the 25%?

[Doug Mahoney]

Exactly. It just would relate to how long you're. You're planning on being out.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Well, I'm like, why wouldn't I wear 100% all the time?

[Doug Mahoney]

As safe as these are, I think it's a common sense thing to just stick with as. Just as much as you need and that's it.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Okay.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

All right, so we've covered deet. It is not ddt. It is fine. You're going to be safe using it. But DEET is not our top pick. We actually prefer repellents that have Picaritin. Talk about what that is. Where does it come from and why do you like it?

[Doug Mahoney]

Picaridin. It was developed in the 1980s by Bayer, and it's based on a compound derived from the pepper plant. And it has about the similar repellency as DEET. But it doesn't have a lot of DEET's drawbacks. For one, most people find the smell to be a little more pleasant. It doesn't have the oiliness of deet, and it's also, it's not a plasticizer. So deet. One major drawback of DEET is that it can actually melt certain plastics and synthetics. So if you have a camera lens, you don't want to get DEET on it. Certain outdoor clothing, you may not want to get DEET on it. Sunglasses, DEET can damage those. So Picaridin does none of these.

[Kyra Blackwell]

If DEET melts plastic, why should we feel okay putting it on our skin?

[Doug Mahoney]

Like I said, DEET has a long track record of safety in studies with people. I mean, I think that question is certainly one of the reasons why we would choose the Caridin.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Over 40 years. So it has 40 years less research on it, right?

[Doug Mahoney]

Correct.

[Rosie Guerin]

So repellents with deet, Picaridin, the things that you have tested, how long are they meant to stay on your skin? How long are they meant to actively be working?

[Doug Mahoney]

Well, at 20% concentration of picaridin, which is what we recommend, that provides about, I think, about 10 hours of protection.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Oh, wow.

[Rosie Guerin]

Okay.

[Doug Mahoney]

For ticks and mosquitoes. And it also, it's notable that it works for both ticks and mosquitoes. They're very different sensory systems. So like essential oils, they may work pretty well for mosquitoes, but they may not work very well at all for ticks.

[Kyra Blackwell]

So, Doug, another repellent that you already mentioned before is IR3535 and I've seen that combined in sunscreens sometimes in the past. But can you just talk us through that product and what is it?

[Doug Mahoney]

That's definitely probably the most little known of the EPA approved repellents. And like you said, it typically is sold in sort of an all in one product with a sunscreen, which generally isn't a great idea. Sunscreen and the repellent sort of have different application rates, so you're probably always going to be in a position where you're either not protected by one chemical or you're over applying the other one.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Yeah, I have noticed in sunscreens, like you have to apply so much to get the right application of anything else that it's combined with.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Also, IR3535 does not roll off the tongue. It is not.

[Doug Mahoney]

If they need a new PRQ you.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Want to put on your skin. I don't know what is.

[Rosie Guerin]

So is IR3535, does it exist outside of the sunscreen combination?

[Doug Mahoney]

Yeah, I've seen one or two products.

[Rosie Guerin]

It's just not that common.

[Doug Mahoney]

It's really not. DEET and Picaridin are really the main movers. And then also oil of lemon eucalyptus.

[Rosie Guerin]

Right, so the last one, that's the last one that you mentioned, which I would have assumed was an essential oil. So explain just what oil of lemon eucalyptus is and why it works.

[Doug Mahoney]

Yeah, this one, it's commonly confused with an essential oil because there's oil of lemon eucalyptus and then there's lemon eucalyptus oil and they're very different things. So oil of lemon eucalyptus, Ole, it's called, is not an essential oil. It's actually. It's an extract from the lemon eucalyptus tree. You can also find it under the name pmd, which is the synthesized version of it. So as similar as they are, it is not an essential oil and it is not lemon eucalyptus oil.

[Rosie Guerin]

Does it work similarly in terms of repellency where it's also blocking receptors on mosquitoes?

[Doug Mahoney]

Yep. It has very good repellent capabilities. The repellency duration is typically less than that of DEET or Picaridin. DEET and Picaridin can do the full 8, 10, 12 hours, whereas oil lemon eucalyptus is typically a little less. Some people do like it. They feel it's a more natural product. It has a very Very strong odor. It's an unmistakable odor, which I know some people don't like it, some people do like it, but it's certainly a consideration when putting it on.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Are there common brands that use this that people might recognize?

[Doug Mahoney]

Yeah, Repel is probably the most well known one. Okay.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Does it work for both mosquitoes and ticks the same?

[Doug Mahoney]

It does, yep.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

I am curious because you have oil of lemon eucalyptus, Right? It is coming from a tree. You have Picaridin, which comes from a pepper plant. So these are plant based. Right. I'm just curious what the difference is between those and an essential oil.

[Doug Mahoney]

These are based off of plant, like Picaridin is based off of a compound found in the pepper plant. So it's not an essential oil. It's not extracted the same way as an essential oil is extracted from a plant. DEET and Picaridin, they are synthetic chemical repellents, whereas oil of lemon eucalyptus is not. But oil of lemon eucalyptus also has a synthesized form which is called pmd, which may also be end products.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

And that's opposed to something like an essential oil, which is a chemical, but it's a naturally derived chemical.

[Rosie Guerin]

Right. Okay, so there's some good news in here. There are, in fact, ways to repel mosquitoes and ticks. We're not doomed.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

That's right. There are four options that you recommend, Doug. DEET, Vicaridin IR3535 and Oil of lemon eucalyptus.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Right. Not to be confused with eucalyptus oil.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

That's right.

[Kyra Blackwell]

So we'll be right back after a quick break, and then we're going to talk with Doug about another successful way to keep mosquitoes and ticks at bay. Insecticides. Plus, why you might want to stay away from bug zappers. Stick around.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Welcome back to the show. Our guest today is Doug Mahoney. Tony Wirecutter, staff writer and expert on home improvement and pest control. We're talking about how to save yourself from the irritation and risks from mosquitoes and tick bites.

[Kyra Blackwell]

And Doug, you said that repellent options that are Most effective are DEET, Picaridin, IR3535, and Oil of lemon eucalyptus. And repellents are applied right to the skin and clothes. Right. But is there specific guidance for how you should apply these and reapply these repellents?

[Doug Mahoney]

If you're putting it on your skin, you're going for just a very thin, even layer on your skin. There's no need to overdo it. These are synthetic chemicals, and I think it's just a common sense thing. Not Just to have on as little as possible. So just a regular spritz on the arm and then just spread it around. If you're extremely cautious about these products, you can just spray them right on your clothing. If your shirt is well treated and your hat is sprayed down with Picaridin, that should protect your face. And as far as reapplying goes, there's going to be guidance for that on the bottle. That depends on the concentration. If you have a product that lasts for eight hours, there's no need to reapply after hour three. You also take into account things like if you're swimming or if you're sweating a lot, you may need to apply more often.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

I remember when my second daughter was an infant, I went to Mexico, my family went to Mexico, and that was when the height of Zika was happening and I was freaking out because, you know, we're going to be in mosquito land with a two month old. And our pediatrician recommended using bug spray. And we used Picaridin on her clothing. We never applied it to her skin, but that was the first time I had even been introduced to the idea of just spraying, spraying your clothes. But that works for adults too.

[Doug Mahoney]

Yep, that works for adults too. Picaridin also comes in a lotion form which actually provides longer protection. The downside with it is that it takes a little bit to sort of gain its effectiveness. So you can't just put it on and go right outside and be protected. It takes a little bit to become effective.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

How long is a little bit?

[Doug Mahoney]

I think it's about like 20 minutes or so, not particularly long.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Do you recommend a specific Picaridin lotion?

[Doug Mahoney]

Well, Sawyer has one. Sawyer is a, is sort of a big name in the Picaridin world. Their spray is our top pick spray.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Let's transition now to insecticides. What should we know about this option.

[Doug Mahoney]

For bug control as far as sort of personal protection goes? The most useful insecticide is called permethrin, especially if you live in tick country. It's very, very effective against ticks. So the way that permethrin is used is that you spray it on your clothes and then let it dry and then that piece of clothing is protected. The things to know about doing that is that if you have cats, it's extremely toxic when it's wet to cats. So you never want to spray it when there's a cat around. Once it's dried, it's fine. You definitely want to concentrate on protecting your shoes and your pants if possible. One study showed that by just Treating your socks and your shoes, you're 74% less likely to get a tick bite.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Oh, wow.

[Doug Mahoney]

And the protection is long lasting, too. If you apply it yourself, it's good for about six washes or so or about six weeks. So personally, what I do is like, I'll line up everyone's shoes twice each summer and soak them down. I might also treat specific pants that I wear outside, or if somebody in the family has a particular pair of shorts that they like to wear outside, I'll treat that. You can also have clothing professionally treated and that actually lasts a considerable amount longer. Usually about 70 washes. Some people say the lifetime of the article of clothing. Or you can just straight up purchase prefabricated clothes. There's companies that offer that. I know L.L. bean has a lot of options.

[Kyra Blackwell]

So when you're treating the clothes yourself, are you wearing gloves and just dunking them in permethrin outside? Like, how do you do that?

[Doug Mahoney]

Yeah, permethrin comes in a spray bottle. It's actually a. It's a fairly low concentration of permethrin in the bottle. And you just. Yeah, you. You make. Take common sense precautions. You know, you don't do it in a windy day when the wind is blowing back at you. You definitely wear gloves and you just spray it down as if you were soaking anything from a spray bottle.

[Kyra Blackwell]

I'm still not really clear on what the difference is between insecticides and repellent.

[Doug Mahoney]

Well, repellents just sort of confuse the insect. They just say, look, go away, you know, find something else to do. But an insecticide can actually kill the insect. So if you have pants that are treated with permethrin and a tick gets on it, there's a possibility that the tick is going to be killed.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

So what we're trying to do at the end of the day is get mosquitoes and ticks to leave us alone. The repellents we discussed will do that. The insecticides, permethrin will do that. But there are other successful ways to get these bugs to leave us alone. Right. What's another one that you would recommend?

[Doug Mahoney]

If you spend a lot of time outside on your back porch and mosquitoes are a problem, you can look into spatial repellents. There's really one company that works in this category called Thermacell. And they make little products, they look like little essential oil diffusers. And what it does is it heats up this little bit of repellent, which then sort of vaporizes into the air and theoretically protects this sort of 20 by 20 area around you. It may sound horrifying to enjoy your outside time in a cloud of insecticide, but that's really not the case at all. It's such an extremely low dose of this product that's being put into the air. And it's mosquitoes, as far as bugs go, are fairly weak, they're fairly flimsy. And so the amount that the thermocell dispenses is tailored sort of just to mosquitoes. So it's really not going to work against other bugs. The mosquitoes are going to sort of run into this sort of cloud and then they're going to turn around.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

And this category is called a spatial repellent, right?

[Doug Mahoney]

Yep.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Okay, so I also got a thermocell. I think I told you this. I got a Thermocell. I live in a swamp, which is otherwise called Brooklyn. So we tried out the thermocell a couple summers ago and it did not work at all for us. But I think it might have been because it was a little breezy or something like that. What kind of environment is optimal for using these spatial repellents?

[Doug Mahoney]

So a similar product are those little mosquito coils, you know, those little green coils. So if you think about it as smoke or a little vapor, it's pretty easy to see that a little breeze is going to blow it away. So it could be because it's windy, it could be possibly that just the mosquito biting pressure was too high. You know, one thing that I've learned from all of my insect coverage is that there is no silver bullet with any of these insect products.

[Rosie Guerin]

What are the green coils you mentioned? I don't know what those are.

[Doug Mahoney]

It's a disk that's about the size of a bread and butter plate that's in a coil. And you light one end of it and it burns down the coil slowly, so they last a number of hours. And it's also the same. It is a spatial repellent. So it just sort of creates the smoke which has a chemical in it which disperses into the air and theoretically creates a little zone of protection against mosquitoes.

[Rosie Guerin]

Sounds like incense.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Yeah, it's outdoor incense. Is it okay to breathe these things in?

[Doug Mahoney]

Well, I mean, I wouldn't recommend putting your mouth right up to it and sucking it in. But in general, in the amount that the chemical is being dispersed, you're not going to have any adverse effects sitting five feet away from the thing.

[Rosie Guerin]

Do citronella candles work in the same way?

[Doug Mahoney]

No, they unfortunately don't Citronella is an essential oil. So any, any repellency you're getting from a citronella candle is probably coming from the smoke and not so much the citronella. So no, not really.

[Rosie Guerin]

So repellents, insecticides, the thermocell and perhaps the coils are all worth a try. What other hacks do you have?

[Doug Mahoney]

Well, you know, before you get to any of that stuff, you could even just get a simple fan if you're just enjoying like a back porch or a patio. Mosquitoes are very weak fliers compared to most bugs. So if you just set up a fan, get a nice breeze going, they will have a lot of trouble getting to you.

[Kyra Blackwell]

What's the best way to employ a fan when you're trying to repel mosquitoes outside?

[Doug Mahoney]

Yeah, my recommendation it would be to keep it low. There's mosquitoes tend to fly low, sort of below knee level.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Oh, so you just pop it up underneath your table while you're eating and you're probably good to go.

[Doug Mahoney]

Exactly. Cool.

[Rosie Guerin]

Are there other fallacies folks should avoid when thinking about repelling mosquitoes and ticks this spring and summer?

[Doug Mahoney]

There are certain products you don't want to use. You know, you want to avoid anything that's going to affect a non target insect. So you're really after mosquitoes, you're after biting flies, and you want to be careful with pollinators. So there's products like foggers. They're these sort of handheld foggers that you just sort of blast insecticide around your yard. We don't recommend those. There are bug zappers, which we certainly don't recommend. The research on bug zappers is really negative. The bug zappers do not attract biting flies really at all. And they do attract pollinators. And there are things like light traps. They almost look like a night light. Those aren't going to really do much outside. They may be a good option inside. If for some reason you have a little like a fly infestation in your house for some reason, you could certainly set one of those up.

[Kyra Blackwell]

So, Doug, I've been bitten by ticks multiple times before in my life and I am sure that they were never extracted in the right way. Can you walk me through what you should do if you get a tick bite? Because I know my go to was lighting a match, blowing it out and pressing it straight to my skin.

[Doug Mahoney]

Yeah, that's not really what you should be doing. So to take off a tick, there's a lot of little products out there, little sort of gizmos and they might work. I've actually tried some of them, and I find that they actually don't work that great. I found that a pair of sharp tweezers is the most effective way to go about it. You want to be really careful. You don't want to squeeze the body, and you don't want to pull on the body, because if you pull on the body, you can pull it out and the head stays.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Yeah, that's what happened to me. Yeah, it's still in my neck.

[Doug Mahoney]

Yeah, you can't get rid of the head once it's in there. It's like battlefield surgery at that point. And so what I do is I actually maneuver the tweezers kind of under the body and then just sort of grab the head, and then you can fairly easily pop it off that way. I'm also pretty good at removing them just with my hands. I seem to be pulling them off the cats all the time. But, you know, you've got to be really, really vigilant because the ones that carry lime, those are the little, teeny, tiny ones. They can be about the size of poppy seeds. So.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

And those are deer ticks, right? Those little, little tiny guys. Because I've had bigger ones hop on to my kids and to myself. What are those?

[Doug Mahoney]

Those are dog ticks.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Those are dog ticks. Dog ticks and deer ticks. Okay. And the dog ticks are the big ones, the deer ticks are the little ones.

[Doug Mahoney]

Yes.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Okay.

[Doug Mahoney]

Yep.

[Kyra Blackwell]

So what if you find a tick on you and you don't know how long it's been?

[Doug Mahoney]

Well, there's a couple things to do. So once they attach, they're likely to be there for a couple days. What I recommend is just getting in the habit of checking, like we check our kids almost on a daily basis. So then if you find something, you know how long it's been there, you know roughly how long it's been there.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

All right, so if you have been bitten by a tick dug, you have a lot of experience with this. What does Lyme present as on your body? Like, how do you know if you might potentially have Lyme?

[Doug Mahoney]

So Lyme can be really tricky. The one fail safe way to detect it is if you get the bullseye rash, which is exactly what it sounds like. It's a giant rash that looks like a bullseye centered right on the bite. Unfortunately, not everyone gets that, or you may miss it. It could be someplace there you're not back of your leg or something like that, and you happen to miss it. So the Symptoms of Lyme are very tricky. They're just these sort of general flu like symptoms. Muscle stiffness. Unfortunately, they're symptoms that can be mistaken for any number of other ailments. Personally, I feel it in the neck. I get a really stiff neck. It seems to be something that presents differently in different people.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Can you get it more than once?

[Doug Mahoney]

Yeah, I've had about five. I've been treated about five times for it.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

So basically there are no limits to how many times you can get it?

[Doug Mahoney]

Unfortunately, no. And once you actually test positive. Once, I believe you'll always test positive. So it can be difficult to diagnose once you've had it.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Once I had a family member who had Lyme and it presented as like mono type symptoms. They were really, really tired.

[Doug Mahoney]

Exhaustion, that's another one.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Yeah, yeah. So it can really be any number of things. If you are bitten by a tick, you're not sure what kind of tick it is, what should you do? I've thought about, like, should I keep it in a little bag and take it to get tested or what should you do if you are bit by a tick and you want to find out if you have Lyme?

[Doug Mahoney]

If you want to find out if the tick has lime, then you can. Yeah, I would just put it in a bag, stick it in the freezer, and there's places you can send it to or, you know, you maybe even to actually to just identify the tick. And you can search online or a local extension office might be able to help you.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Okay, so we're going to switch up our final question for you, Doug. What are three wire cutter picks that you would take with you if you were cast off to a desert island?

[Doug Mahoney]

Oh, man, this is tough. I mean, if I was going for comfort, I would take like the finium, like the little tea brewing basket.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Okay.

[Doug Mahoney]

Oh, I'd take the raincoat.

[Rosie Guerin]

Okay, that's smart.

[Doug Mahoney]

I would take a kitchen knife.

[Kyra Blackwell]

That's what I would say, too.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Yeah, Yeah. I would take one of the Victorinox little serrated knives. I'm the one who covers that.

[Doug Mahoney]

I would take a multi tool. I would take a multi tool.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Yeah, a multi tool. There we go.

[Rosie Guerin]

It's like I'm going to take. And a raincoat.

[Doug Mahoney]

I would only take one thing, and it would be a Leatherman. That's what I would do.

[Rosie Guerin]

Doug Mahoney, one of my top 20 favorite New Englanders. You're the best. Thank you so much for joining us and hopefully saving us some strife this spring and summer. Appreciate it.

[Doug Mahoney]

Sure. It's great to be here.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Wow, Doug, he is so fun. Even though the topics he brings us are not that fun.

[Kyra Blackwell]

I know, but he makes them fun.

[Rosie Guerin]

He does his best.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

I do have a question before we get into our takeaways. The next time you're at a party and a friend puts out an essential oil bug spray, how are you going to navigate?

[Kyra Blackwell]

Slap it off the table.

[Rosie Guerin]

Yeah.

[Kyra Blackwell]

I'm going to tell them that they need to read more.

[Rosie Guerin]

I'm going to shame them.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Do you just, like, say nothing and bring out your own bug spray?

[Rosie Guerin]

No, I'm going to say stand up on that chair.

[Kyra Blackwell]

How could you not know this? It is.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

It is within certain circles a delicate. A delicate situation. But in all earnestness, I think my takeaway from this is that I'm going to give spatial repellents another shot. I have this thermocell. Listening to Doug, it made me realize maybe I was not running the thermocell long enough before I went outside. Maybe I need to try to create a plume and then go into the plume and see how that works.

[Rosie Guerin]

Also maybe stay as close to the plume as possible without huffing.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Yeah, that's right. I'm not going to breathe it in. I'm not going to try to breathe it in. Right, right, right.

[Kyra Blackwell]

I think my takeaway, I never, ever bother trying to wear bug spray in New York City. So I think this summer I'm gonna try Picaridin. Yeah, Just spraying a little bit on me before I walk out the door and see how that goes.

[Rosie Guerin]

Certainly can't hurt. I'm going real, real, real low budget and I'm gonna get just a kind of cheapy fan but as high powered as possible and hopefully have that just moving the air around to keep the mosquitoes from landing on me and us and hopefully hope that that provides some relief.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Yeah, that's a good, simple solution. I like that.

[Rosie Guerin]

If you want to find out more about Wirecutter's coverage or if you want to check out any of the products or tips Doug recommended today, go to our website or as ever, you can find a link in the show notes. That's it, Kyra. Christine, till next time.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

See ya.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Bye.

[Rosie Guerin]

Peace.

[Kyra Blackwell]

The Wirecutter show is executive produced by Rosie Guerin and produced by Abigail Keel. Engineering support from Matty Mazziello and Nick Pittman. Today's episode was mixed by Katherine Anderson. Original music by Dan Powell, Marian Lozano, Alicia Ba Itup and Diane Wong. Wirecutter's deputy publisher is Cliff Levy. Ben Fruman is Wirecutter's editor in chief. I'm Kyra Blackwell.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

I'm Christine Cyrclassette.

[Rosie Guerin]

And I'm Rosie Guerin.

[Kyra Blackwell]

Thanks for listening.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Repellents and incest. Incest?