They said, the US Marines use it!...

“Last week I came back from my walking holiday in Scotland.
One gear topic that was hotly debated was: midge repellents. During summer month millions of tiny midges – airborne, bloodsucking critters – feast upon the Highland walkers. In Scotland everybody will tell you the secret formula to keep midges off is to use dry oil spray from Avons Skin So Soft range.
And that’s the story that I was told: Skin So Soft – although not sold as a midge repellent – miraculously keeps midges away. Why isn’t Avon selling it as a midge repellent? Well, because UK pharmaceutical laws ban Avon from doing so. It would require long, expensive, pharmaceutical tests. Yet they sell it as a cosmetic, but seemingly make big turn over with consumers buying it as insect repellent.
Once I heard the Royal Marines use it. Twice I heard the US Marines just love it!

In Crainlarich I went into the tiny store, but was disappointed that it wasn’t anywhere on the shelf. Already on the way out I stopped and asked the lady at the desk. She reached under the counter and then, with a big grin, held up a bottle. Feeling a bit silly I mumbled I heard it was good as midge repellent.
“Oh, it works!” she said and she and the other lady nodded assertively.

There weren’t many midges around then, so I haven’t had much chance of testing it, but it certainly smells much nicer than the DEET stuff I was sold in an US outdoor shop and is probably not as aggressive on the skin.
Skin So Soft 5.3 oz, £5 --> Ultrathon DEET 2oz, $9.5

Now, my question: where is the US Marine who can confirm that he and his mates basted themselves in Skin So Soft to keep midges away?”

“Every Marine I've ever known has used it and they all rubbed it on each other.”

“Thanks, Euro Hike, that was interesting. I just had to look it up on the Internet.

Midges are small, two-winged flying insects. Midges are a subgroup of gnats, and comprise several families of Diptera, including especially the Chironomidae, or non-biting midges, and the Ceratopogonidae or biting midges (also known as no-see-ums or punkies in North America).

Regional terminology in Northern Ohio for the non-biting species includes "muffleheads" and "muckleheads".

In South Africa they are universally known as "miggies", the Afrikaans word for midge.

In Singapore they are known commonly as sandflies.

A flightless midge species, Belgica antarctica, holds the distinction of being the largest land animal found on the continent of Antarctica.

They are a major food source for Trout.



Pennyroyal Oil:
Protection from No-see-ums?
jejenes (no-see-ums) The Highland midge is found in large numbers in the Scottish Highlands. They are famously vicious and have become something of a cultural icon in Scotland. They were also a favourite subject of author Vladimir Nabokov. Irish midges have a similarly fearsome reputation.


Sand Flies and Bath Oil? Whether you know them as sand flies or the more colloquial "noseeums," the tiny, biting flies of coastal Florida leave a memorable impression. So tiny that three fit on the head of a pin, they have a pound-for-pound bite far ahead of their horsefly or deerfly relatives. Entomologist Jonathon Day...

The tiny biting Sand Fly or noseeum is a fact of life in coastal Florida, resulting in generations of folk lore about what might keep the sand flies from biting. One of the most popular suggestions has been bath oil--specifically an Avon product called "Skin So Soft."”

“I can't give you exact references, but there have been studies done for mosquito repellent. They tested deet products and other alternative repellents like skin so soft. Ultimately, the study found that you need deet to repel mosquitos. The skin so soft didn't do anything. I'm not sure how mosquitos relate to midges, but I think the skin so soft myth has been debunked in the US.”

“Well, then why exactly do those Marines rub it on each other?”

“An electric fan works well. One use is a large electric fan set at the end of an open van. It will blow the buggers right through the van and out the windows. It permits comfortable sleeping. I've seen it work in the Florida Keys.”

“Skin So Soft has that same reputation here in the States in that it supposedly works to deter mosquitos. In my own experience it does, in fact, repel mosquitos better than if you use nothing at all. However, DEET products work better overall. They just stink more. To capitalize on the Skin So Soft reputation, Avon has now put out a line of bug repellents with the Skin So Soft scent.

My personal favorite way to repel mosquitos (although not 100 percent) is to wear a white shirt and white socks which I have washed in a chlorine bleach solution. When sitting in the back yard next to someone who is not wearing something bleached, the difference in number of bites is remarkable.”

“A large electric fan on the trail??
Well, if you carry it for me, I might give it a try.”

“Car camping in Florida.”

“I spent a two-week gig near Bethel, Maine with the NG Mountain Infantry in summer '90.
We were in deep woods with tall trees and lots of shade and LOTS of mosquitoes.
The temperature was in the 90's most of the time and there was the typical eastern U.S. humidity.

Skin So Soft worked well at keeping the buggers away but it did sweat off requiring repeated application.

Some of the boys thought the smell was "inappropriate" for a soldier but I did not care.

I do not like the DEET stuff. It is almost like rubbing gasoline on one's skin, though it is effective.”

“midget repellant?”

“Aside from being carcinogenis in large quantities, Deet on your hands will destroy the finish on you fishing rod, melt the fly line where you touch it and leaves permanent fingerprints on plastic leneses.”

“When Danny was 15 months old our little family of three was camping at Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland.

The mosquitoes can eat you up if the sea breeze changes and blows seaward bringing them out of the bush toward the beach camping area.

I dosed myself with DEET and then Danny.
Soon I became overheated and out of sorts.
Danny became feverish and fussy and I realized that it was the DEET.

I grabbed him and took him into the surf for a saltwater bath, much to the baby's displeasure.
Then I took him into the cold water shower house where I soaped us both quite vigorously amid more screaming and squirming from the wee lad.

After removing the skin-suffocating substance we both felt better and Danny slept like a baby in our bug-proof tent after our wrestling match in the waves and shower.”

“DEET and now Picardin are the only proven substances that seem to have passed muster by every measure, but enough people swear by skin so soft that it's worth a try.”

“SSS works on me for chiggers, but not mosquitoes.”

“I have had no luck with it. I am a believer in DEET for the skin. Permanone for the clothes and boots.”

“...hang on. I was wondering if I could improve my tent by rubbing some DEET on it. But now what Gremlin said, could that stuff actually burn through my tent, or what?”

“Yes. I don't know about Permanone, however, but if Chili puts it on his clothes it might work. Wait for his answer, though.

Do not evere rub DEET on your tent.

Good luck.

Doug”

“I will never rub DEET on my tent.

Karin”

“Won 't SSS attract bears? 'll take my chance with the midges.”

“Yes, I was wondering about that too. Just read in a book about the Rockies, that bears may be attracted by the smell of toothpast. Silly bears. There isn't much calorie intake on toothpast! What do they think?
Now, Skin So Soft smells much nicer than DEET. Using it in the scotish Highlands may make a splendid midge repellent, but in the US I might end up with bears queing at my tent?”

“or gnawing on your leg.”

“No way! They can have the tent, but I still need that leg.”

“i wouldnt think that sss would attract bears like toothpaste. technically, toothpaste is edible, while sss would be more chemically (i believe thats the technical term)”

“Do bears know that toothpaste is, technically, edible and SSS makes human meat just smell funny?”

“Yes I believe 4 out of 5 bears prefer Toothpaste over Skin so soft.”

“...so bear number five just isn't the sharpest tool in the shed?”

“you know what i mean. toothpaste might smell edible to a bear, but the chemically smell of a lotion might not. ones organic, the other, not so much”

“I've never heard of SSS attracting bears. They do love toothpaste, however, and it should be packed with soap (which is basically perfumed fat) in the bear canister with all edibles.”

“DEET absolutely does eat plastic, especially in high concentrations. I know a guy who has a hole in his dashboard to prove it... courtesy of "Ben's 100" (100%). I seem to recall that DEET study recommending using no higher than 25-30% (somewhere in the range of "Deep Woods Off").

I got some "Ultrathon" to try at the end of last season, can't recall the percentage right off... Supposedly does not require reapplication as often.”

“Hole in his dashboard? Ouch.”

“I think Tilt is right...there is something I vaguely remember that like sunscreen once you get over 30...its just numbers...no more effective....

(LOL) anyone here ever tried the Electronic stuff....had a friend who used it....worked great cause it kept all the critters off us and ON him....”

“Some one was wearing SSS on Wall St. cause the bears are gathering round.”

“If you recall, when the Ford Explorer first came out (1990 1/2) they had a 'shelf' over on the passenger side of the dash.  My friend and I went out for a hike and he dosed himself with the "Ben's 100" after being eaten alive by mosquitos the previous trip.  Well, he didn't Quite screw the cap down on the 100% DEET before he tossed it onto the dashboard, and when we got back it was like a Salvador Dali "Persistence of Memory" type thing.

An "art car" before art cars were cool, you might say ---”

“Cool!”

“i wouldnt think that sss would attract bears like toothpaste. technically, toothpaste is edible, while sss would be more chemically (i believe thats the technical term)”
cRaSh BaNg
12:25:44 PM
5/28/07

I'd pack up the SSS and ANY other smellible item with your food, soap and other stuff you have to hang up at night.

The smell of some new substance is what attracts the burins, just as much as the thought of an easy meal.”

“ALLRIGHT...the next hike will be the

"Use Camping stuff to make great art hike"

Tilt and I will use DET Cord to make a GIANT PEACE symbol in the fores....wait...nope that won't work..(LOL)

Tilt, I figured the 100% Deet was bad when I put it on one day and it got down in the 40s that night and I was STILL WARM.”

“I read an article about a guy who used 100% DEET repeatedly on his bald head and ended up with neurological problems.”

“.....[blink]...{spasm}.....Nuh, Nuh, Nuh, NO truth ta Tha, tha, tha, THAT at all!”

“LOL @ SuperTroll. You still have the coolest flashlights though!”