I think this stuff is pretty new on the market, and wonder if anyone here has used it. If so, is it any good?

Their blurb states:

A Smidge is all you need

Powerful, reliable protection for up to 8 hours
Water and sweat resistant
Repels midges, mosquitoes, horse flies, sand flies, fleas and ticks
Safe for use on adults, children over 30 months and pregnant women
Safe alternative to DEET
Won’t melt your plastic kit
Human-friendly fragrance
Recommended by the World Health Organisation
Scientifically proven here in Scotland

It’s under 7 quid for a spray tube on ebay.

When cycling in June in Scotland, should I take a mesh head cover, as well as this kind of repellent?

Cheers

I wouldn’t put anything on my skin that I didn’t get from the likes of Boots etc

Brilliant stuff! Is available in tesco in Scotland.

It’s been around for at least of couple of years in Scotland. It does work well for the UK in my experiece, at least as well as the commonly available repellants from boots or the like. It is slightly oily, but easy to apply and doesn’t seems better on my skin that others. I also tried it in the Baltic countries summer. They have more than their fair share of swamp and a mixture of midges, mosquitos and cleggy things. It was fairly useless, DEET based stuff required.

Its been around for a couple of years now but it’s more widely available in supermarkets now. The most effective stuff we have ever used. Highly recommend it.

Avon Skin So Soft.

Worked for me, un fragranced too.

I wouldn’t put anything on my skin that I didn’t get from the likes of Boots etc

Boots, Tesco and all outdoor shops stock it up in Scotland.
It is brilliant stuff, and works really well. A couple of years ago I had it on and wore shorts and t-shirt – while all around were long sleeves and head nets. The only place i was bitten was under my climbing helmet, in my hair.

Personally can’t stand skin so soft… Makes my skin so itch and be slimey and glittery nasty horrible stuff.

Smidge smells better, is absorbed better and works better than skin so soft.

Yeah I never really rated skin so soft. IRC it is/was meant to be applied to wet skin post shower so I didn’t like the feel of it. The midges didn’t seem to mind it, they just got stuck to it.

The difference between Skin so Soft and Smidge is that the latter is actually a repellant rather than just a barrier.

It works for me. Really well. So well, in fact, that I’ve now found bivvying in Scotland, all year round, a realistic possibility.

The active ingredient is Permethrin, which you’ll also find in a number of other products. However, it seems to work better in Smidge. Could be as a result of the carrier being better-lasting or something.

never found Skin So Soft effective either. Smidge all the way for me – now that my ancient bottle of Jungle Juice got condemned…

But available in Tescos – especially in Aviemore, Fort William e.g. ..

Jungle formula the best, especially the old aerosol.
SsS better that Smidge. the missus feels the opposite and won’t use JF as it smells nasty. It does melt rubber/elastic and Goretex seams.
I reckon the individual body had different smells etc so what works for you may not for your mate.

Can highly recommend Smidge, we were at Afan last year all sitting out in the evening and those who didn’t squirt the Smidge on them selves looked like they had caught the pox the next day… oh and it repels Mozzies too.

Smidge all the way. Encountered clouds of midges in torridon that contained thousands of the buggers and I dint get bitten once thanks to smidge

Skin So Soft works ok at drowning them but it’s not a repellant. Smidge is by far the best thing I’ve tried.

At least as effective as DEET based stuff but much less nasty.

Whoops! Just realised I made a boo-boo above. It’s Saltidin in Smidge, not Permethrin. It’s the same stuff that’s in Autan.

Many thanks for all the comments. I’ll buy some.

I was wondering if anyone would mention Autan. Is Smidge better?

That Permethin is used to soak clothing – or you can buy clothes that are already treated with it. Has anyone soaked their cycling kit in the stuff?

Smidge works really well.
Take a head net thing for those comedy moments pitching tents or just getting out the car. Midges are relentless and I dread them more than any Scottish weather.

Smidge is pretty good- I reckon compares with the Super Toxic Strength jungle formula, without some of the drawbacks. Remember you can combine products, so you can have the barrier of skin-so-soft and the repellant of something else.

As Scotroutes says skin-so-soft isn’t a repellant so you still get the unpleasant crawling, just much less bites.

Me, I’ve got a net- you feel silly wearing it until you see the jealous looks, then you feel like a king.

My blood must taste like the sweetest wine to bloody midges. I had a puncture in cyb once and got attacked. I was covered in red itchy spots. Nothing seemed to work until someone suggested skin so soft.
Skin so soft works for me. Even those fort bill monsters are no match for it.
Put it on as you shower and apply when you get there.
It’s not so expensive if you buy it online.

It seems to be (IMHO). As I said, bivvying is now possible 🙂

I’ve used Smidge when in Scotland and thought it was very good. Used to use the lifeventures (IIRC) 100% Deet which is also very effective but also sticky and smelly. Smidge is a better option IMO.

smells like an abandoned early 90’s lynx scent but does work for a bit. nets are the best though, my dad wears a midge suit made for forestry workers on bad days in the highlands.

iolo – Member

Even those fort bill monsters are no match for it.

Ha, I say, ha. The leanachan flying sharks can get through steel plate never mind skin so soft.

I thought they’d changed the formula of skin so soft so it doesn’t work as a midge repellent any more.

Thanks for the kind reviews of Smidge!

FunkyDunc: I wouldn’t put anything on my skin that I didn’t get from the likes of Boots etc

Unfortunately we haven’t persuaded Boots to stock us yet but you will find Smidge in every independent pharmacy in the Highlands. We are fully compliant with the EU Biocidal Products Directive 528/2012 and Smidge is produced in one of the top factories of its type in Europe.

tomd – Member
It’s been around for at least of couple of years in Scotland. It does work well for the UK in my experiece, at least as well as the commonly available repellants from boots or the like. It is slightly oily, but easy to apply and doesn’t seems better on my skin that others. I also tried it in the Baltic countries summer. They have more than their fair share of swamp and a mixture of midges, mosquitos and cleggy things. It was fairly useless, DEET based stuff required.

Sorry it never worked for you in the Baltic Tomd, the active Saltidin we use in Smidge is a DEET alternative which attaches to the same receptor in insects and triggers the same effect but doesn’t have the side effects of DEET. There has been a lot of independent testing of the active on several main mosquito species, biting flies (including cleggs) and ticks showing it works as well as DEET if not for longer in some instances as it is less volatile for those species. There are over 3000 species of mosquito however!

scotroutes: Whoops! Just realised I made a boo-boo above. It’s Saltidin in Smidge, not Permethrin. It’s the same stuff that’s in Autan.

Correct we use Saltidin, Autan use the same active but they call it Picaridin. Permethrin’s are definitely not in our product!

Thanks for your feedback and also thanks to the Singletrack staff who were our neighbours at the Mountain Bike World Cup a few years ago and helped us.

While we have your attention… any progress on a more compact packaging arrangement? it would be good to have a small container.

Reading with interest,will be in Scotland in june,never been in the 4 week summertime,will look out for it,use JF max as its cheap,but has a nasty aftertaste 😯

While we have your attention… any progress on a more compact packaging arrangement? it would be good to have a small container.

We have requests for a smaller and larger bottles frequently, stockists however would rather have a different type of thickness/colour/wipe/etc rather than different volumes so their support is muted. We are looking at it for this year but it may only be available from us directly as getting legal & info text onto a label smaller than we have is going to be hard and mean leaving off the barcode.

sparkyrhino – Member

Reading with interest,will be in Scotland in june,never been in the 4 week summertime,will look out for it,use JF max as its cheap,but has a nasty aftertaste

If you are anywhere where the midges are biting badly I’m sure one of our 831 stockists will be close too! JF/DEET is a good product & what we used to use when out doing our research and testing Saltidin before deciding to produce our own product.

I was wondering if anyone would mention Autan. Is Smidge better?

Autan is great as a tick repellant, I tend to use that on legs and arms and Smidge on Face and neck when in warm wet local stuff

Smidge worked well for me, prior to full immunity developing.