Forum menu
So having been eaten to half my body weight on last night’s ride. What are you using this year to persuade them to try your mates leg instead of yours ?
Smidge
Do a search on the forum and you'll find lots of folk recommending it.
druidh - where is this stocked.
I've no time to get to Tiso or TBC to get some.
Is it in Boots, etc, or even supermarkets??
I got eaten alive on Blacka Moor near Sheffield last night while fixing a puncture - legs look like a dot to dot puzzle today. Colleague at work recommended Avon Skin So Soft as an insect repellent when she saw the state of me this morning.
chris - some Tescos are stocking it. I've not seen it on Boots yet.
Apparently, Autan has the same active ingredient but it's been around for a while and it's never really had that much attention. Perhaps there is something extra in Smidge that makes the difference.
SSS isn't a repellent. It will help prevent midge bites but you need to apply a thick enough layer to drown them on contact. It is a lot less successful with other bitey things.muzzle - Member
Colleague at work recommended Avon Skin So Soft as an insect repellent when she saw the state of me this morning.
Avon 'Skin So Soft' it's not manly...... but works a treat.
Skin So Soft for me. Best stuff ive used and they think im edible normally.
I pass 2 tesco on way home so will stop and see.
I guess the big one at Corstorphine will stock it...
cheers
I'm thinking that it might be Tescos in the like of Fort William and Aviemore - you know, where they might need it more? worth a look though.
SSS isn't a repellent.
The reason for this is, if they were to try and sell it as a repellant, it would be taken off the shelves while product testing is done (3-5 years). So they don't mention it acts as a repellant, but everyone knows it works well as one. 😉
The Boots Repel Plus in a yellow roll on works well and is easy to use.
Deet is fine, but it disolves your synthetic clothing.
I now use Autan in the pressured can for use pre-ride and carry a self-pumped container of the same in my rucsac when going to Swinley at dusk....one mechanical and they are all over you...biting through clothing unless 'discouraged'.
Full length jersey and leggings are not sufficient.
PaulD
No milkie - it is not a repellent. Nor is it very effective at stopping them biting
Another vote for skin so soft...no bites and lovely soft parts..
Avon Sin so Soft : with added bonus of smelling like your granny 🙂
update, got a bottle of Smidge, stocked in Tesco in Edinburgh.
A week in Newtonmore with the family and not a single bite on any of us.
I'd highly reccommend this stuff, it works and much more pleasant than anything DEET based.
If you like smidge, buy autan , it's he same stuff only cheaper, I've used both and they both work, but autan is around half the price
I saw on TV some time ago that oranges have an insect repellent in their skin to prevent the fruit being attacked. They recommended squeezing the zest from the peel onto your skin as a cheap repellent. You can eat the fruit as well!
It worked for me when I tried it but then again I'm not one of those people who gets bitten all that often.
+1 for Avon skin so Soft ( note to self: Ask wife to order more, I've run out.) Marmite sandwich and Guiness diet ( no, for you, not for the insects) may also help, no proof, but has been banded about as plausible.
However, I eat marmite and the insects bloody love me, I often look like I've had a lobotomy, after a warm wet day in the forest, judging by the line of bites round my forehead where the edge of my helmet sits.
Smidge! best stuff I've ever used... I got some from tesco in Oban.
its is better than the avon skin so soft.
+1 for Skin so Soft. All my cycling is around the Loch Lomond area which along with Skye and Aviemore is where midges go to die....and 10,000 pals come to the funeral!
Used it now for 5+ years and stops 95% of the buggers getting their teeth into you...oh, and Mrs Rosscopeco 'loves' my lovely soft hands.... 😉
TJ is mostly correct about Skin so Soft not having a repellent ....most version do not...theres a lot of confussion and urban myths about this product ....there is a version which has Picaridrin which is an effective repellent...
it doesn't last as long as DEET but won't eat plastic's... I've used spray versions of this which have higher concentrations and imo work better than the Avon product and as long as you are disciplined about reapplying gives v good protection
update, got a bottle of Smidge, stocked in Tesco in Edinburgh.
tsk - we have it and you get your STW disco too. WIN.
ultrathon, £10 a tube on ray mears website or £5 on ebay.
used it when camping at glentress the other week and only got bites around my beer belly (didnt think to put any on there)
Superdrug sell Autan so likely you'll be able to get it locally.