Which "Skin so soft" is best for repelling midgies?

…the dry spray or the body lotion? I’m tired of being eaten alive in the back yard while cleaning my bike and I’m willing to give it a go.

Cheers

Vc

Smidge. A lot better in my experience.

None. SSS is not a repellent, it only works against midges by drowning them when they land on you to feed.

Buy Smidge.

The lady of the household says that the dry oil spray is the one to go for!

These ones.
They work great for me, I can walk about in shorts and short sleeve t-shirt, no probs.
And no, it doesn’t drown them!

None it’s a myth.

Dry oil works for me

Skin so soft works in the bedroom to win win win!

Skin so soft woodland fresh dry oil spray is the one you want. Worked a treat for me fishing in Welsh mountain lakes a week ago. Getting bitten to pieces for 15 mins before I put it on and then could carry on casting in a t-shirt without being bothered.

I’ll give the dry oil a go and see how I get on.

Thanks

Vc

skin so soft does work, but smidge does work better if you don’t mind the lynx style scent

None it’s a myth.

Or is it a myth that it’s a myth?

Seems to work for me. Smidge works too. No idea which works best – need to cover half my body in each and prostrate my body to the midge gods to see which is favourite.

Just buy smidge, is it really worth the risk?

Or is it a myth that it’s a myth?

No. There’s no active ingredient in it.

That said there’s an old article here says otherwise but think they changed the formula since then.

http://www.bcmj.org/article/mosquito-repellent-effectiveness-placebo-controlled-trial-comparing-95-deet-avon-skin-so-sof

voodoochris – Member
I’ll give the dry oil a go and see how I get on.
Thanks
Vc
POSTED 4 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Listen to the scottish people – buy Smidge

Yep, not a myth, it works for me too. Unless I psychically keep the midges away by believing that I’ve got midge repellant on. 😀 And it doesn’t drown them – how much do you put on?

I just use the original one.

Dry oil, forgot to use it one ride this month, multiple bites. Otherwise it’s brilliant

Another scot another vote for smidge

Listen to the scottish people – buy Smidge

Head to Loch Awe, Fort William, Rowardennan, anywhere with lots of midges wearing Skin So Soft and the midges will snigger to themselves and then eat you alive.

Smidge works, even in bad midge country it keeps most of them at bay

I sprinkle pepper in my garden to keep elephants out. Works brilliantly, my yard is totally elephant-free.

I believe the midge-repellent properties were in an old formula. Nonetheless, why bother when there’s plenty of products on the market that definitely work? Buy some Smidge and fuggedaboutit.

Its a myth propagated by word of mouth and on the internet by scottish people who just told you about haggis with left legs longer than right legs.

Has never worked, never will. You need real chemicals. Tent and waterproof dissolving ones that sting slightly.

Smidge, Mosiguard, Autan, Jungle Formula, all work to varying levels of protection. SSS used to work doesn’t work any more

Smidge, end of.

Liquorice…but then I like the taste…I’m lucky enough not to be bothered by them so don’t bother…probably highlight a bigger issue with my blood if blood sucker don’t drink it!

Some variaties of skin so soft used to include picardrin which is the active ingredient used in smidge

its a good alternative to Deet based products, especially as it doesn’t eat plastics etc

Has work well for me dealing with blackfly (many times worse than midges) and Mosquitos

Head to Loch Awe, Fort William, Rowardennan, anywhere with lots of midges wearing Skin So Soft and the midges will snigger to themselves and then eat you alive.
Smidge works, even in bad midge country it keeps most of them at bay

Yup, just did a weekend in Kylerhea- bites totalled 1. Even that was just under my watch as I hadn’t taken it off when applying

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Avon-Guard-IR3535-EXPEDITION-Spray/dp/B00199RQ5S/

I use the dry oil stuff.

Walking the Cape Wrath trail last August convinced me it works.
The weekend just gone, bodying for the search dogs in Northumberland cemented my opinion of the stuff. I was sitting in a cloud of the little bitey bastards (midges – not dogs!) for a couple of hours and the only place I got bitten was just above my socks (not sprayed). As a bonus, I’m normally a tick magnet, and I didn’t get any that weekend, despite seeing a good dozen or so knocking around.

Smidge. We have a garden full of midges and it’s the only thing that let’s me hack the grass back.

Yes it’s a myth that it’s a myth.

It works as it contains Citronella. Purely anecdotal, but I used it on a holiday to Sri Lanka (renowned for tenacious mosquitos) and came away with the grand total of….zero bites.

It’s not *the* best and it only really works on Midgies and Mozzies. But it does smell okay and I’d happily use it all day every day. Which is more than can be said for DEET.

Smidge is much better – it repels, not drown them one by one as SSS does.

I work in the perfume industry and as I travel a lot in Africa I’ve been interested in this for years.

DEET is the most effective mossie or midge repellant but after you’ve applied it, it comes out in your urine for 48 hours as it’s readily absorbed. You can get DEET in various bases including creams or lotions or petroleum jelly or gels and what matters is the dosage, not the brand. It does damage certain plastics so keep it away from glasses and so on.

Skin so Soft contains a strong powdery green fougere perfume not unrelated to Brut, and having used it while fixing punctures in the woods I know it works. The study linked above shows it to be almost as effective as DEET. The Avon product is called a dry oil simply because it’s not wet, i.e. water-based. It’s just a grade of mineral oil that’s light enough to be fairly volatile. There may be a couple of percent of citronella oil or the molecule citronellal in that green fougere perfume but the dosage on the skin is very low as the perfume itself is only at about 1% in the oil. Citronella oil does repel insects but is so volatile that it will flash off your skin in half an hour. There isn’t anything else in the perfume that’s naturally repellent so my best guess is that it actually masks the odour of the body that insects use to detect that vital blood by smelling very similar to their environment – fougere is fern in French and the perfume does have that strong green ferny smell, so that when you wear Skin so Soft it surrounds you in a heavy aura of perfume and I think it’s this that confuses the insects. It’s an interesting story and our office Avon rep tells me that Avon would love to drop that old-fashioned perfume but can’t because it’s their best seller.

It’s interesting to see that some people swear by it and some don’t think it works. My thoughts were I’d try the least “nasty” product and work up from there. If this doesn’t work for me I’ll try smidge. I don’t think I’ll ever get to the point where I’ll put something on my skin that eats plastic though. There’s no way that can be good for you.

Vc

Smidge feels nicer that Avon, less greasy, decent smell. That, coupled with it being hands down better against midges and ticks makes it a no brainer for me.

My memories of using it are that it leaves me feeling oily and with lots of dead midges stuck to my oily skin. I don’t recall being bit much though. Mind you, the SSS I have is old enough to presumably predate and recent changes to its forumla.

Baby oil mixed with dettol used to do it for me ..

No change; it’s the same old perfume in the same old light mineral oil. The perfume does degrade after a couple of years though.

I don’t think I’ll ever get to the point where I’ll put something on my skin that eats plastic though. There’s no way that can be good for you.

That’s why I avoid any contact with air, water and salt. Have you seen how they can literally rot through sheet metal! 😉