Make your own homemade repellent, protect yourself from insects and enjoy summer fun without worries

Although the current weather is not very summery, we believe it is only a matter of a few days before the sun shows up in its summer mode. Until then, you can get ready and use this time to make your own natural repellent, not only for you, but also for your pets.

There are three basic procedures

Oil base

– this is particularly suitable for animals that you take into nature or have in the garden, where there is a high probability of the occurrence of insects – annoying flies, mosquitoes or ticks. To make an oil-based repellent we need 50 ml of high-quality vegetable oil – almond, olive, argan, apricot and others. Into the oil we drip a combination of essential oils, for example:

5 drops of lavender
3 drops of clove
5 drops of eucalyptus
5 drops of citronella


The most practical application is by means of a dropper, because getting through a thick layer of fur to your pet’s skin is not easy at all. Of course, the oil-based repellent is also suitable for humans.
TIP: if those little bloodsuckers have already managed to get you, but the season is not over yet, make a repellent using a calendula macerate – calendula will at the same time heal the wounds already created by the bites.

Alcohol base

– it has the big advantage that you can use it not only on the skin, but also on clothing, because it does not leave stains. However, it evaporates much faster. To prepare this repellent, alcohol is needed (for example our 99.9% IPA). You use 1/3 alcohol, into which you drip a combination of your favourite fragrances and top up the rest with water. Shake and the repellent is ready! :-) The ideal form in this case is a spray bottle.



The third form, and at the same time the most natural one, is:

Herbal base

- here you need to proceed as follows: we macerate the herbs in a mixture of water and alcohol and let them infuse for 2 weeks. The repellent prepared in this way is preserved by the alcohol and therefore basically has no expiry date.

However, let us say that obtaining herbs such as teatree, eucalyptus, cedarwood or geranium is not that easy, and therefore the ideal solution is to use essential oils, which are a highly concentrated source of various kinds of herbs.

So which fragrances should you use?

As a rule, cinnamon and clove have the greatest effect on repelling insects – these two should form the base. You can add fragrances such as lavender, peppermint, lemon, lemongrass, teatree, eucalyptus, cedarwood, geranium, rosemary, etc.
WE RECOMMEND that you first try the repellent on a small area of the body to avoid an allergic reaction.

As you can see, it is neither time-consuming nor financially demanding. And then there is that feeling of knowing what you are putting on yourself, your children or your pets. So get to making it and let us know which combinations have worked for you.

We took the recipe for the oil-based repellent from the website www.zahrada.sk