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These bug repellent lotion bars are perfect for summertime. While moisturizing your skin with all-natural ingredients: you will also be keeping bugs at bay. Safe for all ages!
Last winter, I made some homemade lotion bars and absolutely loved them. In fact, I made such a large batch we still have a couple left. So while I was getting ready to whip up another batch, I thought, why not add in some bug repellent essential oils?
Instead of adding lavender essential oil, as I did before, I used oils like lemongrass, peppermint and cedarwood. Now, when we rub these on, not only will we receive the moisturizing benefits, but we will be bug-free, too!
If you prefer a spray, check out my homemade bug and tick repellent here.
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WHY USE ESSENTIAL OILS TO REPEL BUGS?
Essential oils can be very effective in deterring bugs of all kinds. I have so many stories to prove it! Essential oils are very concentrated and give off a powerful scent. Bugs don’t like these scents and flee from them.
Once, we had ants in our house. We tried a few different tricks, and until I broke out my peppermint oil, they weren’t leaving.
I mixed 30 drops of peppermint essential oil with 8 ounces of water and sprayed the door frames, windows, and any area they were in. By golly, we were ant free the next day, and they stayed away!
Recently, we had a major gnat issue going on in our chicken coop. So bad, in fact, they killed several of our hens. Again, we tried everything! We even bought a bug spray online that was specifically for gnats. Guess what? It didn’t work!
I did some research and made a spray with vanilla extract, lemongrass essential oil, and peppermint essential oil. We sprayed the entire coop, and it worked! We joked, saying that we were going to start hanging out in the coop to get away from the gnats in our yard. It was the only gnat-free area on the whole property.
The best part about essential oils, other than the fact that they work, is that they are all-natural. I love that I can spray my house and my kids without worrying about the chemicals going into the air. With kids toddling around, I don’t want chemicals lurking in my home, on my walls, floors, or in the air.
WHAT ESSENTIAL OILS WORK BEST FOR BUG REPELLENT?
Several essential oils can be used for bug repellent, and certain ones work better for certain bugs. I like to add a little of everything to keep all the flying, crawling, and biting things away.
PEPPERMINT & EUCALYPTUS
Peppermint and eucalyptus essential oils are excellent natural bug repellents for aphids, squash bugs, whiteflies, ants, beetles, spiders, and fleas.
You will also find peppermint as the main ingredient in my mouse-repellent spray.
LEMONGRASS
Lemongrass can repel flying and crawling pests without harming plants, animals, or skin. This one is great for gnats.
ROSEMARY
A potent repellent for many types of insects, including flies, fleas, and mosquitoes.
Rosemary is also great for garden plants because it can deter insect larvae that can easily destroy entire crops of tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, and even some root veggies if left undisturbed.
Related: Homemade bug spray for plants!
CLOVE & THYME
Clove and thyme work well together for flying and biting insects: like chiggers, ticks, roaches, and flies.
CEDARWOOD
Cedarwood is excellent for repelling ticks. I always add cedarwood to my bug repellents because we have lots of woods near our house, and we visit my parent’s farm every weekend.
This oil is great for dogs too. We soak our dog collars in a cedarwood water mixture during spring and summer to keep ticks off of them. It helps so much!
TEA TREE
Tea tree is another great oil for repelling insects of all kinds; it is a natural mosquito control and the best mosquito killer, in my opinion. If you already have bug bites, tea tree would be a good essential oil to apply to the area, as you can see in my homemade anti-itch cream.
WHAT ABOUT CONVENTIONAL BUG SPRAY?
Conventional bug sprays are filled with toxins and chemicals. I prefer not to spray these on my skin or into the air I am breathing.
In hopes of deterring bugs, most people run to products that contain DEET. DEET has been used for many years, and research is now saying that it can have harmful side effects for the skin, brain, and cells.
HOW IMPORTANT IS BUG SPRAY?
If you are going to be outside during the warmer months, bugs are going to be a problem. You will most likely get bit by something at some point. Most bug bites won’t require any medical attention and will go away on their own.
However, they can be very annoying, itchy, and can cause swelling. In some cases, you could contract a disease or have an allergic reaction. Though these things aren’t extremely likely, it is always best to prevent them as much as possible.
I keep my homemade bug repellent lotion bars by the back door to rub on my kids before going out for the day. I keep my bug spray in my diaper bag to spray everyone’s legs and clothing when we are out and about.
If you do get bug bites, you can apply a blend of lavender, tea tree, and frankincense to the area of concern. Get the full roller bottle recipe HERE.
HOW TO MAKE BUG REPELLENT LOTION BARS
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup coconut oil
- 1 cup cocoa butter or shea butter (or you can use a combination of the two)
- 1 cup beeswax
- 30 drops of bug repellent essential oils (pick one or multiple oils from the list above)
- Silicone molds or metal tins
INSTRUCTIONS
- Melt all the ingredients, except the essential oils, in a double boiler. You can make your own double boiler by placing a glass bowl over a medium-size saucepan.
- Bring the water to a boil until the ingredients are melted.
- Once ingredients are melted, remove the bowl from the heat. Let mixture cool slightly, and then add in essential oils.
- Stir well until combined.
- Pour the mixture into silicone molds or metal tins.
- Allow the mixture to cool completely, and then pop the bars out of the molds.
- Store in an airtight container for up to one year.
HOW TO APPLY BUG REPELLENT LOTION BARS
Rub the lotion bar onto the skin where you want to use it. It is best to apply to any exposed skin. When you rub it on the warm skin, it will melt slightly, making it easy to apply. Massage into the skin.
A few more summertime DIYs
Sea Salt Spray for Wavy Beach Hair
PRINT THE RECIPE BUG REPELLENT LOTION BARS
Bug Repellent Lotion Bars
Equipment
- Double Boiler
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut oil
- 1 cup cocoa butter or shea butter, or use a combination of the two
- 1 cup beeswax
- 30 drops bug repellent essential oils, pick from the list above
- Silicone molds
Instructions
- Melt all the ingredients, except the essential oils, in a double boiler. You can make your own double boiler by placing a glass bowl over a medium-size saucepan.
- Bring the water to a boil until the ingredients are melted. Once ingredients are melted, remove the bowl from the heat.
- Let mixture cool slightly, and then add in essential oils. Stir well until combined.
- Pour the mixture into silicone molds or metal tins.
- Allow the mixture to cool completely, and then pop the bars out of the molds.
- Store in an airtight container for up to one year.
Lemongrass oil can repell certain bugs but it can also attract honeybees. I’ve never heard of anyone being attacked by honeybees because of lemongrass oil, but as a beekeeper, we use it to attract them so we can catch swarms. I thought I should mention it. I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt.
Hello Laura. Are you using fractionated coconut oil for this recipe?
No, this is regular coconut oil.
One of my customers wants me to make them a bug off Lotion bar and I always come straight to you for recipes! I saw someone mentioning measuring in weight and I agree as well. That would be nice especially with a recipe like this.
It’s hard to measure cocoa butter in cups unless you melt it first. Is this what I need to do? Melt, then measure a cup?
I measure it when it is solid, it is never exact but it doesn’t have to be for this recipe.
Just a helpful tip for those wanting to measure by weight, it’s a simple 1:1:1 ratio of coconut oil to shea/cocoa butter to beeswax. So you can measure the weight of your 1 cup of coconut oil, and then use that as a guide for how much shea/cocoa butter and beeswax to add.
Is this safe to use on six month old baby?
I use this on my baby and kids!
Hi! Excited to try this recipe. I have a 1 year old and am wondering what the dilution ratio is? I’ve read that it’s got to be .25 to .5 for babies and would hate to do harm while trying to help!
I use these on my baby and just use half the amount of oils for him.
Would love to try and make it!
One question, we go on many camping trips in quite warm places,
Will this lotion bar melt in the heat?
Of course I won’t leave it in the sun, but still quite warm in the day.
😊 Thanks
It will melt if it gets too hot. I would suggest keeping it in a cooler.
What about putting it in a lotion or cream container, and if it’s not a bar do you still need beeswax
I just made these using candelilla wax. I hope this would stay solid despite our tropical climate. Really love the smell. Thanks, from southeast asia with love!
Awesome, I am so glad you love them!!
I sit in my chair and do computer stuff and am pestered by a bunch of flies and just hate shooing them away every 5 seconds. I just tried a tiny recipe of my own using a 1/4 t of olive oil as the carrier and 2 drops of eucalyptus and I’ve been sitting here for 5 minutes and no flies. Is the amount of drops verses the olive oil OK? I love your videos and plan to make the insect repellent bars as soon as I get all the ingredients.
Wow, that is great! Sounds like that ratio is working great for you, thanks for sharing!