Bug bites tend to be a part of summer and definitely a part of camping life. You can spend hundreds of dollars on all kinds of lotions and potions, candles, sprays, and contraptions to keep the likes of mosquitoes and flies away. The peskiest in my book? No-see-ums! That’s what my parents and grandparents called them. A chigger attack has commenced at the Queen Bee homestead this week and they came on with a vengeance. Bites in places not suitable for public discussion. Miserable!
53 total bites and those were only the ones I could see and did not include the unreachable ones in the middle of my back. And, if you have not had the luxury of this experience….there is no sleeping through the night. This goes on for days.
I quickly put out the all-call on my personal Facebook page and got a load of hilarious and even some curious ideas for how to stop the itching.
- Clear fingernail polish – this topped the list and I remembered doing this as a kid
- Benadryl
- Taking a hot bath in Germ-Trol (I will be researching this to see if product is still avail as this was from a friend who endured the treatment in the 1940s and 50s). Found it!
- Chigarid – saw this on several retailer sites
- Soak brown paper bag strips in apple cider vinegar and plaster the bites
- Hand sanitizer
- Skin So Soft Bug Guard – think this is an Avon product
- Roll-on deodorant
- More than one suggestion for bathing in a small amount of bleach – yikes! And heard the same with a capful of Lysol.
- Campho-phenique – the ole’ stand by
- CeraVe Lotion for Anti-Itch
- Baking soda bath
- From WebMD: over-the-counter anti-itch cream or ointment, like menthol, calamine lotion, or hydrocortisone. You can also get relief if you take antihistamine pills or use a cold compress.
Kids, I can not personally recommend all of these and some of these come with the warning: don’t try this at home!! I tried hand sanitizer, because Lord knows we all have a ton of that handy these days. Gave me some quick relief. I also learned while Googling the subject that the little buggers’ saliva is what causes the itchy skin reaction. It’s what they use to kind of dissolve your skin for feasting—eeeewwwwwww!
Any more home remedies or over-the-counter ideas? Hope you will share and I will be better prepared next time!