Quote Originally Posted by nanok View Post
wise words, a multi-layer approach is best. unfortunately, i'm that friend..

keep in mind, though, that permethrin is not a bug repellent, unfortunately it is often mislabelled as being such. what it is, is a neurotoxic molecule which kills all "bugs", indiscriminately, as they have not evolved an enzyme to neutralyze it (yet.). permethrin is similarly neurotoxic to us, it's just that we have a built in way to neutralize it, so it never reaches the nervous system, this is why in small quantities, it is harmless to us (although cats are not as lucky, and there might be other animals out there who also have the defect). because of how deadly and indiscriminate it is, i only use permethrin on stuff that i wear, to protect from blood suckers (mainly ticks which are actually dangerous due to the disease they spread), so i find it useful on trousers and such, but general/generous use sounds a bit overkill (not to call it genocide). the other problem is that insects have very quick lifecycles, and we already know permethrin is not 100% effective these days, if we use it too liberally, we risk selecting the "super bugs" and it might not take that long until permethrin becomes useless.
Good info. While not a repellent, I still feel a slight sense of protection by walking into the woods smelling like a combination of fertilizer plant, petroleum refinery and chemistry lab after an earthquake. No bug could possibly like that. Also smells like an old book in a library which has been checked out twice in the past decade.