good luck....the best products I've tried have been purchased at my health food store which you spray on..they'll last for a short while and are very aromatic...I've tried making my own using essential oils of citronella along with some others but it didn't really work that well....I've tried carrying around those little buzzing gadgets that mimick the sound of a dragonfly (supposedly) and that didn't work...I've tried eating garlic daily, nope....brewer's yeast, nope.....I think some of us have a slightly higher body temperature and the skeeters are more attracted to us, pick us out in a group of a dozen people...but, I found some interesting info I will share:
"OK, mosquitos . . . prepare to be repelled!!!!!
Use Bounce Fabric Softener Sheets . . . Best thing ever used in Louisiana . . . just wipe on & go. . . Great for Babies

Bob, a fisherman, takes one vitamin B-1 tablet a day April through October . He said it works. He was right. Hasn't had a mosquito bite in 33 years. Try it. Every one he has talked into trying it works on them. Vitimin B-1 (Thiamine Hydrochloride 100 mg.)

If you eat bananas, the mosquitos like you — something about the banana oil as your body processes it. Stop eating bananas for the summer and the mosquitos will be much less interested.

This is going to floor you, but one of the best insect repellents someone found (who is in the woods every day), is Vick's Vaporub.

Plant marigolds around the yard, the flowers give off a smell that bugs do not like, so plant some in that garden also to help ward off bugs without using insecticides.

"Tough guy" Marines who spend a great deal of time "camping out" say that the very best mosquito repellant you can use is Avon Skin-So-Soft bath oil mixed about half and half with alcohol.

One of the best natural insect repellants that I've discovered is made from the clear real vanilla. This is the pure vanilla that is sold in Mexico. It works great for mosquitoes and ticks, don't know about other insects. "

Let me know what you end up trying and if it works for you :)

i use neem otameal and lavender bar soap.
it keeps most of them away from me.
and those thing ATTACK me.

i read that is was due to the amount of cholestrol on your skin.
and this just means that you are more effecient at expelling cholesterol than others. the like the smell of it.

I am from Minnesota, which is mosquito country. There we use Skin-so-Soft, but I would nix the alcohol since it will dry out your skin. Just SSS works fine. Also, I would put your hair up, since heat attracts them and hair around your neck provides a warm moist environment they like. A hat also helps, especially if you put product in your hair, because the smell of the products you put in your hair attracts them like mad.

Good luck!

-Mel

The most natural way is pure Citronella oil. Very stinky but not a bad odor. Burt's Bee's sells their own version in a tin bottle. Bought some marked down in a local grocery store at the end of last season. I'll need it soon.

This might not be the solution you are looking for but a group of us would go camping in south america and we'd drink aguaardiente, and for some odd reason the mosquitos would not come near us... sorry for those others that didn't drink agua ardiente.. They say there is something about the odor of that alcoholic beverage that just repels the mosquitoes...'

THey also say the smell of garlic keeps mosquitoes away.

Hi! I guess this is too late for your camping trip, but I like to use a mixture of ess oils: lemon grass, cironella, lavender & eucalyptus. I take a 1 once bottle, fill half way w/ distilled water, add witch hazel til it is about 3/4 of the way full then add about 5 drops each of the oils. Then I just shake real well before applying to the skin. This will also work well in a spritzer.

Also, garlic in the diet (hence the bloodstream) seems to be offensive to the buggers as well.

Did you try any of the other suggestions on your trip? How did things work?

joy,
Jannette