Jill just wants to know…I remember hearing that Avon Skin So Soft is not only an amazing moisturizer but it can also stop bugs from biting. Is this true? 
The Left Brain replies:
Skin so soft is a great moisturizer that gives a smooth, dry feel to skin. That’s because it’s not a lotion – it’s a blend of mineral oil and esters that lubricates without being too wet or greasy.
Avon Skin So Soft Bath Oil Ingredients
Mineral oil, isopropyl palmitate, dicapryl adipate, fragrance, dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate, BHT (to prevent oxidation) and carrot seed oil (source).
I think that the most amazing thing about this product is that for decades people have been convinced that it is an excellent mosquito repellent. Rumor had it that Skin So Soft was even better than products with DEET, the most effective active ingredient on the market. In fact so many people were buying SSS for this reason that Avon launched a companion product that contained a non- DEET active.
Ineffective insect repellent
Unfortunately, this urban legend has been thoroughly debunked by Snopes.com. They reported on a 2002 study that evaluated 17 nationally marketed mosquito products. The researchers found that the more DEET the products contained the better they worked. Off! Deep Woods kept the nasty buggers at bay for an average of 302 minutes. By comparison SSS only worked for 9.6 minutes.
You can read more at Snopes.com or you can read the original study in the New England Journal of Medicine, 4 July 2002 vol 347:13-18 Number 1.
What do YOU think? Have you used Skin So Soft? Or do you have your own favorite tricks to keep mosquitos away? Leave a comment and share the “buzz” with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.
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The Today Show just did a segment on ” The Best Mosquito Repellants ” July 7, 2009 with Janice Lieberman. See:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/up/31778455#31778455
Avon’s Picaridin and IR3535 products were reviewed with very good results.
My mom swears that Skin-So-Soft repels bugs. She’s been using it successfully as a bug repellent for years. I say, if it works for her, why not?
I buy the sunscreen with repellent for me and my kids every summer. I think it works great at keeping mosquitoes (and sunburn)away. It also does not irritate my sons sensitive skin.
As someone who CANNOT use products containing DEET, the search for a decent repellant is always a challenge. I still haven’t found the answer for mosquitos – once they’ve found my body heat, I’m sunk. BUT – for those nasty biting gnats, noseeums, and midges – vanilla. A cloth dipped in pure vanilla, a vanilla-scented body spray, a spritz of vanilla-water… Vanilla is the key.
When I was a kid I had to constantly be on sulfur-based drugs for chronic bladder and kidney problems. Bugs always left me alone.
Just saying, maybe those who can’t use DEET should ask for a prescription for Septra-DS.
God, when I was a little kid I lived near what we called the “bajas” and what was officially called the Tonocum Wildlife Preserve. 87 MILLION mosquitos with their own g*ddamned Air Force, I’m telling you.
The only thing that worked was being in a hermetically sealed capsule or being December. I’m a total skeptic on ANY of those bug sprays. No matter what junk I sprayed on myself, those little emeffers sucked me dry the sminute the sun went down.
It’s a huge part of why I love southern California. NO DAMNED MOSQUITOS!!!!!
Tinicum. Blasted typos.
I too am loved by the mosquito air force. I have tried SSS but the fragrance isn’t very “manly” and it did not seem to help. Suffice to say I smelled bad and still got mosquito bites. I’m not a huge fan of southern CA but the lack of mosquitoes just moved it up a few notches in my book! Now if someone could make a “bug spray” that kept the damn Japanese beetles off my Raspberry bush that would useful. Maybe I’ll try SSS…that’s a free one Avon.
SSS might not work, but Jerry Baker might have some advice for those bug infested bushes.
http://www.jerrybaker.net/garden/homepage.aspx
I was actually kidding about the SSS
. I’m pretty sure it would kill the bush. Thanks for the book recommendation Jami!
Chav – oh I figured that, but I was at work so I was typing quick.