So, there are a lot of different things you can use as a natural bug repellant but I was on my walk today and I saw one and thought I would snap a photo to illustrate to you how easy they are to find right now.

A lot of things are flowering including Fleabane.

Looks like tiny daisies but you can see the rest of the plant looks a lot different. It’s in the daisy family I think, just not a common daisy. Rub this stuff all over your kids when you send them outdoors. Ticks? No problem. Fleas? Wait, your kids have FLEAS? Just kidding. Mosquitos? Get outta here.

What you don’t want to do is spray them with OFF. Let me go get an ingredient list and I’ll illustrate:

Propellants (for aerosol sprays)

• Propane
• Butane
• Isobutane

Solvents / carriers

• Ethanol (alcohol)
• Water
• Dipropylene glycol

Skin-feel ingredients

• Isopropyl myristate (makes it feel smoother)
• Aloe (in some family formulas) Author’s note: you only get aloe if you’re lucky! ha ha.
• Corn starch (dry feel)

Stabilizers / additives

• Aminomethyl propanol (pH adjuster)
• Sodium benzoate (preservative)

Fragrance chemicals (can be many)

Examples:

• Linalool
• Geraniol
• Citronellol
• Benzyl acetate
• Coumarin

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Now, I asked ChatGPT which would be dangerous to ingest in large quanties to get a response. The truth is almost anything that is dangerous to this degree on a macro level should not be ingested at a micro one. It’s just not worth it with all the stress living in society already places on your liver.

☠️ 1. Active repellents (highest concern)

• DEET → can affect the nervous system at high doses (confusion, seizures, coma)
• Picaridin → generally milder, but still toxic in large ingestion
• Oil of lemon eucalyptus / PMD → can cause vomiting, CNS effects, irritation

👉 These are the most concerning because they’re biologically active.

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🔥 2. Solvents (very dangerous in large amounts)

• Ethanol (alcohol) → intoxication → respiratory depression → coma
• Dipropylene glycol → metabolic issues, kidney stress

👉 These can be dangerous at relatively lower volumes compared to some other ingredients.

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💨 3. Propellants (aerosol sprays)

• Propane / butane / isobutane

These are:

• asphyxiants
• can cause cardiac arrhythmias
• extremely dangerous if inhaled or ingested improperly

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⚠️ 4. Fragrances & additives

• Linalool, geraniol, citronellol, etc.
• Preservatives like sodium benzoate

👉 Usually lower toxicity individually, but:

• in large amounts → irritation, toxicity, metabolic stress
• combined exposure increases risk

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🧠 Bottom line

propellant exposure

There isn’t a safe “subset” you could ingest—
the majority (honestly, nearly 100%) become harmful at high doses.

The biggest dangers come from:

nervous system toxicity (DEET)

alcohol/solvent effects

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Guess how many of these ingredients rubbing fleabane on your kids’ arms and legs puts in their bloodstream. And it’s a total misconception that you don’t absorb everything you put on your skin. Your skin is an organ.