Here’s the thing about insect repellents.  Pretty much everyone agrees products containing high concentrations of DEET work better than anything else.  But DEET comes with health risks, especially for children, and can damage fabrics.  DEET-free insect repellents seem to have varying efficacy, depending not only on the circumstances, but also on your own personal body chemistry.  Two people using the same product can experience very different efficacy.  Which may explain why thousands of people swear that Skin-So-Soft Bath Oil is the only thing that works for them, despite it never being proved to work as such.  As an Avon Representative, the only thing I’m allowed to tell you about Skin-So-Soft is that it’s America’s #1 Selling Bath Oil.  Why, you might ask, would a bath oil come in a spray bottle? I can’t tell you.  What I can tell you is that Avon has been at the forefront of marketing non-DEET repellent products in the U.S., including two that seem to work really well (for me).  Both contain active ingredients that have been tested and used extensively in Europe and around the world. Picaridin is recommended by the CDC and by the World Health Organization.  It also works (for me) against the biting flies we get here on Fire Island where nothing else does — including DEET.  Avon’s Bug Guard Plus Picaridin contains 10% picaridin.   IR3535 works (for me) great against mosquitoes, and is safe enough to not be require children washing it off when they come indoors. It’s found in Avon’s Bug Guard Plus Expedition, which is also unscented, another plus.  They also both contain vitamin E, and are on sale this week for 50% off at avon.com.