Sorry for the technical difficulties! This post was scheduled to publish bright and early this morning...and it didn't.
Another weekend away, in the woods. With the bugs. No see-ums, biting flies, mosquitoes.
Anyone who suffers more than a mild reaction to mosquito bites will appreciate this. Despite my many years of adulthood, I have never outgrown my allergy to bug bites, which also bring on flashbacks to the days when my mother would slop a homemade paste of baking soda and water onto my bug-bitten limbs and then cover them with facial tissue (yes, you read that right. Never, ever a bandage or gauze pad) and -- wait for it -- scotch tape. Only the best!
Anyone who suffers more than a mild reaction to mosquito bites will appreciate this. Despite my many years of adulthood, I have never outgrown my allergy to bug bites, which also bring on flashbacks to the days when my mother would slop a homemade paste of baking soda and water onto my bug-bitten limbs and then cover them with facial tissue (yes, you read that right. Never, ever a bandage or gauze pad) and -- wait for it -- scotch tape. Only the best!
When I came across Afterbite for Kids some decades later, I was well-experienced in the burning sting of Original Afterbite, which is ammonia-based (!). Curious about what made the kids' product different, and if it was really gentler, I read the label. Active ingredient: sodium bicarbonate.
Well sh*t, my mother was right all along.
Oh, it gets better. Turns out Afterbite for Kids isn't as benign as it would seem. According to EWG's Skin Deep Database, the INACTIVE ingredients (vitamin E, fragrance, and other science-y things) almost completely negate any benefit to using a baking soda-based product.
The moral of this tale: for truly chemical-free relief from itchy, burning, swollen bug bites, go old school with some plain baking soda and water. But for the love of Mary, use a bandage!
-- Jazzy