Does Avon Skin So Soft work as mosquito repellent ?

Does Avon Skin So Soft work as mosquito repellent ? You may have read this in the press or on the internet and wondered if it is really true.  

A friend I recently travelled with to India, who normally gets heavily bitten,  swears by it.  Having tried everything else, including Jungle Formula, without any luck it was strangely me that had suggested it to her a couple of years ago, when she travelled to Africa volunteering. I had read online but still wondered to myself – Does Avon Skin So Soft work as mosquito repellent ?  She tried it and wasn’t bitten once. So I thought I would give it a try – and purchased these sprays –  Avon Skin So Soft Original Dry Oil Body Spray with Jojobal 150 ml – Pack of 2 from Amazon.

Normally I just pack a deet based product –  Jungle Formula – as this one definately works for me.  But this time I took Avon Skin So Soft as well.  Without protection I get bitten horribly.  To make it worse each bite  swells to a red blotch over a centimetre in diameter and is intensly itchy. I don’t particularly like the smell of deet but I tolerate it preferring that to being bitten and risking malaria, denge fever or anything worse. It also strips my nail varnish off which is a bit of a pain.  As I prefer not not to use harsh chemicals if I can help it I wanted to give Avon Skin So Soft a try.   Research online advocates that it was used by the SAS , TA , Royal Marines and the contestants in I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

Fairly impressive.

So while I was in India I used both products on alternate days.  They were equally as good I have to say. Success depends on how thoroughly you apply the products. If you miss anywhere and you’ll still get bitten. But anywhere I had sprayed, with either product, remained bite free.

Did I get bitten at all ?

Oh yes ! One evening after a day of keeping very close to the toilet ( Dehli belly ) I ventured downstairs to look for my friend.  Instead i found a very interesting German businessman who was so fascinating I sat and talked to him for a couple of hours. After being bitten a few times I remembered I had forgotten to put anything on and was too lazy to go back to my room and do so. And figured as only my wrists and ankles were exposed I wouldn’t be too badly bitten. How wrong I was – about 100 bites in total and looked horrendous. The itching gave me a few sleepless nights that no after bite cured for very long.

So does Avon Skin So Soft work as mosquito repellent ? 

YES – I would recommend it – just remember to put it on!

And another thing … 

And if you are in India another handy discovery I made was SALICAL . A tiny 15mg tin of ointment labelled  ‘Poison’ and ‘Ringworm ointment’ . I was down a tiny back street off AJC Bose Road in Kolkata searching for after bite as I had exhausted my friends supply. The gentleman didn’t understand English so I pointed to my awful mosquito bites and he handed it to me. I read it and saw ‘ringworm’ . Tried to explain to him that it was in fact mosquito bites not ringworm but he assured me ‘yes for mosquitos’. So I bought it – 20 rupees – about 25 pence – and it was absolutely brilliant ! A little went a long way and that night I slept like a baby.

Also if you are travelling from uk to India you will need adapter plugs and it’s much cheaper to buy before you get to the airport. Confusingly India use both 2 prong and 3 prong (rounded) so this handy pack of two has one of each.

DISCLAIMER : THIS ARTICLE IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE – it is a report of my experience only. No mosquito repellent is guaranteed foolproof so please also talk to your healthcare provider to assess if you need malaria tablets where you are travelling to – remembering that the course of most tablets has to be started well in advance of travelling.

Has Avon Skin So Soft worked as mosquito repellent for you? Why not leave a comment to share your experience of Avon SSS in the comments below.