Sawyer  Permethrin Pump Spray - 24 oz.

I love this stuff! I was skeptical but hopeful as I prepped my clothing for a hike on the "Thunder Swamp Trail" in Pa. I'm so glad I treated my clothes though! The trail was overgrown for a third of the hike and my buddy who did not have treated clothes pulled at least 6 latched ticks off of himself through out the course of our trip. I felt bad for him since I never had any latch, and the two that I did see scrambling on my pant legs looked like they were trying like crazy to get off me. I will definitely be treating my family's camp clothes for our next trip. Wear gloves when applying though, it does drip from the spray nozzle.

I've used this product to spray my clothing and equipment for trips to mosquito and tick infested areas. It lasts for up to 6 weeks and is the most effective product I have found--also, it keeps the bug spray off my body. Follow directions and don't get it on your skin and don't wear clothing before it dries. I have used it as a preventative (on hats, sleeping bags, bedliners,etc) for head lice and bedbugs and have never had a problem with either, despite extensive travel in Africa and Asia. I recoat my suitcase after every US hotel stay as well.Great product--but don't spray it on your gear in a closed space.

I love to fish deep woods streams and ponds in the summer. I have 10 game trail cameras that I hike to check every week . Im an avid hunter . I find this easy to apply and it is the most effective tick repellent( killer) I have ever used . The aerosol cans of this product are effective but not odorless because of the aerosol. The spray bottle has solved that problem for my hunting clothes. Using the spray bottles are indeed odorless when it dries. While checking my game trail cameras in my hunting suit, and while out hunting , I love the idea that I am killing every tick that comes in contact with me LOL

Used this to spray all my clothes before a trip to the jungles in Peru, where malaria and other insect carried diseases was a concern. Sprayed before leaving on trip and it worked 2 weeks later after several days of wearing. On the last day we ran across a lot of people who were complaining about mosquitoes while spraying deet based repellents on and we couldn't even tell there were mosquitoes around. We still sprayed deet on exposed skin for extra protection, but didn't seem to need it. We also used about half what the label recommended as our group had a lot of clothes to spray. Not advocating to go against the instructions, but even at half strength it worked for us.

I treated my clothes the night before a trip to Africa and noticed that the mist was killing all the bugs that were attracted to the porch light...I'd say that was a good sign. The only thing I would recommend is to treat ALL of the garments evenly...I heavily treated the legs/ankles and waistbands of my pants and only did a light once-over on the rest of it. Of all the hiking I did over the course of 2 months, I only had 1 tick crawl on the thigh of my pants (in an area of the pant that wasn't well-treated). The rest of time I never had a problem. I'd definitely use this again.

After spending nearly $20 on the product, I was dismayed to find a 10 cent sprayer on the top of the bottle. In fact, the sprayer doesn't really spray. For every ounce of product that weakly spattered out of the nozzle, another half an ounce dribbled over my fingers. The spray handle is so unergonomic, it was painful to use. Buy this product, sure, but also stop at the hardware store to buy a good sprayer. Even $2.50 for a single use of a quality sprayer (I threw mine out after use, as I don't know whether it can ever be food safe again) is worth it to rescue the lost product and keep you from having to spend an hour in confession for all the cursing you'll do if you use the provided sprayer.

As others have mentioned, this can be messy to apply. The fumes are strong, so I'd recommend spraying outdoors in a well ventilated, non-windy location. I have a pretty sensitive nose, but, after drying the clothing exhibited no detectable odor. I applied permethrin to all the outer layers of clothing my wife and I took on a 17 day trip to Peru and Ecuador. I quickly realized that one 24 oz bottle would never treat all the clothing we were taking, so I purchased a 32 oz bottle of 13.3% permethrin concentrate and diluted it per the manufacturer's instructions. While on our trip, which included a two day stay in the Amazon rain forest, neither of us was bothered by mosquitoes or other insects. (We also applied 98% DEET spray to our exposed skin). It turned out that spraying our clothing had an additional, unforseen benefit. On the last night of our stay in the rain forest, when my wife was repacking her suitcase, she called me to look at what she had found under her clothing. There, on the bottom of her suitcase was the biggest cockroach I had ever seen (see attached photo). I took a picture of it and then realized that it was dead. Upon reflection, I decided that the roach was dispatched by the full load of permethrin coated clothing in her suitcase. I plan to coat all my outerwear with permethrin before any future hiking, camping, or fishing trips. In addition, I will be spraying all my suitcases with permethrin to protect against insect hitchhikers, whether foreign or domestic, finding their way back home in my luggage.

Permethrin is safe for humans and works great for treating clothing (not skin). It does have a nasty smell when wet, but once dry has no smell. I use this product to treat all my clothing/gear and find the product is dry in 15-20 minutes. The magical thing about permethrin is 1) its durability to stay attached to clothing even after several washings and 2) how effective it is at keeping bugs away. Bugs fly onto my clothing and instantly fly away. Permethrin should not be your only bug defense. Use this with a skin contact repellant and bugs should not be a bother.

After a bug infested backpacking trip to Banff I got serious prior to a trip to Yosemite and treated my clothes and my tent with Sawyers. This is great stuff. The mosquitoes just stayed away. During the Banff trip the mosquitoes would come into the tent in clouds every time we zipped down a flap. At Yosemite, they stayed away. The other tent in our group wasn't treated and it stayed covered with mosquitoes. If you are going to be in serious mosquito country you need to get serious with Sawyers permithrin clothing treatment.

I have used permethrin to treat clothing for travel in Asia and Central America and it has been 100% effective in avoiding mosquito bites when used with DEET or other repellent on the exposed areas. It is sold in 0.5%, 10%, 13%, and 37.5% permethrin strength solutions. You pay a lot more for the more diluted solutions versus making your own. A 16oz. 10% solution can bought for less than the cost the cost of the same amount of diluted pre-mix spray and used to make 10 quarts of solution. Then put the mix in a garden sprayer and saturate the clothing. It is good for a year so even if you do wash the clothes a lot it will still need to be re-applied every 12 months.