The gratitude on this woman’s face thanking a random TikToker for their mosquito-repelling hack is palpable.
Mary (@itscontrarymary) uploaded a viral clip sharing the natural-ingredient-based trick she swears has upped her mosquito-repelling game: All you need is some water, natural vanilla extract, and a spray bottle.
“I wish I would have saved the video, but, to the woman who randomly commented on someone else’s video about mosquito bites that they use vanilla extract for mosquito repellent,” she stands up in a bout of enthusiasm.
“B*tch, I hope that you get everything you want. I hope you get everything you want in life because let me tell you, I have bought every single commercial product you could for mosquito repellency,” she continues. “Because I get eaten alive because…nothing works, and I’m in South Florida and it’s really, really bad, especially around this time of year.”
She then holds up a little spray bottle to the camera and explains how she mixed water, vanilla extract, and a pinch of cinnamon and “sprayed it everywhere” on her body.
“Let me tell you, not only do I smell like a delicious snack, a delicious baked good out here in the summer heat. Girl…it works. It works. I love you,” the woman concludes.
@itscontrarymary I’m going to be living my best life from this point forward. #mosquito #mosquitobites #bugbites #mosquitorepellant #itworks #trythis #florida ♬ original sound – Contrary Mary
Does the hack actually work?
It appears many have extolled the mosquito-repelling properties of vanilla extract in ensuring the bloodsuckers stop biting them all day: “Recently I’ve been getting bit a lot. So I tried this method, applying the vanilla to exposed skin via washcloth before going outside. Not only will your bites go down, but you will smell pleasant too,” a Redditor posted on r/LifeProTips.
House Beautiful also consulted with pest control company Mosquito Joe and spoke with the business’ entomologist and technical specialist Shannon Harlow-Ellis. The outlet asked about vanilla extract’s efficacy in keeping skeeters away, and she said, “Sweat, body odor, CO2, and sometimes even your blood type can emit smells that attract these bloodsuckers.”
House Beautiful went on to quote her warning against imitation vanilla extracts, stating that they may ultimately backfire: “If you go the vanilla route to confuse them, it needs to be pure vanilla extract, Harlow-Ellis says. Imitation vanilla, on the other hand, has additives that can actually attract insects with its sugary aromas.”
A 2021 study published in The Scientific World Journal suggests that the effects of spraying vanilla extract on one’s body may only be a temporary solution that lasts around 30 minutes. The research indicates that this scent only temporarily confuses mosquitoes as they hunt for potential blood hosts but that it ultimately only works for about 30 minutes or so before it needs to be reapplied. Eating Well quoted the study and wrote, “According to the 2021 study, vanilla extract may only repel bugs like mosquitoes for 30 minutes, if that.”
The outlet went on to include a statement from Daniel Markowski, a technical advisor of the American Mosquito Control Association: “Mosquitoes, just like most other blood-feeding insects, use the carbon dioxide that we exhale out as a long-distance attractant to bring them close to their hosts.”
Markowski went on to delineate the complex targeting mechanisms afforded by a mosquito’s biology that allows them to latch onto human beings: “But once they actually get close to a host, they use a variety of other cues to finally ho[n]e in. These include visual components like shapes and colors (dark colors are not recommended in prime mosquito habitats because they stand out more) and other chemical cues that we exude out. These chemical cues include breath odors, microbiota by-products on our skin, or other general human odors.”
For those wanting to deal with mosquitoes, you can try some other methods, outside of calling a pest control company, of course. One TikToker recently went viral stating that they noticed a small dish of bubbles (soap and water) drew mosquitoes in and killed them instantly.
Another user shared a hack involving Folger’s coffee, which many seem to swear by.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Mary via TikTok comment.
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