Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Background: I got devoured by mosquitoes on a trip to Mexico in 2009, and the assault on my system was enough to land me in hospital 3 times in a single week. (During the first two visits to different hospitals, my condition was misdiagnosed and I was given the wrong treatments; the third hospital figured out that I had developed an allergy to the mosquitoes). It seems that because I was bitten so many times (over 50 bites), my body went into some sort of shock and ultra-defence mode. As a result, I now have a very heightened sensitivity to all bug bites. With this in mind, I intended to use as many precautions as possible for my recent trip to Hawaii. Here's how I protected myself (I'll discuss Ben's wipes in a moment): STEP 1: Started taking Vitamin B Complex two weeks before departure. I chose one that had huge %RDA of each type of Vitamin B (I think B12 is the most vital), and always took it in the morning because it can cause really awful nightmares if you take it close to bedtime. STEP 2: I sprayed all my holiday clothes with Sawyer's Permethrin Clothing Spray, which I will review separately. (Short answer: it seems to have worked very well.) http://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-SP657-Permethrin-Clothing-Repellent/dp/B001ANQVYU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303674748&sr=8-1 STEP 3: Covered all exposed areas with Ben's deet wipes every day. More specifics on this in a moment. STEP 4: Always had my "Zap It!" clicker tied to my handbag. I can't find these listed on Amazon, but I bought a pack of 4 online for about $30, and they each have about 10,000 clicks. This was one of my great investments! I definitely recommend it. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zap-It-Mosquito-Bite-Relief/dp/B0012GMT0A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1303674948&sr=8-2 STEP 5: Kept some antihistamine tablets handy just in case I felt overwhelmed by itching, but luckily I didn't have to take any. STEP 6: I also kept some anti-itch creams at the ready, but the "Zap it!" made them largely unnecessary. (Combined with the fact that the other steps had minimised my bites in the first place) ....So, now that you know my 6-phase plan of assault, back to Ben's 30% Deet Wipes. As bug repellent goes, these are very good. My travel companion got eaten alive, because he wasn't really protecting himself (and hadn't taken part in my patented Six Steps to Mozzie Freedom!). After one particularly bug-infested hike, I had 6 bites and he had about 25. So in terms of a side-by-side experiment, the wipes - in conjunction with my other steps - performed very well. PROS: - I am asthmatic and these didn't aggravate my lungs at all. The odour is pretty low compared to "Off" spray or any others I've tried. - Being wipes, they're super easy to apply. - Having individual packs is SO convenient for hiking. - I think 30% Deet was just right for most of our hikes, but we were beseiged in some rainforesty areas, so I got a handful of bites. - Pretty fair price for a pack with three boxes in it. I have a few left over, even though we were in Hawaii for 2.5 weeks. CONS: - No major cons, but I was always careful to wash my hands after applying because I had read that Deet tends to melt plastic. It did remove my toenail polish whenever I made accidental contact with it. - It's a little greasy, but that didn't bother me. - The main thing that annoyed me was that once in a while, I'd open a sachet and the wipe would be BONE DRY inside. There wasn't even the slightest residue; it was like it had never been treated with Deet. This was a bummer because I was worried about running out of wipes (I ended up over-rationing them, which resulted in a few bites). The occasional "blank" wipe is why I'm knocking off a star. Otherwise these are a very decent product and I'd recommend them for any mosquito situation, including for those of us with allergies. Happy Travels!