A Product Review of OFF! Brand Smooth & Dry Insect Repellent

Atlanta, like much of the southeastern United States, apparently maintains a perfect mosquito-breeding environment for at least six months of the year. And I apparently have the perfect blood to help sustain them. If I'm not wearing insect repellant every time I leave the house from May through October, I will continually sport nickel- and quarter-sized mosquito bites. My son has even worse reactions to the bites. Not really the most fashion-forward accessory for any season, is it? Neosporin is a great solution in halting the itch on these welts, but we'd both rather avoid them in the first place.

So, when I opened my email last week to find an invitation from BzzAgent to participate in a word-of-mouth marketing campain for one of OFF!'s new products, I signed up without hesitation. I didn't even read to find out what was so new about it. The package arrived a few days ago, and wow! After years of spraying slow-drying, smelly liquids and rubbing them in, this new Smooth & Dry is a dream!

At this point, I think I should pause for a second and say this: In the interest of consumer safety and full disclosure, I leave it up to you, the reader, to research the ongoing debate about the safety of products containing Deet. While many scientists maintain that Deet is safe in certain concentrations, there is a large community of people with questions about these assurances. Both arguments are worth taking into account when making decisions about your insect repellent needs. Links to two informative articles follow:

Benefits of Deet

Proponent of Natural Alternatives

And now, back to your regularly scheduled product review.

As I was saying, this particular OFF! product is much nicer than the stuff I've been using in the past. Instead of a pump, this is a pressurized can, which sprays the product in a continuous spray. It has a "powder dry formula" which dries instantly on contact with your skin. The scent is much less intrusive than other bug repellents, too. According to the manufacturer, it repels mosquitoes, gnats, ticks, biting flies, chiggers, and fleas. (Have you ever gotten chigger bites? Talk about an itch-fest!)