The Best Tick Repellents to Keep You Safe From Nasty Bites All Summer Long (2024)

Summer is the season of hiking, swimming, and enjoying the warmth of the sun on your skin. It’s also, unfortunately, the season of ticks. The blood-sucking critter population peaks when the weather heats up, which is why it’s important to go into every outdoor adventure armed with some form of tick repellent—be it a spray, treated clothing, or both.

Ticks and tick bites have been spiking in numbers across the United States—and they’re carrying diseases with them, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In fact, the number of tick-borne disease cases in the U.S.—like Lyme disease, Babesiosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever—has more than doubled in the last 13 years, per a 2018 report from the CDC. What’s more, preliminary research from the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology finds that alpha-gal allergy—a red meat allergy caused by a tick bite—is a major trigger behind life-threatening reactions.

Meet the Experts: Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, an entomologist at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Thomas Russo, M.D., professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York.

So, take the proper precautions every time you step outside during these warm months (or in heavily wooded areas) by remembering to use your tick repellent. Below, find more information on how to prevent tick bites, how to protect yourself, and how to choose the right tick repellent for you.

First, get to know your surroundings.

If you want to keep ticks away from your body, it’s helpful to know where they like to hang out. Grassy, brushy, and wooded areas are tick minefields—so if you love to go hiking, trail running, biking, camping, spend lots of time in your garden, or take your dog on a daily walk through the park, there’s a good chance you could be exposed to ticks. Be wary of wood piles, leaf litter, rock walls, and beach grass, too.

Does that mean you should completely avoid these areas? Not necessarily—but it does mean you should take extra precautions if you’re going to spend your day in this type of environment. Which leads us to our next point…

Choose the best tick repellent and use it the right way.

You may have heard that natural solutions, like using essential oils for ticks, are effective—but that simply won’t cut it. When it comes to repellents that truly keep ticks away, there are six active ingredients recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that you can look for, according to the CDC:

• DEET
• IR3535
• Picaridin
• Oil of lemon eucalyptus
• Para-menthane-diol (PMD)
• 2-undecanone

“Tick-repellent chemicals are not well understood, but they are thought to disrupt tick host-seeking behavior,” explains Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, an entomologist at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “Ticks have a sensory organ on their forelegs that detects odors, CO2, and heat. Repellents are thought to interfere with that sensory organ.”

Choose a tick repellent that contains at least 20% (up to but no higher than 30%) of these active ingredients, since repellents containing 10% or less may only protect you for a couple of hours. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that repellents used on children should contain no more than 30% DEET specifically. If you prefer to use a more “natural” product, repellents containing oil of lemon eucalyptus are your best choice.

Before you purchase a repellent, make sure it is approved by the EPA, which you can search for here.

The best way to use your tick repellent? Follow the instructions on the label and apply your repellent to the skin only when the label says to do so, says Gangloff-Kaufmann. (You’ll find that most tell you to apply it to your clothing, unless you have exposed skin.) Avoid spraying directly onto your face, near your eyes, or over cuts or irritated skin.

Protect your clothing and gear with permethrin.

Another way to tick-proof your body (and surroundings) is to treat your clothing and gear with permethrin, a type of insecticide. In one study from the CDC, researchers exposed various permethrin-treated clothing samples to types of ticks, including blacklegged ticks (or deer ticks), which carry the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. The researchers found that young ticks died in less than a minute after coming in contact with the material—and those that didn’t weren’t able to move properly.

“The use of permethrin-based sprays is intended to knock ticks down and kill them, not solely as a repellent,” says Gangloff-Kaufmann.

Your best bet? Buy a permethrin-based solution and treat your hats, shoes, jackets, and camping gear up to 48 hours before you need tick protection, says the CDC. Permethrin should never be applied to your skin.

Or wear head-to-toe tick-repellent clothing.

If treating what you wear seems too big of an undertaking, you can invest in pre-treated clothing. Insect Shield is a brand that bonds permethrin to the fibers of its garments, making them machine washable and fully protective for 70 washes. The clothes are odorless, tested, and proven to work. The brand is also registered with the EPA.

You can also opt to send the brand your own clothing to be treated, but they warn that the process will cause shrinkage.

Then, embrace the full-body check.

You’re not completely in the clear once you make your way back inside. If a tick does end up on your clothing or body, getting rid of it ASAP will minimize your chances of catching a tick-borne disease.

Your next move, then, is to fully examine your body for ticks that may have hitch-hiked their way into your home. After you check your clothing for ticks, throw them in the dryer on high heat for at least 10 minutes (or a bit longer if your clothes are damp), suggests the CDC. This will ensure any stragglers are killed.

Then, hop into the shower to wash away ticks that aren’t already attached to your skin. Be sure to check under your arms, around your ears, inside your belly button, behind your knees, between your legs, and in your hair. Your pets are at risk, too, so carefully check them for ticks daily.

If you happen to find one attached to your skin, here is the right way to remove a tick.

Experts recommend first looking for ingredients recommended by the EPA for bug repellents—those are listed above. From there, you can choose the one that best fits your needs.

“The most effective tick repellents contain DEET and that is what I recommend,” says Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. But, he points out, DEET isn’t for everyone. “If someone’s skin gets irritated with DEET, they can try lower DEET concentrations or some alternatives,” he says.

Thomas Russo, M.D., professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York, also recommends DEET and picaridin. “There’s the most data with those,” he says. Dr. Russo also suggests looking for formulations that are made up of 20% to 30% of these ingredients for everyday use. “You definitely don’t want less or more than that,” he says. “This will give you about eight hours of protection.”

Whatever you choose, Dr. Russo stresses the importance of wearing repellent when you venture into areas where ticks live. “This is increasingly important,” he says. “Tick ranges are expanding and the diseases they can spread are significant. People really need to protect themselves.”

To choose the best tick repellents, we consulted with top infectious disease experts Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, an entomologist at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Thomas Russo, M.D., professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York, for what they look for in a spray. We then analyzed best-sellers for features like effective ingredients, ease of use, and value to pick the best of the best.

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