“Specialty Soap to Keep Mosquitoes Away: Myth or Fact?”

One of the most common remedies against mosquitoes is using soap. The idea is that the annoying insects can’t smell your body odor. New research shows once and for all whether this trick is a myth or really works.

Mosquitoes search for their victims by smell. That is why many people think that a good soap can help against annoying mosquito bites. Researchers from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University found out that soap in most cases is counterproductive. But one type of soap works very well.

Mosquitoes rely on body odor

That mosquitoes rely on smell is nothing new. American scientists have spent three years researching the influence of odors on the behavior of mosquitoes. The results showed that ‘mosquito magnets’ do indeed exist. These are people who have a greater chance of being bitten by a mosquito.

People who are at high risk of getting stung usually have high levels of carboxylic acid. Because this has everything to do with your body odor, there is very little you can do about it. After all, your body odor is formed by natural bacteria.

But now, according to research from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, you may be able to purchase a specialty soap.

This soap ensures fewer mosquito bites

The scientists got the test subjects to wash themselves with different types of soap. But unfortunately, most of them were still harassed by mosquitoes. The researchers discovered that the insects especially like sweet soap.

When mosquitoes don’t have blood to suck up, they feed on the sweet sugars in the nectar of flowers. The soap makes people smell the same as those flowers to the mosquito.

Clément Vinauger, head of the research, says: “By using sweet-scented soap, our body smells like a person and flowers at the same time. The mosquitoes love that. It’s like suddenly smelling coffee and muffins when you feel like it.”

Strangely enough, soap, which consists of coconut oil, actually keeps mosquitoes out. Mosquitoes hate the smell of coconut. If you are a mosquito magnet, make sure you have plenty of soap with coconut oil at home!

Special place on earth seems to age brains less quickly