dailynewsnblog
When summer arrives, you probably have nothing but vacation, beach days, travel and barbecues on your mind. The last thing you’re worrying about is remembering to check yourself for ticks. While it’s not a fun task, preventing tick bites is important, particularly when it comes to avoiding conditions like lyme disease.
With this in mind, I spoke with entomology experts for their advice on how to find the best tick prevention products — including socks, hats, and tick repellent sprays — and the best methods for preventing tick bites.
Want more from NBC Selected? Sign up for our newsletter, The Selection, and shop smarter.
The best tick prevention products
All of the products below are either direct recommendations from experts or NBC Selected staff, and/or highly rated on Amazon or another retailer.
Best tick preventive socks
These socks from Insect Shield are EPA-registered and treated with permethrin, the active ingredient in tick repellent. In addition to ticks, they help repel mosquitoes, ants and flies, according to the brand. They’re made from a mix of bamboo viscose, polyester, spandex and rubber so that they’re durable yet soft. They’re great for wearing with any shoe, but particularly hiking boots, since they come up above the ankles. Plus, their protection lasts for up to 70 washes, according to the brand.
They have a 4.8-star average rating from 340 shoppers at Insect Shield, and shoppers mention that they’re both effective and comfortable to wear.
Best tick preventive body spray
This tick and insect spray has DEET as its main active ingredient, which is another effective defense against ticks, according to Eva Buckner, associate professor and extension specialist at the University of Florida’s Medical Entomology Laboratory. Ingredients like DEET help avoid tick bites and related illnesses like Rocky Mountain spotted fever (a bacterial disease that causes a rash) and lyme disease.
While products with permethrin are meant for application on things like clothes, tents and shoes, DEET-based products like this can be applied directly to the skin, including the face and hands. This spray provides up to 10 hours of protection, and people who bought the spray love that it prevents bites without having an off-putting smell.
Best tick preventive clothing and gear spray
While you can spray DEET- and picaridin-based products directly onto your body, such as ones from brands like Off! and Murphy’s, this spray is meant to be applied to your clothing, shoes, tents and chairs and other outdoor equipment that may come in contact with ticks. One application lasts up to six weeks and six washes, according to the brand. It’s worth noting that many people who love how well it works did say that it has a chemical smell during application, though that goes away after it dries.
Best tick preventive accessory
This hat from Insect Shield is treated with permethrin, helping it repel ticks that could climb up to your face and scalp after getting on your other clothing. It has an adjustable strap that helps you keep it in place on windy days or during physical activity, and the top of the hat has mesh on the sides, allowing for air to circulate through it. Additionally, it has UPF 50+, so it helps protect against sun damage in addition to repelling ticks. Shoppers say that it’s comfortable and that they appreciated the ventilated mesh.
Best tick preventive aerosol spray
Another DEET-based option, this aerosol spray from Off! helps repel ticks, as well as biting flies, mosquitoes and no-see-ums, according to the brand. While shoppers who spend a lot of time outdoors say it has a usual “bug spray” smell, they also say that it works well. It doesn’t have a greasy feel to it and you can spray it directly on your skin. Plus, it sprays easily with the bottle pointed upside down, which is a huge bonus when you need to apply it to your back and back side of your limbs.
Best tick preventive socks for kids
Similar to the socks from Insect Shield, these socks are treated with permethrin to help repel ticks, and they’re available in a few fun designs, like pretzels and doughnuts, making them great for kids. They’re available in packs of four and sizes small, medium, large and extra large. Plus, they’re made from a mix of bamboo, polyester, nylon and spandex, so they have a very light feel, according to the brand. You can also wash them the same as regular laundry.
How I picked the best tick preventive products
Below is some of the information and advice our experts recommended I keep in mind when rounding up the list of products above.
Ingredients: The most important aspect in tick prevention products is making sure they are treated with the active ingredient permethrin, according to Daniel Markowski, the technical advisor at Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California.
“Of course [permethrin] isn’t so much of a repellent as it is an insecticide,” he says. “For that reason, it is meant to be applied to clothing only.”
Permethrin is a synthetic insecticide approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that is used to repel various types of biting and flying insects, including ticks. It’s especially for clothing and equipment, and not for direct contact on skin. Markowski recommends making sure your clothing and accessories are treated with permethrin, which is highly effective for warding off ticks. “Permethrin will not only repel them, but if your pants or shoes are properly treated, they may even kill them before they attach,” he says.
Another important ingredient to make sure products have is DEET (diethyl-meta-toluamide), which is an EPA-approved active ingredient commonly used in regular direct-to-skin insect repellents for things like mosquitoes, according to Markowski. “It is the gold standard, if you will, for repellents because it’s highly effective in most situations,” he says. Markowski recommends testing a small area of a DEET insect repellent first to check for and avoid allergic reactions.
There are many insect repellents that are DEET-free and also list ticks as one of the many insects that it repels, but Markowski notes that tick preventives outside of permethrin and DEET products can be ineffective, even if they say they guard against ticks. “Some repellents just aren’t strong enough to make them drop off before crawling around a bit until [they] find an area that they like,” he says.
Additionally, products with ingredients like picaridin, a type of synthetic pesticide that’s sometimes used as an alternative to DEET-based repellents, and oil of lemon eucalyptus are effective at repelling ticks. Unlike permethrin, picaridin and DEET products are meant to be applied directly to the skin.
How to shop for tick preventives
Buy one repellent for clothing/gear and one for skin
As mentioned above, the most important thing to remember to avoid ticks is to make sure you’re using products with DEET or picaridin for your skin, and clothing or gear treated with permethrin. You can also buy permethrin spray and apply it yourself to clothing, shoes, tents, and other outdoor supplies. I included all of these options above.
How do you avoid tick bites?
The best way to avoid getting bitten by ticks is simply to avoid areas where they are known to inhabit, according to Markowski and Buckner. In other words, don’t walk around super grassy and heavily wooded areas with tall grass or heavy piles of fallen leaves, known as leaf litter.
You should “remove the tall grass and other harborage areas that ticks like to rest and quest in,” Markowski says. You can also use things like wood chips to create a border around your home to block off wooded areas and create a visible tick-free zone.
Additionally, it’s important to make sure you’re wearing clothing items pre-treated with permethrin, such as the socks mentioned above, or treat them yourself with a spray, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This applies to clothing and equipment like backpacks, chairs and tents.
Frequently asked questions
No, you shouldn’t use tick repellents meant for humans, clothing or gear on pets. Instead, you use tick preventive products and medicine meant particularly for cats or dogs and/or ones prescribed by a veterinarian.
Meet our tick prevention experts
At NBC Selected, we work with experts who have specialized knowledge and authority based on relevant training and/or experience. We also take steps to ensure all expert advice and recommendations are made independently and without undisclosed financial conflicts of interest.
- Eva Buckner is an associate professor and extension specialist at the University of Florida’s Medical Entomology Laboratory.
- Daniel Markowski is the technical advisor at Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California, a non-profit organization that supports vector control agencies.
Why trust NBC Selected?
I’m a commerce editor at NBC Selected, where I write kitchen, home and lifestyle content. I’ve written about how to get rid of fruit flies, moths and mold. For this story, I spoke to two entomology experts for their guidance on finding the best products for repelling ticks and preventing tick bites.
Catch up on NBC Selected’s in-depth coverage of tech and tools, wellness and more, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok to stay up to date.
