Driving me buggy!

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Mosquitoes, flies, gnats - all of them drive me buggy. The only product that seems to work for several hours of gardening is Deep Woods Off.

In my search for an alternative, I tried a new product that is DEET free called BugBand DEET free insect repellent. The band is infused with the repellent and you wear it on your ankle or wrist.

The BugBand is supposed to protect against mosquitoes, ticks and other insects and our yard would put any product to the test. I wore the bug band on my ankle and worked out in the shade beds on hands and knees cleaning out beds under trees.

The repellent is plant based (geranium oil), made in the U.S. and is safe for children and pets.

So here's my result - the days I wore the band and did usual gardening, the band worked pretty well. The day I wore it to work in the woods, I was not bitten on the leg that had the band but I was bitten on the other leg.

The next day I did not wear it at all and got 15 mosquito bites, indicating that the BugBand provided me with bug bite protection in spades. Probably for golfers, walkers and little ones, the protection would be plenty!

At the company's website, the Family Pack is $15 for 4 bands, with each band good for 120 hours of use. I would have to wear 4 of them when working in the woods but probably only 2 - one on each leg - for normal gardening.

Other online retailers have much better prices, if you are interested in trying them for your family.

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