2B Insect Repellent

Award winning 2B Insect Repellent was researched and developed, and is produced, by a family business run by Paul Blackham and Sarah Jones out of Motueka in New Zealand’s fabulous South Island. We met up with Paul at the Nelson Market while holidaying there and were suitably impressed enough with their product to add it to our line-up.

Essentially Paul and Sarah share many of our lifestyle ideals and 2B is a result of their love of our great outdoors and a family member with food intolerances and other allergies. Their family and friends have thoroughly tested the effectiveness of 2B together with its safe useage. The following advice is based on their research and testing.

It is suitable for everyone?

Essential Oils are very powerful, and that is why they have so many great applications. It is also why they can be unsuitable for a few people and for very young children.

If you are pregnant or breastfeeding you may wish to avoid essential oils all together, or at least ensure you consult a trusted adviser before deciding what is best for you.

Most people with allergies have learnt to be excellent at self-management and know pretty quickly what works for them and what doesn’t.

Patch testing is an easy way to ensure that 2B is right for you

Other information about 2B

  • For external use only
  • Keep away from eyes
  • Keep out of reach of young children
  • Do not spray near flame
  • 2B is water-resistant (unless you rub it off hard with a towel!)

INGREDIENTS

  • Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus
  • Essential Oil of Lemongrass
  • Fractionated Coconut Oil
  • Vanilla Oil

Oil of lemon eucalyptus is the common name of one of the natural oils extracted from the leaves and twigs of the lemon-scented gum eucalyptus plant, Eucalyptus citriodora Hook. Oil of lemon eucalyptus has been used for many years in China as a product known as Quwenling (translated as “effective repellent of mosquitoes”).

Researchers in the U.S. began investigating this product in the early 1990s and identified the active ingredient as p-menthane-3,8-diol (PMD). PMD is registered with the EPA as a ‘biopesticide repellent’ meaning that it is derived from natural materials. Its products can be applied to human skin and clothing for the purpose of repelling insects, such as mosquitoes, biting flies and gnats, and is formulated as a spray and a lotion.

PMD has also shown remarkable ability to repel mosquitoes when compared to DEET. DEET is the most popular synthetic commercial insect repellent but it has been linked to serious adverse effects, especially in children. When used in the field on humans in Tanzania in tests against a 10% DEET repellent, PMD products were shown to prevent bites for 4 to 7 hours after application for aggressive species of mosquito and for greater than 12 hours for less aggressive mosquitoes – PMD repellents out-performed the studied DEET repellent.

Lemongrass essential oil is an effective insect repellent in its own right, aside from its many uses as an antifungal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and in the healing of connective tissue. In combination with Essential Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus you have a powerful and safe repellent.

 

Vanilla is an organic compound and the primary component of the extract of the vanilla bean. The world-wide demand for Vanilla far outstrips supply, and Vanilla is the second costliest spice, after Saffron. Its high cost is not due to rarity, but due to the intensive labour involved in processing the pods. We use an oil base form of Vanilla.

 

Fractionated coconut oil is thinner than the unrefined oil and so is readily absorbed by the skin and doesn’t leave a greasy feeling. It is also very useful as a carrier oil in aromatherapy products. In addition, it is practically odourless and tasteless and can withstand very high heat, so is ideal for use in cooking.

‘Fractionated’ means it contains the fraction of the coconut oil from which almost all the long chain triglycerides have been removed, leaving an absolutely saturated oil. This saturation gives it a very, very long shelf life and greatly increased stability. In addition, fractionating raises the comparative concentration of Capric acid and Caprylic acid, thus giving it more of antioxidant and disinfecting effect.