Being a child playing all day outside can be a feast for these crawly creatures. Right now both my girls have big blackfly bites on their scalps, where it is hard to apply insect repellents.

Over the years, I’ve tried many natural bug repellents, some combination SPF and insect repellents. Most of them have relatively good safety ratings of 3 or under on the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database. This is a good place to check out to see if your favorite brand has troublesome chemicals, or is one of the safer products.

Here are a few of my favorites:

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