Does Avon's Skin So Soft Bath Oil Work As a Bug Spray?
Think twice before using this product as an insect repellent
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On sites like TripAdvisor and Reddit and in many online reviews, people often tout the Avon Skin So Soft Original Bath Oil as an effective alternative to traditional bug sprays.
Meanwhile, Avon itself emphasizes that the bath oil isn’t designed as an insect repellent, and the company makes no claims that it works as one. So, should you trust the bath oil’s decadeslong reputation as an easy way to avoid mosquito bites?
Consumer Reports has tested Avon Skin So Soft Original Bath Oil a few times over the years, and we’ve also tested one of Avon’s actual insect repellent products, Avon Skin So Soft Bug Guard Plus Picaridin. We’ve evaluated both using our rigorous test methods, in which we apply a standard dose of the product in question to volunteers’ arms and have them place their arms inside a cage filled with (disease-free) mosquitoes. Then testers watch to see how long it takes for mosquitoes to start biting. Here’s what we found.
Avon Bath Oil: Not a Good Insect-Repellent Choice
The Skin So Soft Original Bath Oil didn’t perform well as an insect repellent when we last tested it several years ago.
Avon Bug Guard: A Middle-of-the-Pack Performer
Avon’s Skin So Soft Bug Guard Plus Picaridin, a dedicated insect repellent spray, performed reasonably well against ticks and mosquitoes; it is in the middle of the pack of the 53 repellent products we tested. The wipe version, Skin So Soft Bug Guard Plus Picaridin towelettes, was less effective in protecting against bugs and landed at the bottom of our ratings.
The products’ active ingredient, picaridin, is a synthetic repellent modeled after a compound that occurs naturally in the black pepper plant. The concentration in the Avon repellents is 10 percent. In most of our recommended products containing picaridin, however, the concentration is 20 percent.
Avon pointed out that its insect-repellent products are deet-free. We think that up to a 30 percent concentration of deet is safe, when used properly, and the majority of our recommended repellents (though not all) contain deet.
Another Avon product, Skin So Soft Plus IR3535 Expedition, combines an insect repellent with a sunscreen. We didn’t include that product in our repellent or sunscreen tests because we think combination products are a bad idea (and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agrees). Sunscreens should be applied liberally and often; the same isn’t true for bug sprays, so the combination could lead to unnecessarily high doses of insect repellent.
The Bottom Line: There Are Better Ways to Avoid Bug Bites
Our tests show that Avon is right: The Skin So Soft Bath Oil is not meant to repel ticks or mosquitoes. It might work for “skin moisturizing” and “dryness reducing” as the company advertises, but it’s not a good bet when it comes to avoiding bug bites.
Avon’s insect repellent product, the Skin So Soft Bug Guard Plus Picaridin, provides reasonable protection, but there are a number of other products that are more effective. Even if you’d prefer not to use deet, several options containing picaridin or the plant-derived ingredient oil of lemon eucalyptus scored well in our tests.
Here are several of our top-rated bug repellents, including one formulated with picaridin and one with oil of lemon eucalyptus.
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