Best Essential Oils for Bug Bites

As the weather gets nicer, more and more people are starting to spend time outside, and bug bites can become a big problem during the warmer months. Most often, bites from numerous types of bugs happen before you realize the bug was even on your body. By then, it’s too late to prevent the bug from attacking, and the bites appear as inflamed, itchy circles on the skin.

Certain bug bites are even threatening your health, and you must receive treatment from a medical professional. But fortunately, many common bug bites can be remedied on your own with essential oils. In addition, the ingredients found in these oils offer a solution to the symptoms of bug bites, as they are often successfully used to treat inflamed skin.

Keep reading to learn more about how you can treat your irritating bug bites with essential oils and learn more about the best essential oils for bug bites.

What are Bug Bites?

Bug bites can simply be described as inflammation or irritation of the skin where a bug has bitten you.

Although most bug bites cause a small, itchy bump to appear on the skin, others are not so mild. In addition, the symptoms associated with each bite can vary depending on what type of bug has feasted on your skin. Some bites can be treated easily and are no cause for concern. In contrast, others require immediate medical attention, so it’s very important to understand what level of care your bite warrants.

Dangers of Bug Bites

Bites from mosquitos, bed bugs, or fleas are usually not very serious unless you are allergic; however, other bites, such as those from ticks, spiders, or bees, can be more serious.

For example, ticks can carry Lyme disease, which is often characterized by a bull’s eye rash along with flu-like symptoms. The rash typically occurs 24 hours after the tick has been attached to the skin and requires medical attention and an antibiotic to cure symptoms and get rid of the virus. As a precaution, many doctors will prescribe an antibiotic for Lyme disease if you’ve been bitten by a tick, even if you aren’t exhibiting symptoms.

In addition to Lyme disease, many spider bites can also be serious, and those from venomous spiders like the black widow or brown recluse require immediate emergency care.

Bug Bites Remedies

Lavender Oil

Lavender essential oil is one of the best essential oils for bug bites. It is known to be very calming, which makes it excellent at reducing the stinging feeling many bug bites cause.

Basil Oil

Basil oil has many antibacterial properties. This allows it to help treat bug bites while also working to prevent bacteria from entering the wound or spreading throughout the body. This essential oil is also known to have natural ingredients that speed up the healing process for the skin around the wound and deter bugs from biting again.

Tea Tree Oil

Tea tree oil also has many healing benefits, including ingredients that help with inflammation and itching. And it contains many ingredients that can help control bacteria and heal the wound from the bite. In addition, this oil can be applied directly to the skin and may help with itchiness, swelling, and stopping bacteria from spreading.

Peppermint Oil

Peppermint oil is known to help with itchiness, which in turn helps reduce inflammation and the time it takes for a bug bite to heal. It also has many cooling properties, which can help soothe an itchy or inflamed bite wound. Its aroma may also be helpful in deterring bugs to ensure they don’t bite again.

Lemongrass Oil

Lemongrass oil has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory ingredients. This helps reduce the risk of developing an infection from a bug bite and stops bacteria from spreading.

Essential Oils for Mosquito Bites

Tea tree oil is one of the best essential oils for mosquito bites. Mosquitoes are insects that come out once it becomes dark outside or in the early morning. They have long and thin bodies and are best known for sucking blood from animals and people. Their bites leave behind a small bump that swells up and can be extremely itchy. Many people who spend a lot of time outdoors in the summer can expect to be bitten by mosquitos frequently. Once bitten by a mosquito, the itching can become unbearable, and many people have different ideas about the best remedy.

There are numerous other home remedies, but tea tree oil has proven to be one of the most effective essential oils for mosquito bites. It has many antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties that help reduce the itching feeling on your skin. Tea tree oil can also kill certain bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus. And its antibacterial properties help keep the area around the bite clean and ensure no infections develop. Many people have stated that their mosquito bite symptoms have been reduced after using tea tree oil, proving that it is a very effective method for managing symptoms and speeding up the healing process.

Essential Oils for Spider Bites

Spiders scare many people when they’re just minding their own business, but once they bite, they become even scarier. When a spider bites you, it is injecting venom into your body. This causes itching, pain, and redness around the bite and may need emergency care as soon as possible. But while some bites are very serious, including that of a black widow spider, many can simply be treated in your own home. Tea tree and lavender oil are the best essential oils for spider bites if you are planning to treat them yourself. Lavender oil has many ingredients that help reduce the pain of a spider bite.

According to one medical study, patients in an intensive care unit who received a massage with this oil reported that their pain was less severe. It has also been proven effective in relieving pain from and healing canker sores. Tea tree oil is also known to be one of the most effective essential oils to treat spider bites.

If you apply tea tree oil to the affected area, you have a good chance of reducing the risk of infection and helping to ensure the spider bite is less itchy.

Essential Oils for Fire Ants Bites

Fire ants usually reside in more tropical regions, but they also inhabit parts of North America. Fire ant bites are usually incredibly painful. People bitten by these insects will experience red bumps all over the skin. The bites are usually painful and itchy, and after a few days, they may even become pus-filled. Due to the pain fire ant bites inflict, people are often curious about finding some relief.

Thankfully, several essential oils, including lavender, peppermint, and tea tree oil, are helpful when treating the bites at home. Lavender oil, with its anti-inflammatory properties, reduces pain and stinging. Tea tree oil will help reduce the risk of infection as the bites begin to heal, and it can also help relieve itching. And peppermint oil can help with itching. One study was done on pregnant women who were diagnosed with a skin condition that makes the skin very itchy; when peppermint oil was applied topically, the symptom was reduced drastically.

Essential Oils for Tick Bites

In recent years, ticks have started to become a pest, of which many people who live in heavily forested areas are afraid. Although they are tiny insects, they feast on human and animal blood, and some are known to carry Lyme disease. It’s pretty easy to tell if a tick has bitten you because it will remain attached to your skin.

The tick may eventually fall off after several days, but you should notice it’s there before this happens. Once a tick is removed from the skin, some redness and swelling can occur where it was embedded. This redness can be eliminated with the use of essential oils, and the most effective ones, in this case, are lemongrass and tea tree. Tea tree oil is beneficial due to its antibacterial properties. Because ticks can carry harmful viruses and diseases, this helps combat those.

Although this oil cannot help cure some of the diseases ticks carry, it can be used to clean out the wound very thoroughly to prevent infection. Lemongrass oil can also help disinfect a tick bite and ensure it stays clean. Some studies have even found that lemongrass oil can effectively kill Acinetobacter baumannii bacteria.

Essential Oils for Bed Bugs Bites

Bed bugs can also be a creepy phenomenon. Like ticks, these bugs are tiny and not immediately noticeable. They hide in people’s beds and emerge at night to suck on blood. Bites from these bugs aren’t usually noticeable right away, and it may take several days for the bite to appear. At that time, it may be itchy and red. One remedy that has been effective in the treatment of bed bug bites is applying lemongrass and tea tree oil to the site of the bite.

In this case, it’s helpful to use each of these oils instead of one or the other because their benefits work best when they are used together. For example, tea tree oil will help with inflammation and itchiness. On the other hand, Lemongrass oil helps keep your skin clean and ensures that bacteria do not spread. In addition, these essential oils will help relieve pain and speed up the healing process significantly when combined.

Essential Oils for Bee Stings

Bee stings are another scary bug bite, especially if you are allergic. Bees usually busy themselves by collecting pollen from flowers in the warmer months, and they generally don’t sting unless they are provoked. Unlike some of the other bugs that bite or feed on human blood, bees only tend to sting people when they are scared. A sting from a bee can be quite painful and will leave a red, itchy bump, in addition to a stinging feeling in the area that was stung.

Although some people who have a severe bee allergy will need to seek medical help, a sting is often treated easily at home. Basil essential oil is one of the best options to help ease the symptoms of a bee sting. It has numerous antibacterial ingredients that fight off harmful microorganisms, including Penicillium chrysogenum, Aspergillus fumigatus, Staphylococcus aureus, Aspergillus niger, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Enterococcus faecalis.

In addition, using the oil topically can help reduce infection in the bite area. In conjunction with basil oil, tea tree and lavender oil can help ease the discomfort of a bee sting.

Conclusion

Insects are scary to many people in general, but when they start to bite, this makes things even worse. While you cannot avoid bug bites, it’s helpful to understand which bugs to watch out for, and how to manage effectively the symptoms of each type of bug bite. Thankfully, there are many natural remedies and numerous essential oils that are very helpful when it comes to easing the pain, itchiness, and inflammation associated with bug bites. These oils are all-natural remedies that have been proven effective in treating bug bites.

Remember that if you’ve been bitten by a brown recluse or black widow spider, you need to seek immediate medical attention, as these bites cannot be remedied with essential oils.

Additionally, suppose you develop an allergic reaction to any bites or have a known bee allergy. In that case, it’s essential to consult with a doctor as soon as possible or seek medical attention if your symptoms are severe.