How to Keep Gnats Away from Your Face (Easy Ways)

No one likes having insects gnawing at their faces wherever they go. Unfortunately, some insects—such as gnats—are persistent menaces that lead to itchy skin and, generally, a horrible indoor experience.

Your house is supposed to be your utmost comfort zone. But sometimes, these tiny insects know better to make your day worse by infesting your house. That’s why it’s not surprising when people are racing to know the best ways in making their house an insect-free zone.

To make it worse, gnats don’t only bring discomfort to your face and body, but they can also damage your houseplants and food. There might be some impermanent solutions such as covering every surface and wearing heavy clothes. But sooner or later it’ll only bring discomfort to your day-to-day experience.

Moreover, if you’re thinking of abundantly spraying commercial insect repellent, this method might become more harmful to you, your family, and your pets’ respiratory systems.

If you’re currently battling with persistent gnats on your face, body, or other areas in your house, here are some foolproof, natural ways to keep gnats away from your face.

How to Keep Gnats Away from Your Face

What are Gnats, exactly?

Gnats, midge, or flies are commonly described as a swarm of small, winged, non-biting insects. They are long-legged and more than often weak fliers, with a life expectancy of around four to five weeks—long enough to lay eggs and birth a range of baby gnats into the world.

There are various types of gnats, but the most commonly found ones are fungus gnats, black gnats, fruit flies, buffalo gnats, and sand flies. Generally, gnats do not cause major damage to your interior. But they can be troublesome if they bring diseases or pathogens from garbage disposals or other beings they’ve fed on.

Treating gnats isn’t as easy as it seems, because you have to find their breeding sites and eliminate them completely, or else they’ll continue to breed and cause a nuisance inside your home.

Why Gnats are Attracted to Your Face?

There are several things that attract gnats the most, namely fruity or sweet odors, heat, and moisture, as well as sources of water.

If you’re someone who constantly applies sweet-scented spray or lotion to your face and body, the smell might be the main attractor of gnats. Additionally, gnats also love to land on the highest point of one’s body. So this can be one of the main reasons why they keep swarming your face.

Moreover, gnats are also attracted to heat and moisture. Usually, you can find gnats swarming around the kitchen sink or wet garbage, but for people who easily perspire, gnats may try to zero in on the moist regions of your face such as the mouth, eyes, or nose.

With that being said, you might want to start checking on yourself. Have you been using excessive sweet-smelling lotion? Or have you been perspiring a lot lately? Those could be the reasons why the gnats keep coming.

How to Keep Gnats Away from Your Face?

Now that we’ve covered all the basics, let’s dive in and learn how to keep gnats away from your face, body, and your house.

1. Eliminate Gnats Breeding Source

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The key to having a gnats-free house is by completely eliminating the breeding source of gnats. Because no matter what you do, gnats won’t stop disturbing your house if you let them proliferate.

Find the places where gnats usually lay eggs, be it under the sink or in an unattended pool of water, and capture them using a DIY mixture of vinegar and dish soap. You can also use yellow sticky traps that you can easily purchase at home improvement stores. Make sure to put it around the places where gnats usually lay eggs.

2. Keep in and around your house clean

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As cliche as it sounds, gnats will be less likely to occupy your house if you keep it clean and fresh. Always clean up food or drinks to sit out, especially when they carry sweet smells. Moreover, always use a sealed trash can or trash bag before you throw them out to avoid gnats swarming around them.

3. Use vanilla-scented repellents

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It might be surprising, but apparently, gnats can’t handle the smell of vanilla. You can use vanilla-scented repellents on your skin or around your house to protect yourself and your home from swarming gnats.

You won’t need to purchase expensive vanilla scents in stores. Simply make it yourself by mixing vanilla extract and water, and dab or spray it on surfaces until the smell fully sinks in.

4. Wear essential oils

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For the longest time, essential oils have been used to repel different types of insects, including gnats. Another way to keep gnats away from your face is by wearing an essential oil smell near your body. While essential oil scents may smell pleasant to us, they can be terribly unpleasant for insects.

There is a wide variety of essential oil you can pick in the store. Generally, the smells that are potent to repel insects are eucalyptus, cedarwood, rosemary, or other strong-smelling herbs.

If you’re looking for a cheaper alternative, you can always DIY these repellents at home using natural herb oil and mixing them with water. Afterward, you can dab it like perfume or spray it around your house for extra protection from gnats.

5. Install netting in your house

Once you’re done keeping gnats away from your face using smells, close off any entrance where gnats may enter by installing netting inside your house. Usually, netting is applied to evade mosquitoes, but you can also use it for gnats’ problems.

Simply cut the net into the size of your door or window. And make sure to spray it with repellent before you fully install it. Now, your face and house are fully protected from gnats!

Conclusion

Generally, gnats aren’t dangerous to humans. But they can be pretty annoying to deal with, especially when they keep swarming around your face. Learn and apply these simple and affordable methods to secure your house from uncalled insect attacks. Don’t let those small bugs trouble your day by evading your personal space!

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