Lemongrass is an herb and is safe to use as an insect repellent.
Lemongrass works well as an insect repellent and it's safe because it doesn't contain toxic and harmful chemicals such as DEET, which is found in commercial insect repellents. Lemongrass is included on the Environmental Protection Agency's generally regarded as safe list. As more negatives crop up about the use of chemical compound insect repellents, people are choosing natural ingredients, such as lemongrass.
An Herb
Indigenous to India, lemongrass is an herb and it repels insects, including mosquitoes. It is also used in soaps, dyes, perfumes and cosmetics. It is an excellent deodorizer because it is highly fragrant. The oil from lemongrass is the part of the plant that is particularly useful as a repellent of insects. The oil contains citral, which one of the main ingredients in a citronella candle. The oil is extracted from dehydrated lemongrass leaves. The oil is citrus smelling, fresh and sweet. The oil is amber or deep yellow in water.
Growing Lemongrass
The scientific name for lemongrass is Cymbopogon flexuous or cymbopogon citratus. It is also referred to as silky heads, barbed wire grass and fever grass. If you want to grow lemongrass, it needs to be grown in moist soil and in full sun. You can propagate it by dividing the clumps of roots into sections. After picking the lemongrass you can freeze it or dry it, but you must rehydrate it before you use it. The plant can grow up to 8 feet tall. The flowers on the lemongrass plant are cream, white or green, and the foliage is gold or blue-green.
Apply It
You can rub the lemongrass leaves on your skin, but rubbing the stalk against your skin works even better, according to Journeytoforever.org. Grab a stalk of lemongrass, tug it
out of the ground, peel off the outer leaves and snap off the grass blades that are situated behind the swollen stem at the base of the plant. Bend the stem between your fingers and rub it between the palms of your hand. This breaks the stalk into a fibrous mass of juice, which can rub on your skin.
Tips
If you store lemongrass, keep it away from spices and foods because it will absorb their scents. Avoid using lemongrass when you are pregnant because citral and myrcene in high doses have caused birth defects in rats.
Tags: your skin, insect repellent, insect repellents, lemongrass leaves