Lavender is a flower that has appeared in Europe since ancient Rome and was used more widely in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They are decorative flowers in the home and highly effective when it comes to improving mental health, reducing stress and fatigue.
Besides, the lavender essential oil can be added to candles to repel bed bugs, making the room more fragrant.
However, not everyone knows why they use and use lavender candles.
The following article will help you learn more information and have a more specific look at this product.
Why Do Bed Bugs Hate Lavender?
Bed bugs are tiny insects that live near humans. They don’t like floral oils, including lavender, because the flowers are toxic.
Because lavender contains linalool, which creates the seductive scent of the plant, the effect of this substance helps you repel insects such as mosquitoes, flies, bugs, bedbugs. Besides, you can find linalool in other plants like basil, mint, thyme, oregano.
Moreover, the lavender essential oil is not harmful to domestic pets such as dogs, cats, so many women trust them to use them in their homes. They use lavender essential oil for bathing, relaxing, sauna, and repelling harmful insects.
How To Use Lavender Candles For Bed Bugs?
Lavender candles have long been a stress reliever, especially among women. Not only because of this use, but lavender candles also show the owner’s gentleness, femininity, and romance.
When burning candles, the scent of lavender will spread throughout the space in the house and make you more comfortable. However, they are only less effective at repelling bed bugs from the room. Therefore, you should light candles in a narrow space near the bedbug’s nest, close the door and step out of the room if you want to evict them immediately.
However, if the above problem is not too significant, the faint candle scent will still help you drive away, but not completely.
You should not use essential oils if you or a loved one has a history of critical oil allergies. The activity of burning candles will cause more severe problems that make breathing difficult and skin allergies, rashes. However, the amount of lavender concentrate in the candle is meager and is very unlikely to cause you an allergic reaction.
Can I Make My Own Lavender Candle?
You can ultimately make a lavender candle yourself with the following simple ingredients and processes:
Material:
- Lavender oil
- Candle wax
- Candle wicks
- Product Tray
- Color (optional)
Steps to take
Step 1: Melt the wax
It would help if you bought wax from a candle shop as they will provide the best quality wax and a wide range of ingredients. Waxes can be animal or vegetable waxes, but you need to meet them and stir them well.
Step 2: Add essential oil
Add about 10-20 drops of lavender essential oil to the wax solution and keep stirring. If you want the candles to have a variety of colors, you can add the prepared color.
Step 3: Prepare the wick
You need to align the wick in the center of the candle tray to help the finished product look beautiful, and the candle burns more evenly.
Step 4: Finished product
At this final step, gently pour the wax into the tray and wait until it cools. Thus, you have an easy lavender candle with special effects.
Other Ways To Use Lavender Against Bed Bugs
In addition to using lavender for candles, you can refer to other ways to prevent the attack of bed bugs.
Real Lavender
Fresh lavender may work for aphids, but it won’t be as effective as essential oils. Moreover, the bugs will move away from the flower you put in your house. Instead, they go in the other direction to reach their target and continue to attack, foraging and parasitizing.
Sometimes flowers cause pollen allergies in your family members or pets. These animals have a habit of approaching and eating strange things that fall on the ground. This activity will cause them to have allergies, digestive and respiratory diseases.
Many consumers and experts advise using a spray bottle. Essential oils can reach the smallest corners of the house and have removed unnecessary substances. Because they undergo a sophisticated distillation process to retain the most characteristic scent.
Pros
- No processing required, simple to use: No distillation process.
- Easy to find: You can ultimately grow your lavender from seeds and harvest when the flowers have bloomed.
- Low price
Cons
- Poor effect: Least practical of all lavender uses
- May cause pollen allergies to humans and animals.
Essential oils
Essential oils are liquids that have been distilled or cold-pressed and are volatile under normal conditions. For lavender, the manufacturer uses distillation to get the essential oil.
The lavender essential oil has many uses for human health, such as limiting oxidation, improving mental and psychological health. So, it is easier to sleep because crucial oils contain glutathione, catalase, and SOD antioxidants and limit stress in people who work a lot.
At the same time, if you use lavender essential oil every evening, you will be more relaxed after a tiring day of work and quickly fall asleep. You can use an essential oil diffuser, a spray bottle directly on your clothes, body, items, or even a bathtub to make the most of it.
Another great use of lavender essential oil and helps repel insects. You should mix water with essential oils to be more effective and cost-effective.
Because the oil is hydrophobic and insoluble in water, you need to shake it well before spraying. At the same time, it is also easy to clog the spray bottle, so you need to be careful in killing insects with essential oils. Alternatively, you can also use a dispersant, the most common dish soap, which helps the water and fat mix better in a liquid medium. Another substance, ammonia, has a similar effect. However, its odor is not pleasant because of its spicy and slightly pungent smell.
Then, spray the mixture on the furniture and bedsheets to avoid bed bugs. At the same time, consider when your family has people allergic to pollen, flower essential oils.
Pros
- Easy to find and buy: Currently, many stores distribute lavender essential oil products
- Better effect: The product is better than other states when it comes to repelling bed bugs
- Dilutable: You dilute essential oils with water and a dispersant, then easily spray on the object to be repelled.
Cons
- Higher price
- Easy to make marks on fabric
Powder
Making lavender powder is not something many people can do. However, you should buy them on the internet or e-commerce site. Flower powder is relatively cheap and can be in bulk, and there are many stores to choose from.
Some people mistakenly believe that using lavender powder will kill bed bugs. However, powder only helps you repel and repel bed bugs from the area you sprinkle the powder on.
Besides, the lavender powder is currently a remedy that few people use because there is little research to prove its use to surpass other states of flowers.
A good point of this flower powder is its good waterproofing ability and does not leave marks on blankets and bedsheets like spray-on essential oils. Therefore, you can try them as a solution to prevent bed bugs.
Pros
- Low price
- Buy in bulk on e-commerce site
- Does not cause stains on fabrics
Cons
- There are no studies to prove its use
- Temporary restriction: Only repels, does not kill bugs
Lavender Dryer Sheets
In his book Natural Solutions to Things That Bug You, Lavender Dryer Sheets is a method that Dr. Myles Bader suggested.
You can use small sheets of paper placed in closets, pockets, or the bed or in the dryer to help clothes and pillows smell better. It is an idea that Dr. Myles Bader popped up. However, it wasn’t too effective against bedbugs.
Because, aphids will stay away from places with Dryer Sheets and move in the same direction as for fresh lavender. If you want to eliminate bed bugs with this method, you need to cover the whole house with paper. That is utterly impossible because you have to spend too much time and money.
Therefore, the dry lavender paper has the best benefit of helping clothes smell good throughout the day and limiting the smell of moisture when it rains. Also, they won’t be as helpful with all appliances in your home when repelling bed bugs.
Pros
- Compact, easy to use: The size of a small piece of paper can fit in a pocket
- Good odor retention: You can use them on clothes or shoes
Cons
- Can’t cover the whole house: So bed bugs stay away and still exist in your home.
What Essential Oil Do Bugs Hate?
By far, essential oils are one of the safest and most effective insect repellents because inside plants and flowers contain substances that make aphids, flies, and mosquitoes uncomfortable and away.
If you’re looking for essential oils that are easy to find and use, we have some recommendations for you.
- Lemongrass essential oil: In countries worldwide, lemongrass is a reasonably popular insect repellent due to its convenience and ease of use. In the past, people directly burned lemongrass leaves to create the smell, but with the development of modern machines, lemongrass essential oil has gradually been replaced. It has a characteristic strong scent that repels mosquitoes very well.
- Tea Tree Oil: Tea tree oil can help you limit many bacteria and can be used to remove acne in cosmetics. At the same time, you can ultimately use them as a measure to get rid of bed bugs on your devices. Essential oils not only help repel but can also affect the outer layer of insects.
You should have a bottle of tea tree oil at home to help soften the air naturally and help keep bed bugs away.
- Powdered Pepper: Pepper in general and its powder can help keep bed bugs away. It is also the spice that most families use in their dishes to enhance the taste. Moreover, buying pepper is also simple and easy at stores and supermarkets.
- Mint: Mint is one of the plants many people love because of its unique scent, which creates a refreshing, relaxed feeling in the summer. The mint flavor is also a smell that bed bugs and other insects do not like.
Alternatively, you can consider using mint as an effective home cleaner and deodorizer.
- Lavender: A plant that is easy to grow and has a strong scent that helps users always smell good, repels bugs and aphids. Moreover, your sleep will be better when you keep this flower essential oil in the house.
FAQs
Do bed bugs hate lights?
Bed bugs are insects that spend many lives hiding and will hunt at night or in the dark.
However, this schedule does not entirely take place simultaneously for the species’ life. Bed bugs live in colonies and will go foraging even during the day if hungry or the host rests.
Hosts are places near humans or live animals such as dogs, cats, and pets. In particular, the bed and nest of animals will often be the most commonplace for insects to live and can even parasitize furniture when you move to another place.
It will be difficult for you to know if you have bed bugs around you until an allergic reaction occurs because sometimes insects do not significantly impact humans.
What insects does lavender repel?
The Romans and Europeans used lavender as a particular perfume to keep people smelling good. The unique benefit of lavender is also becoming a spice to help make cakes, jams, and teas.
Not only that, but purple flowers also help limit harmful insects to humans and animals. They help repel moths, scorpions, fleas, and flies, including bed bugs. You can use lavender in many different forms to make the living environment cleaner and safer.
Conclusion
The article has provided information about lavender candles, their effects in repelling insects, especially aphids. We hope you can make the right choice for your room.
Candles are decorative objects and help your space become more cozy, romantic, and relaxing. The scent of lavender is good therapy for mental health after a long day at work.
If you are looking for an excellent product for family members, you should choose lavender candles because of the benefits that it brings.