Chiggers love me. I don’t love them, though. When my now ex-husband and I were married, we would go on outdoor expeditions and trek the same paths. I would come home loaded with chigger bites, and he would have none. There’s just something about me that attracts them.
When I was in my teens and my twenties, I tried the trick of painting clear nail polish over the chigger bites. Supposedly the polish will suffocate the chiggers, causing them to die and relieving the itching. In reality, it didn’t relieve the itching. Instead, it caused skin irritation and more itching. It felt like an effort in futility yet for some reason I kept doing it anyway.
By the time I reached my thirties, I was aware of how toxic nail polish was, plus I’d finally come to my senses about how pointless this routine was. I began searching for healthier and more constructive alternatives on the internet. The best option I found was freshly squeezed lemon juice. I found that if I juiced an organic lemon and put it on my chigger bites, they would sting like holy heck for about thirty seconds. Then I would get eight hours of relief. I would have to repeat it twice more for a total of three times in 24 hours. And then the misery was over as compared to the days on end the chiggers used to bother me for.
I’d prefer that I wasn’t a chigger magnet, and I’d prefer that my body didn’t react so much to their infernal bites. However, I’m grateful that lemon juice provides me with nontoxic relief from their misery.
© 2015 Elizabeth Galen, Ph.D., Green Heart Guidance, LLC
When I was in my teens and my twenties, I tried the trick of painting clear nail polish over the chigger bites. Supposedly the polish will suffocate the chiggers, causing them to die and relieving the itching. In reality, it didn’t relieve the itching. Instead, it caused skin irritation and more itching. It felt like an effort in futility yet for some reason I kept doing it anyway.
By the time I reached my thirties, I was aware of how toxic nail polish was, plus I’d finally come to my senses about how pointless this routine was. I began searching for healthier and more constructive alternatives on the internet. The best option I found was freshly squeezed lemon juice. I found that if I juiced an organic lemon and put it on my chigger bites, they would sting like holy heck for about thirty seconds. Then I would get eight hours of relief. I would have to repeat it twice more for a total of three times in 24 hours. And then the misery was over as compared to the days on end the chiggers used to bother me for.
I’d prefer that I wasn’t a chigger magnet, and I’d prefer that my body didn’t react so much to their infernal bites. However, I’m grateful that lemon juice provides me with nontoxic relief from their misery.
© 2015 Elizabeth Galen, Ph.D., Green Heart Guidance, LLC
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