How To Avoid Mosquito Bites Using Colors

 

Mosquitoes are a fact of summertime. In warm weather, mosquitoes are a continuous, annoying friend. One is currently circling me and taunting my ineffectual screen door. She has bitten me three times (male mosquitoes do not bite, adding insult to injury).

 

What if the clothing we wear could keep mosquitoes away? I don’t mean long sleeves either. An investigation into how the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) reacts to color revealed that certain hues attract mosquitoes while others repel them. However, this preference for one color only occurs when carbon dioxide (CO2), which is something we exhale when we breathe, is present.

 

Which Shades Draw Mosquitoes?

In the study, mosquitoes preferred the colors cyan, which falls on the visible light spectrum between green and blue, as well as red, orange, black, and black. How were these results measured? Researchers constructed a sophisticated test chamber and put ordinary filtered air inside of it (and mosquitoes). They observed mosquito responses to colorful objects placed inside the test chamber after pumping in CO2.

 

From the viewpoint of the mosquito, these are the main winners:

 

• Red

You won’t be surprised to find that our skin has a reddish tint because crimson was a big hit with mosquitoes. No matter what hue or skin tone, either. Everyone appears to be a juicy crimson treat to a mosquito.

 

• Orange

Like red, orange is a long-wavelength hue that attracts mosquitoes. Even when tested with human hands, mosquitoes showed little interest in the long-wavelength shades that the researchers removed from the chamber using filters.

 

• Black

A well-known mosquito magnet is black. Dark hues and stark contrasts are attractive to mosquitoes. In 1940, scientists proved that even when the background is moving, mosquitoes can still follow a black line on a white background. Since black isn’t a color, it doesn’t have a wavelength, but it does absorb heat, which mosquitoes adore.

 

• Cyan

Although cyan is between blue and green on the visible light spectrum, which mosquitoes showed no preference for, they flew straight to the cyan object in the study. The capacity of mosquitoes to distinguish between related colors, however, offers hope for further study.

 

 

What Shades Keep Mosquitoes Away?

In the study, mosquitoes did not prefer the colors blue, green, violet, or white. Wearing these colors as a stand-alone defense is unlikely to be enough to prevent bites this summer, despite their promise.

 

These are the hues that mosquitoes avoid:

 

• Blue 

Blue was not a favorite hue for mosquitoes in the study, albeit the degree of darkness of the color matters. For instance, navy blue absorbs heat, which draws mosquitoes. Price advises using lighter hues to reflect heat.

 

• Green

By presenting the bug’s human hands that were held outside of the chamber but visible to the mosquitoes, Green Researchers were able to corroborate the findings of the color trials. When the researchers were wearing green gloves, mosquitoes ignored their curiosity in the researchers’ bare hands and flew right by.

 

• Violet

Given that mosquitoes prefer the long-wavelength red and orange hues of our skin, which have the shortest wavelengths of all the colors in the visible light spectrum, it is not surprising that violet doesn’t appeal to them.

 

• White

Researchers compared each color in the test chamber to a white object as the control, serving as a baseline for comparison. While presented with their preferred colors, mosquitoes stayed away from the white object even when CO2 was present in the test chamber.

 

Some more tricks to keep mosquitoes away:

Although wearing light colors lessens your appeal to mosquitoes, it is not always sufficient to shield you from bites. Here are some additional strategies to avoid having mosquitoes ruin your outdoor seating experience:

• Mosquito repellant should be sprayed all around.
• While you’re outside, keep your citronella candle burning.
• In your garden, grow lemongrass, mint, or garlic.
• Use peppermint, lavender, rosemary, eucalyptus essential oils to create an insect repellent.