I cannot, in good conscience, recommend the following products:

After an unfortunate incident a few years ago, where my Ben's 100% DEET repellent chemically reacted with my expensive rain jacket and effectively 'melted' the waterproof lining into a silly putty-like goo, I have been opting to forgo ruining another expensive piece of equipment and just deal with the skeeters' head on.

You can imagine my excitement when I read about 'natural' alternatives online that could be less harmful. I had Jenn pick up this little product from the local market and we tried it out this past weekend while backpacking. I have to say that it works alright for the first little while, but mosquitoes are attracted to body heat, odor, and sweat. Unless you are planning on taking a shower at the end of your 8 mile hike through the woods... this repellent is not going to do much to deter the bugs. No, like many of us, they seemed to actually prefer a twist of lemon when quenching their thirst. Particularly the deer flies.

After painfully shooting myself in the eyes with this next product, I should have known better than to give it another chance. Allergies are no fun, and I thought that I could use some simply saline spray to remove pollen and dust while on the trail. It seemed like a good idea. It wasn't. The most frustrating part was trying to figure out how to use this stuff. I should have given up, but eventually the solution ran out, ending the trial for me.
I have to say, that this trip was pretty fun. And, if the only thing I can complain about are these two things, I consider that pretty successful. No stoves catching on fire. No water purifiers exploding in my hands or failing mysteriously on the trail. No blown out shoes or melted jackets.