Clothing and Permethrin

Permethrin is applied to clothing and gear, not skin. It kills ticks on contact rather than repelling them. Permethrin-treated clothing reduced tick bites 3.36 times in a 2011 study — the most specific efficacy figure in the vault. Commercially pretreated clothing is available, and DIY treatment with products such as Sawyer permethrin spray lasts approximately 6 weeks or 6 washes.

This article is still in our research and editorial process and will be published soon. The shape of what it will cover is captured below.

Questions this article will answer

• Does treating your clothes with permethrin actually prevent tick bites?
• Should I use both a skin repellent and permethrin-treated clothing, or does one replace the other?
• How does permethrin on clothing work differently from a repellent applied to skin?

While you wait — related published articles

• Repellents — skin-applied repellents as a complementary on-body protection layer
• Permethrin Yard Spray Tick Control — (Section 4.3.1) covers permethrin applied to yard environments as a separate but chemically-related application
• Yard Tick Integrated Layered Approach — (Section 4.5.1) covers how multiple yard-level layers fit together

Or browse the broader topic: Personal Prevention