Tiny ticks crawl up, often UNDER your clothing and not on the outside. That’s why it’s important to spray inside surfaces of pants and shorts with repellent, too. To be effective, the permethrin in tick repellent clothing must contact ticks. While more and more people are heeding our message and relying on tick repellent clothing for tick bite protection, those using sprays to treat their own clothes may not be getting enough active ingredient to where tiny ticks are crawling. When spraying pants and shorts, turn the lower portions (on pants, the bottom 8-10 inches) of the leg INSIDE-OUT and spray there first. Then treat the entire outside surface, too.

Our studies showed that deer ticks only need a brief exposure to properly treated tick repellent clothing (less than 30 seconds) to obtain a lethal dose. But don’t worry, because the margin of safety for humans is ridiculously high. Commercially-treated tick repellent clothes, or those treated using soaking kits, are covered with permethrin inside and out. So, SPRAY CLOTHES INSIDE AND OUT, too.