What’s the proof that Good Riddance Insect Repellent will work?

We lived up in Darwin for a couple of years while travelling around Australia as a family. Insect repellent becomes a part of your skincare routine when you live in the tropics. You need to protect yourself against mozzies and midges (they do carry lots of nasty diseases, after all!) but we were worried about using DEET-based chemical repellents multiple times a day. I think we tried every natural repellent on the market but we found most didn't work and those that did didn't last for long, felt greasy and smelt awful. A major issue with the natural insect repellent market is there are lots of products that claim to repel mosquitoes but they have never actually been tested or proven to work. I know we wasted hundreds of dollars trying new products that didn't actually work and it's pretty hard not to be jaded by that experience. And I have personally heard from lots of people who have been through the same experience. So I get it - you see Good Riddance and it's easy to see it as just ANOTHER natural insect repellent that could end up being a waste of money. But I promise you, it's not. And there are 3 very good reasons why.

1. Good Riddance has undergone independent clinical trials

Every insect repellent is going to say "our product works" but how do you separate marketing spin from actual proof? Well, in Australia a product needs to be registered with the APVMA to be able to call itself an insect repellent. The APVMA is kind of like the TGA for pesticides (AKA insect repellents). You can tell if a product has been APVMA registered because their APVMA registration number and the exact concentration of active ingredients must be displayed on the label.

APVMA registration isn't easy. You have to prove that your product meets any claims it makes on the label (ie it actually repels mosquitoes, midges and sandflies). And it's not as simple as saying "it works because I say it works"! Products have to undergo independent clinical trials to obtain their registration. For Good Riddance that looked like:

Lab-based mosquito trials

Mosquitoes are bred in a lab (to ensure they are free from diseases for the safety of the researchers). Our product was then applied to a volunteer's skin and they were exposed to a swarm of mosquitoes. The researchers count the number of times a mosquito lands on the person and the number of bites they get. The goal is to get the fewest number of mosquitoes to land on the person - too many and your product can't say it repels mosquitoes.

Field based sandfly and midge trials

To test whether our products repel midges and sandflies, we put the product through field trials with an independent lab in Bundaberg. They sent volunteers out into the mangroves with Good Riddance applied and counted the number of times midges and sandflies landed on their skin. Again, you want the fewest number of midges to land on the person to be able to say your product repels mosquitoes

The data collected by the labs was then submitted to the APVMA along with safety data on the products and once they have assessed that the products meet their standards, you get your registration!

2. Good Riddance was developed in Darwin and tested in Kakadu

Of course, you want to be pretty sure your product will pass all the clinical trials before you undertake them. I created Good Riddance so that my family had a safe, effective insect repellent that we enjoyed using. We were already in Darwin (runner-up for the mozzie capital of Australia!) and were using it ourselves at home. But to be really sure, we worked with fishermen during our product development stage to test Good Riddance in Kakadu and at Shady Camp (the official mozzie capital of Australia). It worked there, so we were pretty confident it would work everywhere!

3. It's covered by a money-back guarantee

As a business, you don't put a money-back guarantee on something unless you're pretty confident 99.999% of your customers will love the product. Our whole range is covered by a money-back guarantee which applies for any reason. Find it doesn't work as expected? We'll give you your money back, no questions asked. Don't like the smell? No worries either. I know how bloody frustrating it is to pour money into trying a new insect repellent when you're not sure if it will work. It was my biggest pet peeve about the industry so it's something I've eliminated in my own business.

And if you're still not sure, you've only got to look at all of the incredible comments and reviews we get on our Facebook page to see that Good Riddance works, and it works well!

We'd love you to give it try! You can shop online, or find a stockist near you!