Some people seem to be relentlessly targeted by mosquitoes every summer, while others remain largely untouched. Whether you’re the one getting eaten alive or watching it happen to someone else, the curiosity remains the same: why do mosquitoes prefer certain people over others?
I’m definitely one of those people who always get caught. It doesn’t matter where we go, I end up having these red bumps all over my legs. A trip to the Scottish Highlands a year ago left me properly humbled by what mosquito season really means.
That experience made me curious, and what I’ve learned since is pretty fascinating—turns out mosquitoes rely heavily on scent to find us, and certain fragrances—especially sweet, floral, or fruity ones, the kind I usually love—can mimic the nectar they’re drawn to. That includes many of the perfumes and soaps I have at home. Even ingredients that resemble compounds in human sweat can make us more likely to get bitten.
In other words, it’s all about how we smell. So while we may think we’re just freshening up, we could actually be turning ourselves into mosquito magnets. Repellents like DEET help for a while, of course—but they wear off, require regular reapplication, and aren’t always affordable or accessible to the people who need them most.
And that’s why I was so intrigued when I came across an idea that’s as simple as it is smart: what if mosquito protection could be built into everyday products like soap and laundry detergent?
That’s exactly what a team of the Swiss company called DSM-Firmenich is working on. They’re one of the world’s largest producers of fragrances and flavors. They help make your shampoo smell fresh, your laundry smell clean, and even your toothpaste taste minty. They’ve also done important work in public health. For example, the company is known for working on ways to make toilets smell better in under-resourced communities.
Now, they’re applying that same expertise to mosquito-borne diseases—like malaria and dengue—that still claim hundreds of thousands of lives each year, particularly among children in low-income countries.
Their idea is refreshingly straightforward: use scent ingredients that repel or confuse mosquitoes and integrate them into the products people already use every day. This way, people don’t have to buy anything new or change their routines—they’d just get an extra layer of protection, automatically. That’s one of the reasons why the idea of a perfume that repels mosquitoes really caught my attention—it’s such a clever way to combine something we already use every day with a bit of extra protection.
However, it’s not as simple as throwing some citronella into a soap bar. The scientists and perfumers at DSM-Firmenich have been rigorously testing different combinations of scent molecules. Some naturally repel mosquitoes; others confuse the bugs so they can’t detect us. The key challenge is to make something that works without sacrificing that clean and pleasant smell we all want from soap or detergent. After all, no one wants their laundry to smell like garlic or earwax, even if it keeps the mosquitoes off.
One of the most promising scents they found is Lily of the Valley—a soft, floral fragrance many people already love in soaps. In early trials, it performed surprisingly well–even matching the effectiveness of DEET at certain concentrations.
The main challenge now is turning that scent into a product that lasts all day through washing, sweating, and daily life. That’s no small feat—fragrance molecules tend to fade fast—but the scientists and perfumers are working on it.
Their research is being supported by the Gates Foundation among certain others, which shares our belief in practical, scalable solutions that improve health without adding burden. If successful, this could be a breakthrough–offering families in high-risk areas where diseases spread fastest a bit more safety, without asking them to change what they already do.
I’m always drawn to these kinds of ideas. Solutions that meet people where they are. Innovations that don’t rely on privilege, wealth, or perfect conditions. The kind that can spread, simply, quietly–and powerfully.
Sometimes, big change starts with something as small as a bar of soap—and a good-smelling one at that.
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