Helping Seniors Live Healthier Lives

Three Tips For Avoiding Bee Stings

If you're allergic to bee stings, you may be scared to leave your house during bee season. Bee season can stretch from spring until fall, and in warmer areas, they can even be seen in the winter, so hiding indoors isn't practical. Fortunately, there are things you can do to avoid stings. Here are three tips for avoiding bee stings.

Choose your hair products carefully

Hair products are beneficial for your hair and can smell good, but some ingredients in these products attract bees. When you're allergic to bees, you don't want to do anything to lure them towards you.

Natural ingredients like honey or nectar are added to some hair products, and these will attract bees. Sweet-smelling products are also attractive to bees. If your hair gel smells like a pretty flower, bees will be drawn to it. Instead, choose products that have smells that bees don't like, like lemongrass or eucalyptus. Neem oil, an ingredient that's added to hair products to control frizz, is also unappealing to bees.

Wear white clothes

Bees have complex vision. Their eyesight helps them find colorful flowers that could be good sources of nectar for their hive, but it doesn't let them tell the difference between a person's shirt and a flower. If you go outdoors wearing bright clothes, bees may think that you're a flower and start buzzing around you or landing on you—not what you want when you have a bee sting allergy.

Dark colors can also pose problems. Predators that target bees, like skunks or bears, are dark, and the bees may assume you're a threat when they see your dark clothing approaching. The best color to wear during bee season is white so that you don't look like a flower or a predator; this is why beekeepers wear white suits.

Have bees' nests removed

If you have a colony of bees living somewhere on your property, they need to be removed. The colony may not look large, but the average colony can contain a whopping 50,000 bees. These bees will defend their colony against anything that gets too close, so to avoid this risk, the bees need to go.

While bees are very dangerous for you, they're essential for the ecosystem, so don't have them killed. Instead, ask a local beekeeper remove the bees. The beekeeper may be able to adopt the bees and bring them back to their apiary (bee farm).

When you have a bee sting allergy, it's important to stay away from bees. For more information, contact local professionals like the Asthma and Allergy Clinic.


Share