After a chigger attack from hell one time, I read everything I could find about them. I think people are misunderstanding the purpose of the nail polish. In a nutshell, a chigger latches on, secretes an enzyme onto your flesh which essentially dissolves the flesh like acid and then the chigger "slurps" up the liquified flesh. This process creates in the skin what is essentially a crystalline "straw" and the longer the chigger stays attached and continues the dissolving and slurping process, the larger and deeper the crystalline straw becomes. It's this "straw" that causes the maddening itch and it's hard to remove and even harder the longer it has been allowed to continue. The theory behind the nail polish is not to smother the chigger but to bond to the "straw" and extract the straw when you allow the polish to dry and then peel it off. Now, I know that's the theory and can offer no proof that it actually works that way without some testing and a microscope; however, my Grandma told us about that method at least 50 years ago and it has actually offered some relief so there may be something to it. Other readings about both chiggers and ticks have said that neither will actually attach themselves to a host for at least a few hours after finding one, so the best bet is to quickly get a shower and scrub all possible areas to get them off before they attach and begin their dirty work! I prefer a nice scrubby-textured exfoliating sponge or cloth! Good luck everyone!

I like the nail polish because it creates a coating that prevents the contact from clothing etc. from setting off the itch-scratch cycle.

The best (and quickest) remedy I have found for the itch caused by insects is to splash some "Witch Hazel" on the affected area. Relief is very rapid.

Prone to the nail polish stuff, I like to think the stuff is killing the chigger slowly-besides it helps the itch slow down for me as well. Not about smothering the chigger, since it is slurping your oxygen, just about revenge of the ingredients of the nail polish biting back.

Bleach!! Best thing I've found for chiggers is to add a splash of bleach to your bath water after being outside in chigger areas...especially high grass. Totally works if you do this within a few hours of exposure. I didn't read all the replies so someone else may have mentioned this. Unintentional experiment proved the validity of the bleach treatment when I visited a friend in Florida. We wandered around under huge Live Oaks as I was looking for birds. When we returned to her house I took a bath, noticed bleach in her laundry area beside the bathroom and poured some into the water.....just in case. I then headed to the airport to fly back to Texas. I didn't think to warn my friend and that night she was totally covered with chigger bites.

OFF seems to repel them adequately for me, but for relief once its too late to pull up the drawbridge, I've found (don't laugh) hemp oil provides me great relief from all sorts of skin irritations. Not CBD oil. I mean hemp seed oil like you get at the grocery store. It smells a little like dried grass which doesn't bother me but if the odor annoys you, a few drops of lemongrass essential oil or something similar covers the odor up. Just rub it on, it is absorbed by the skin fairly easily, one of the few oils that does that. The other I know of is camellia seed oil (from tea plants) and that is quite expensive in the US. It's also good for your hair but that is another kettle of fish.

I'm not into "alternative" medicine (and I'm not all that into medicine altogether) but for years I've had contact dermatitis of "unknown origins" (recently discovered to be allergies to anything palm related, eg the various coconut derivatives that are in EVERYTHING from soap to paper towels these days). It was "treated" with a permascription for cortisol cream, which I ran out of one day. In desperation I rubbed some hemp oil on the rash, because I had some on hand and not terribly reliable sources on the internet said it was good for this purpose. Like I said, desperation.

Much to my shock it worked. The relief was immediate. In fact it worked better than the cortisol cream I'd been using for years. Possibly just by relieving the itching so it didn't get scratched but hey, I'll take it as a win.

It takes a little longer for things like mosquito bites. I got swarmed by ants at one point a couple years ago and it relieved that almost immediately just like the rash from my allergies. I bet it would help relieve the suffering of chigger bites as well. Possibly worth a try if you're in that unfortunate situation.

Due to my now identified allergies, the only things I put on my skin any more are hemp oil and bag balm. Bag balm is the only commercially available product (that doesn't require me giving up my firstborn grandson) that contains absolutely no palm-derived substances. And yes, I make my own shampoos and use only 100% pure olive oil soap (or bittim which is pistachio oil derived). And if something bites or stings me, bug-wise, the hemp oil is ready at hand. I buy a big bottle of hemp oil, freeze most of it so it doesn't go off (hemp oil is fairly short-lived), and keep a small amount in a dropper bottle.

good stuff hemp oil, lousy set of allergies to have. Cortisone and that stuff isn't all it is hyped up to be, never worked for me either, but the skin liked the fact I was using a cream on it Now I have a script based in vaseline that was given to help with the funguses we have in our neck of the creek (itches from ringworm from deer/coons/wild cats/ etc) and I use that on the skeeters to lower the welts they give me. Fireants, not much works on but I treat them like I do poison ivy, immediately go wash with dawn but scrub that soap in thick for longer than you washed for covid, rinse in cool water. Then I hit the bites with 99% aloe vera spray. Cuts the itch, next day, lance the pus pockets and again hit with that aloe spray several times a day. Bites disappear in 3 days instead of 3 weeks. Still, for chiggers I kill them with acetone or fingernail polish as fast as I can