Recoil Offgrid – August-September 2019

H

arsh environmental conditions such as driving

rain, heat, or cold can all sap our strength when

working in the outdoors, but few things have the

ability to challenge our focus and health quite like

stinging and biting insects. Trying to maintain a

pace count while dead reckoning a course through the woods and

simultaneously slapping your ears every few seconds to ward off

mosquitos is trying at best, and at worst, carries the risk of vector-

borne illness transmission.

When you finally reach your destination, throw your pack down,

and start to strip off some sweaty clothing only to find ticks embed-

ded in your skin, that also has a way of immediately reducing the

fun factor. Just ask survivalist Megan Hine, who we interviewed in

Issue 22, how debilitating it was to battle Lyme disease. The point

is that there are items out there, aside from insect repellent, which

can serve as a bulwark against these clandestine creatures.

Enter the Rynoskin line of undergarments. Intended to be worn

underneath clothing, it’s designed to keep mosquitos, ticks, and

other bugs off of your skin. Utilizing a superfine mesh of blended

nylon/Lycra fabrics, it remains breathable without allowing bugs like

ticks, chiggers, no-see-ums, and mosquitos to bite you through the

weave — and without the use of chemicals.

Conceptually, it’s similar to this author’s experience swimming or

waterskiing in jellyfish-infested waters when we’d wear pantyhose

to keep from getting stung. Stop laughing; Navy SEALs in Vietnam

would actually sometimes wear pantyhose to prevent leeches from

latching onto their skin. It also helped reduce friction and blisters.

Testing the Claims

When we first opened the boxes of RynoSkin and started reading

the instructions, we had our doubts. We’re supposed to wear this

stuff underneath our clothing? No bother during cooler weather,

when you might be wearing insulating layers anyway. But what

about in the heat and humidity? “This body suit is so comfortable

that the user will forget that they’re wearing it,” claims the market-

ing brochure. This sounded like just one more load of marketing BS

to us, and it wouldn’t be the first or the hundredth time we’ve been

let down by similar claims.

With temperatures in the high 80s F and high humidity, we reluc-

tantly stripped down and layered back up with a pair of Rynoskin

leggings under our cotton BDU pants, and a Rynoskin top under

our T-shirt. Then, we got to work — and that’s when the magic hap-

pened. After the first 10 to 15 minutes of feeling hypervigilant, trying

to figure out if anything was chafing (it wasn’t), and just generally

getting used to wearing undergarment layers in hot weather, we

literally did forget we had them on. The material is simply as breath-

able and incredibly effective at wicking sweat as it claimed to be.

Hell, it actually felt better with the material underneath. The hype,

apparently, is real.

We weren’t in a tick-prone environment, so we can’t comment on

the effectiveness of the garment with that particular bug, but we

can definitely confirm it kept the mosquitos off our skin in muggy

western Florida. As the marketing materials say, with the Rynoskin

underneath, you can get by with just a cotton T-shirt on top. Pretty

impressive, considering that we’ve had some mosquitos able to bite

us through our blue jeans.

Garments and Fitment

Besides the long-sleeve top and leggings, Rynoskin also offers a

face hood, socks, and gloves to ensure nearly 100-percent coverage

of your body. If you’re just dealing with mosquitos or other flying

insects, it shouldn’t be a problem to leave the socks at home, but

the usefulness for areas with ticks and chiggers is obvious.

The hood, admittedly, looks a bit like a 1970s

Russian cosmonaut load-out. How-

ever, if it means keeping bugs

off of your neck and out of

your ears, sometimes you

have to sacrifice style for

practicality. In a similar

manner, the gloves seem

a bit much, but after your

first time coming back

from the woods with tiny

lumps and red marks all

over your hands from bug

bites, you might recon-

sider just like we did. It

can be tough to just smear

your hands and face with

bug repellant, especially the

really powerful and effective

sprays. Rubbing your eyes

and getting repellent in

them can burn and cause

you to tear up.

Review of Rynoskin

Total Insect Protection

Clothing

By Andrew Schrader

ISSUE 32

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