KINKAN COOL Mosquito Bites Relief

Mosquito season is underway. Even in New York, you are not safe unless you live in the highest of high rises. At Takamichi Beauty Room, relief from the mosquito scourge comes in the form Kinkan Liniment. The Japanese import will not prevent bug bites, but it will make you forget you have them. Some ideal combination of topical antihistamines and menthol cools and numbs the bite, eliminating the urge to itch (itching perpetuates itching in a cycle of discomfort). Re-apply it when it wears off and the itch comes back. After a couple of uses (an extended period of no itching), the urge to itch goes away. It works at least as well as calamine lotion, without the sulfuric smell and chalky pink mess. The packaging is cute and severe, dated, satisfying, and probably best described as super Japanese. The clear gel product is contained in a handy glue stick-shaped bottle and dispensed through a blue mesh pad, which you apply directly onto the skin. With Kinkan, treating your bug bites is a treat, almost. 

Your favorite beauty room in the city is located blocks away from Union Square, at 125 17th street, just off of Irving Place.