I typed up this review in advance while looking out at the waves lapping on the beach of Tulum, palm trees swaying in the breeze and tropical birds singing in a morning chorus. But last night I slept under a mosquito net and I have a mosquito coil burning next to the lounge chair I’m in to keep the vampires at bay. At times it’s like getting dive-bombed.

Fortunately, I’m armed with a whole other arsenal of weapons, including some clothing with insect protection built right into the fabric. ExOfficio has for years had a line of Buzz Off products that were treated with built-in Permethrin, but this InsectShield line is even more durable, lasting 70 washings before the 0.52% of repellent wears off. It’s invisible, odorless, and—in my experience quite effective. You still have to spray something on exposed skin though, as this will only protect what it is covering.

Mosquitoes flying around your legs and ankles are annoying enough (a good reason to wear some InsectShield pants), but it’s even more maddening when they are flying around your head. That buzzing in the ears is enough to make some people flail around like a dancing lunatic and walking around with bug bites on your face is never fun.

Fortunately, you can protect your head or neck for only $12 with the ExOfficio InsectShield bandannas pictured here. They come in a variety of colors and each has little mozzies on it so you don’t get it mixed up with a plain bandanna. Any long-term traveler learns that the bandanna can be a great double-duty item too, working as a head cover, sweat rag, impromptu napkin, valuables holder, and more.

Then there’s this InsectShield Adventure hat, which I’ve been using for six weeks now. There’s nothing even slightly fashionable about this hat and I’ll admit it’s probably not the kind of thing you want to wear while posing for photos. It’s a floppy hat that will protect you from the sun and from bugs and only weighs two ounces though, so function wins out over form. It knows its job and does it well, not really caring if you look cool or not. (Hey, at least the chin strap is detachable.)

If you’re going to be in hot sunny places for a while, you need a wide-brimmed hat anyway, so get this, the bucket hat, or the  Cotton Sun Bucket model and keep the mosquitoes at bay at the same time. If you don’t mind being a redneck, you can get a baseball cap one instead—or that with a flap coming off the back to cover that neck.

The Adventure Hat lists for $36 but sometimes you’ll find it on sale for less at the ExOfficio site or at Backcountry.com.

See the full line of InsectShield products.

See the other ExOfficio reviews at Practical Travel Gear.