An itch-relief balm in a twist-up stick. Active ingredient: camphor, in a base of beeswax, colloidal oatmeal, olive oil and peppermint.

Camphor cools the skin and then warms it, and that shift is what takes your attention off the itch. Colloidal oatmeal is the other half — it is the ingredient in every oatmeal bath ever prescribed for irritated skin, and it belongs on a bite as much as in a tub.

The reason to own this one: it is the only After Bite listed for poison ivy, oak and sumac as well as insect bites. If you walk off-trail, that is the second job you want from a stick in your pocket.

The stick format beats a tube for this. Nothing to squeeze, nothing to leak, no fingers in the product, and it goes on through a thin layer of dirt or sweat without you having to clean the spot first.

External use only, out of eyes, do not cover until dry.

After Bite sells three different things under one name, and the packaging does not make it obvious. Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate 5%) is the gentle one — Advanced, X-Tech and the Kids cream. Diphenhydramine 2% is an antihistamine, which is stronger and carries real warnings — Outdoor and Xtra. Camphor is the botanical one — the Natural Stick. Pick the mechanism, then pick the applicator.

Ingredients and warnings here are taken from After Bite's published label information. Read the carton before you use it — the carton is the authority, not us.