According to a study published in the journal iScience, the scents of body soaps can alter the scent profile of humans to make them more or less attractive to mosquitoes. The findings of the study showed that when mosquitoes are not feeding on blood, they supplement their sugar intake with plant nectar.

Hence, they concluded that the flowery, fruity smells of scented soaps on humans can increase or decrease their attractiveness to mosquitoes. For the study, researchers from Virginia Tech, formally Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the US, studied the unique scent profile of each individual, unwashed and washed with each of the Dial, Dove, Native, and Simple Truth soaps.

To examine the interactions between smells, the researchers placed mosquitoes in a meshed cage with two cups containing odor extracts and gave them a choice between unwashed smells collected from the individuals and washed odors. These scents were collected from a nylon sleeve on the forearm of a washed and unwashed person. The tests were repeated for the various combinations of scents.

The findings of the study showed that three of the four soaps increased mosquito attractiveness while one decreased it. All three soaps that increased attractiveness had a fruity or flowery scent. On the other hand, one that decreased the degree of mosquito attractiveness was coconut-scented. Hence, it was noted that using coconut-scented soaps can reduce their attractiveness to mosquitoes. 

(Source: https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay?newsID=1078835 )