I'm a field biologist and spend large amounts of time in wetlands and thick brush in areas that have high tick densities (outside of hunting). Another vote for permethrin on clothes and picaridin on skin. Those in combination with shirt tucked into pants and pants tucked into boots (or wearing gaiters) is a winning combination. DEET has a different repellent mechanism that works well against mosquitos even after drying, but is not nearly as effective as a tick repellent as permethrin after drying.
I treat my field clothing with Sawyers permethrin, and retreat every month or so. I apply picaridin to areas that meet gaps in clothing (i.e. neck, arms at end of sleeve). Using this regime I rarely find ticks on my body during my daily tick checks after a day in the field. I'm down from several ticks per week, to several ticks per field season.
If you want to learn more about the science behind tick borne disease precention, here is a video by Dr. Thomas Mather (aka The TickGuy, aka Toby Flenderson) explaining basic tick anatomy and an extremely simplified explanation of why permethrin works as a repllent (
video). Here is a link to his lab website (
TickEncounter) and here is a link to an example of his lab's research into the effectiveness of permethrin (
journal article).
And finally, here is an journal article from 2021 that provides some helpful context for α-Gal syndrome (
journal article). Essentially, the consensus right now is that α-Gal syndrome is an amplified autoimmune response that we naturally have to a specific molecule found in all mammals but humans, apes, and old world monkeys. In attempting to protect the body from tick borne illnesses, our immune system is rejecting even tissue ingested containing that molecule, which is mostly recognized by our immune system in mammalian fats. Anecdotally, I have a friend that has α-Gal syndrome and cannot eat pork or beef, but has found he can tolerate venison due to its low fat content.
Anyways, that's what I could find over lunch. F*** Lyme disesase and α-Gal syndrome.