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How to never have a serious poison ivy rash again


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31 minutes ago, SamLowrey said:

 

 

Pretty cool!  I have industrial hand cleaner for grease, I wonder if that works.  It's the kind that will strip paint if you leave it on a painted surface.

 

Part of this whole thing about not getting a poison ivy rash is identifying the poison ivy.  In the woods, I'm always looking around to spot it, and the vines, and I avoid it.  Except if there's an unavoidable field of it (which is rare), in which case, I lift my feet and step down on it as I walk.  I guess as he mentions, there may be an issue in that case of urishiol on the soles of my shoes, or some on top of my shoes or pant legs.

 

Anyway, sure it's due to not washing it off.  But when I used to get the rash, it was mostly due to not noticing what I was grabbing or brushing against.  Somehow I've become adept at not contacting poison ivy at all.  Which is nice, because when I got it even in a very small spot, the rash was always pretty bad.

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I was using hand sanitizer before all the cool kids started using it. I decided the alcohol might cut the oil and help clean the area before the rash could take hold. Started carrying it in my backpack and cleaning up everything that I suspected might have touched any poison ivy including anything I might have been wearing or carrying. Then cleaning up with orange clean and dishwashing liquid as soon as I could. That seems to have kept me from getting a bad case in some time. At least when I knew that I had come into contact with it. Recently had a round of poison ivy that I don't even know where it came from. I think it was the cat. Or a bench at the park.

 

When I was caching heavier I was making the calamine lotion manufacturers rich. I am not a doctor. Try hitting the affected area with a hair dryer or hot water to relieve the itch for several hours. After doing that you might go looking to get a small case of poison ivy. Just for fun. LOL!

Edited by fendmar
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7 hours ago, fizzymagic said:

I have tried the method shown in this video.  It does not work.

 

I have never had the reaction.  I am pretty careful.  On a few occasions that I know I contacted it, I did wash as soon as possible and didn't get a reaction.  So it is hard for me to say for sure.

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I should probably expand on my earlier comment.  I have had poison oak/ivy reactions several times over my geocaching career and am now extremely sensitized.  I have tried the described technique and it does not work for me.  I have done a fair amount of research into these rashes and, from what I have learned, he is wrong for a couple of reasons:

  • First, while urushiol is an oil, it is not a high-viscosity substance like grease
  • And, unlike grease, it is not visible so there is no way to tell where it is or whether you have removed it all.  Since his technique involves scrubbing, you have to know where it is to scrub the affected region, and you can't tell by looking.
  • His so-called "demonstration" of Tecnu not working shows that he does not understand how Tecnu works.

Tecnu was not developed for poison oak/ivy, but originally it was made to help remove radioactive fallout from skin.  It works by binding to the urushiol more strongly than the skin proteins do, after which it can be rinsed away.   It does not work as well for generic grease, and needs to be applied before rinsing and left on for 30 seconds to maximize the binding. Thus the demonstration on the video is not a useful comparison.  Dishwashing liquid is designed for generic grease; it works as a surfactant, in which the surfactant molecules surround the grease/urushiol molecule and can then be washed off.  It's a different chemical process.

 

The key to the superior results from Tecnu is not that all the oil is removed from your skin; it's that the remaining oil is chemically bound to the Tecnu and will not cause the allergic reaction.

 

The location of the rash on your skin may not may not be where the oil concentration was highest.  The rash tends to be worst where the skin is thinnest, and no rash occurs on the palms of the hands or the soles of the feet.  Typically the worst spots are the neck and face and the inside of the wrists.  In addition, different areas develop the rash at different speeds, so it doesn't appear all at once.

 

My best results have come from coating my exposed areas with Tecnu before any attempt to wash it off, leaving it for a few minutes, and then rinsing and using soap and/or detergent to remove any remaining oil.  Please do not treat the video as accurate information!

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1 hour ago, fizzymagic said:

My best results have come from coating my exposed areas with Tecnu before any attempt to wash it off, leaving it for a few minutes, and then rinsing and using soap and/or detergent to remove any remaining oil.  Please do not treat the video as accurate information!


The video guy has a different situation than I do.  My issue has almost always been having a bad poison ivy rash as the first indication of a problem.  That is, I didn’t even realize I’d been exposed to poison ivy (or one of the other similar plants, we have at least 3 kinds).  Even when I sometimes got the rash, “Washing” never really seemed to prevent the rash, so I was either washing wrong, or there are other factors that cause the rash to occur or not occur.

 

The times I did realize I’ve touched a vine or leaf, I was careful to contain it (by not then, for example, rubbing my eyes or anything else).  I tend to be miles from a way to wash when it happens (and it’s rare).  But I’ve never gotten a rash after noticing contact with PI.  Anyway, my forest activity doesn’t usually break leaves, except for leaves I step on.

 

Edited by kunarion
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