Poison oak & ivy.... any tips or remedies?

Hi Barry,

The information I provided comes directly from the journals of dermatologic medicine (please refer to previous post on this).

The soap Felsnaptha can be easily found in most grocery stores in the laundry or soap sections. It is far cheaper then tecnu and works better. It is in a bar and you'll need to shave peices of it to put in the washing machine.

Good luck,

Greg

Originally posted by BARRY JONES:


Greg,
Where do you get that soap?
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Greg Davenport
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Thanks to you all for the help.

I'll have to get some of that soap and give it a try. Sounds like what I need.


BTW, I don't think I am ready to start injesting poison ivy.
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Barry
Jones Knives
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There are a number of products to prevent from getting poison ivy---mostly creams--i have one that has the consistency of shaving cream and rubbs away into your skin--no medicine smell--they usually have them at drug stores--Wal-Mart? Id give you the name of what ive got, but i cant find it currently.--maybe they'll work for you

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"A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards. More than that no man is entitled to, and less than that no man shall have."
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I believe the FelsNaphtha soap and TecNu soap recommendations are on a good track here.

My brother says TecNu works, and I will advise him about the FelsNaphtha stuff if we can find it.

Try a camping / kyacking / hiking specialty store. That's where he finds TecNu.

I can't remember the last time I had poison ivy. I learned to identify as a boy scout prior to my teens, and it just kinda jumps out at me in the woods, like a red flashing bulb. I steer clear luckily. ID is key.

Poison Ivy rash is caused by a skin irritation / allergic response to the VERY sticky resins in the Ivy/Oak plants.

I don't believe normal soap will do much for most people, but my Dad (who isn't very allergic at all, he pulls the stuff out barehanded, washes up later) swears it works.

Then again, this is no BS, I had a friend in high school who literally could be downwind from a big patch of the stuff, and would come out of the woods, and next day, had a rash all over his whole body! I mean under clothes where he could not have possibly touched the stuff! Awful.

My brother says soap doesn't work for him (different allergic reaction he must have vs. my dad).

Since ivy resin is sticky, a solvent of some kind is needed to get the resin into solution so it can be washed away. This must happen probably the day you get into it, or next day when rash appears, pronto, as after rash, it becomes less effective to try.

My brother figured TecNu had kerosene in it based on smell, so the FelsNaphtha sounds like a good idea to try, sounds like a Naphtha based soap, and Naphtha and Kerosene are very similar, one being a somewhat heavier and longer chain hydrocarbon than the other (I think Naphtha is heavier).

Finding the right solvent for the right resin is the key, and these must work. (My employer makes specialty resins, a variety of solvents are used to get them into solution, you gotta pick the right solvent for the right resin.)

I have no idea if this would work, and I wouldn't want a heavy diet of this for health reasons, but you could try gasoline, Methyl Ethyl Ketone MEK, or Acetone also to see if those fairly powerful solvents get the resins off. Maybe even Turpentine. Anything that "solves" paint might work.

 
Poison Oak and Poison Ivy look somewhat similar, 3 leaves. I can't tell them apart anymore (too many years).

The other insidious beast is Poison Sumac. It has multiple leaves (6 or 8?) and ends up with either white or red berries... those of you very allergic to these oughta find a book and look at the pics reaaaal close. I rarely see this stuff.

I recently cut down some old poison ivy on a moutain biking trail. Leaves hanging about head high in trail. I kid you not ... this old stuff had about 5 major vines (limbs really) coming out of the ground, it had climbed all the way up a 30 foot host tree. The biggest "limb" was 2" thick! Stuff must've been 10 years old or more. Had purposely carried my SOG Tigershark Bowie out there, sheath lashed to my bike, to do so. Tough stuff to chop also.

So tiny new growth to stuff that looks like a huge vine, tree sized trunk (this in the swamps of Louisiana).
 
I found out quite by accident that beer is good to use on poison ivy. All you have to do is soak a cloth in beer and wipe it on the affected area. Real beer works best, diet or lite beer is not as effective.
 
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