Poison ivy cure. This works for me.

[Tap]

I just wanted to pass this on. The last few years I've been treating poison ivy rash with Dawn dish detergent.
After watching biologists wash oil covered wildlife with Dawn, I started out using it just to wash the rash or after being exposed to ivy. Just washed and rinsed with detergent and it really helped. Now I realize that if I use it as a salve just as it's starting to break out, the itching is relieved almost instantly and the rash never really develops. I just rub some on and leave it.
I'd like to some other folks to test this cure. Is it a miracle cure for just me, or will it work as well for everyone?
Give it a try and let me know.

 

[Bill]

Can't help. I hacked a 1 inch vine with a hand saw bare handed the other day. The guy with me thought I was nuts. I've neve caught it. I know they say you can start all of a sudden but that hasn't happened. My wife would have to go to the hospital if she did that. I tell her if she ever makes me really mad I'm putting it in the bed. :)

 

[yoderjac]

Thanks for the hint. Poison ivy is very odd. When I was a kid, I could run through it with no reaction. If they burned it a half mile a way and the wind was blowing our way, my little brother would break out. He was very sensitive. As I've gotten older, I've had a few mild outbreaks. My wife on the other hand is quite sensitive. If she get an outbreak, no matter what she does, it seems it gets in her blood stream, she has non-contact breakouts, and had to do a course of prednisone.

I have to be careful for her sake. She can get it from my laundry. Next time she has a break-out, I'll have her try Dawn.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[John-W-WI]

Fortunately I'm with Bill. I honestly don't even know what it looks like because I haven't had to worry about it.

When I was a kid my friends always seemed to get it. I've never had it.

From what I understand, it's an oil that gets you. So it makes sense that a soap would break it down / make it go away.

 

[Someday isle]

I can certainly get poison ivy but I haven't had a bad case in years. For me at least, the first step is to recognize it and not get all over it. Then I try to scrub the area real well within a couple hours of exposure. It's the oil that causes the problem, so a good oil cleaning soap like dawn with a vigorous abrasive scrub seems to keep me from getting a reaction. I scrub a little extra in between the fingers and everywhere there's a nook and cranny where the oil could settle in.

On those occasions where I did get a bad reaction the only thing that really ever helped was a Dr. prescribed oral steroid.

 

[North Mo]

I think Dawn probably would work since Poison Ivy is an oil and Dawn is used to remove oil from critters after oil spills.
I remember seeing a video by Jim Brauker on scrubbing away Poison Ivy oil.
I never had a reaction to Poison Ivy or any allergies until I was 43 years old. My stepson and I were in a tree hanging a stand when he pointed at a vine and said "Watch it, that's Poison Ivy". "That stuff doesn't bother me" I said as I pulled the vine off the tree. That was a big lie.

 

[TreeDaddy]

I think Dawn probably would work since Poison Ivy is an oil and Dawn is used to remove oil from critters after oil spills.
I remember seeing a video by Jim Brauker on scrubbing away Poison Ivy oil.
I never had a reaction to Poison Ivy or any allergies until I was 43 years old. My stepson and I were in a tree hanging a stand when he pointed at a vine and said "Watch it, that's Poison Ivy". "That stuff doesn't bother me" I said as I pulled the vine off the tree. That was a big lie.

.........similar to "hold my beer;watch this"...........

bill

 

[Tap]

I can certainly get poison ivy but I haven't had a bad case in years. For me at least, the first step is to recognize it and not get all over it. Then I try to scrub the area real well within a couple hours of exposure. It's the oil that causes the problem, so a good oil cleaning soap like dawn with a vigorous abrasive scrub seems to keep me from getting a reaction. I scrub a little extra in between the fingers and everywhere there's a nook and cranny where the oil could settle in.

On those occasions where I did get a bad reaction the only thing that really ever helped was a Dr. prescribed oral steroid.

The thing about Dawn that impresses me the most is how it works after a rash has broken out.
A few poison ivy facts...
The oil that causes the rash is Urushiol. It's one of the most pervasive compounds in nature.
Urushiol is what causes histamines to overreact in those of us that are allergic to it. Washing with anything, even rinsing with just cold water will help remove the oil. But if you miss washing within a short period of time, a rash will most likely form. Once the body has begun to form the histamines the rash will come. And once the rash is washed, the oil is gone but the body still reacts to the allergen. BTW, scratching a rash will not spread the rash (assuming the skin was washed).
So, back to the Dawn...While it is an excellent preventer of the rash, the thing that's most amazing for me is how well Dawn works once the rash has occurred (in those cases where washing didn't happen soon enough). No product I've ever used, Calamine lotion, Naptha soap, not even prescription drugs work as quickly to stop the itch and dry the rash as well as rubbing full strength Dawn into the rash and not rinsing it off.
No exaggeration...For me, the results and relief is almost instantaneous.

 

[KDdid]

I've used speed stick deodorant as a topical treatment on the rash for years. It seems to work for hours, unlike anything else I tried. I'm willing to give the Dawn treatment a try, though. Seems every year after moving and setting tree stands, it always starts to show up...

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I get it at least twice a year. When I say it, i actually mean break out at least twice a year. I also get parsnip every year. I think i can stand next to the stuff and get it. As far as that comment about it getting in your blood that is spot on. If i break out on my hand and scratch my leg with even the opposite hand I will break out where I scratched so i'm not convinced you cant spread it by scratching, especially if the oil is under your fingernails and you don't get it washed off. I guess technically then in that case it would be the oil causing a new rash and not just the scratching part. Naptha soap work fairly well for me but it is no cure all. I still have the rash for at least a week and it generally leaves a scar for several months.

I'll give the dawn a try but highly doubt I'll have the same experience with it as you had. I hope i'm wrong.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I have never had a break out from it either. Shortly after I have contact with it, and it is still wet, it burns a little, but as soon as it dries, no issues. I have seen people break out from it that I was with, and we used mud, then rinsed it away in a lake, it seemed to work decent enough so the person could relax enough to get back and take some antihistamine. I have one small spot that I have to spray on my land every few years, other then that I dont have much around me.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I have never had a break out from it either. Shortly after I have contact with it, and it is still wet, it burns a little, but as soon as it dries, no issues. I have seen people break out from it that I was with, and we used mud, then rinsed it away in a lake, it seemed to work decent enough so the person could relax enough to get back and take some antihistamine. I have one small spot that I have to spray on my land every few years, other then that I dont have much around me.

Not sure what it is your coming into contact with but that doesn't sound like poison ivy to me.

 

[Tap]

I get it at least twice a year. When I say it, i actually mean break out at least twice a year. I also get parsnip every year. I think i can stand next to the stuff and get it. As far as that comment about it getting in your blood that is spot on. If i break out on my hand and scratch my leg with even the opposite hand I will break out where I scratched so i'm not convinced you cant spread it by scratching, especially if the oil is under your fingernails and you don't get it washed off. I guess technically then in that case it would be the oil causing a new rash and not just the scratching part. Naptha soap work fairly well for me but it is no cure all. I still have the rash for at least a week and it generally leaves a scar for several months.

I'll give the dawn a try but highly doubt I'll have the same experience with it as you had. I hope i'm wrong.

My point about not spreading it by scratching was that the watery blisters are not filled with Urushiol. It's body fluid of some sort not ivy oil.
Yes, scratching with Urushiol on your fingers will spread it. So will handling shoe laces, petting your dog, or touching anything that has come in contact with the plant.
I spent all day Sunday hanging stands. I was in poison ivy all day with no running water anywhere to wash. When I got up yesterday, I had the familiar beginning of a rash on my forearm. It was the typical welts and itching that anyone who is allergic knows all too well. I went to kitchen a put a little squirt of Dawn on it and rubbed it in and let it dry. Literally, within 1 minute, the itching stopped and today there is no trace of a rash on my arm. That scenario has happened to me many times over the last few years, and I'm quite allergic to poison ivy...not just mildly allergic. I know 100% that the Dawn works for me. It's not just my imagination.
Maybe I'm one in a million and it won't work on anyone else like it does for me, but I know that most of us habitat junkies tend to be exposed to poison ivy and I just wanted to pass on my easy, effective (and cheap) remedy.
I'd like to hear if it helps anyone else.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I am going to try it for sure and hope that it does work. I'm up for trying anything. Like I said I WILL get it multiple times next year.

 

[Tap]

.........similar to "hold my beer;watch this"...........

bill

So that reminds me of a childhood story.
Some of my buddies weren't exactly scholars. One of them spent the weekend playing instead of doing the book report he was assigned. When Sunday evening rolled around, he had the bright idea that if he had poison ivy, he wouldn't have to go to school the next day and would be off the hook.
I watched in amazement while he grabbed handfuls of the stuff and rubbed it into his belly!
The next morning, the rash hadn't yet broken out so on the bus he went. In a panic, he threw together a half assed report before class started.
You guessed it...a day later he broke out with a horrible rash. The things teenage boys will do

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[Knehrke]

I haven't tried Dawn, but I will. I'm resigned to the fact that I will get it on my forearms every spring and every fall from planting. No matter what gloves I wear or how I cover up, it seems like there's enough in the soil and it's usually wet enough that I get some "mud" on me, and there you go. Three days later I break out. I use Technu wash when I'm done planting and it seems to mostly do the trick, but when you're planting for twelve hours I'm not sure that there's any preventative once it's been on your skin for that long. Breakouts get treated with Witch Hazel, but the Dawn is coming out next year. We've had a month of dry weather here, so I didn't get it bad this fall, but I'll give it a try in the spring.