Poison Ivy Soap

[450 marlin]

Last fall I found a great soap for getting Poison Ivy oils off your skin and drying up poison ivy, your local grocery store sells it, called Seventh Generation Natural Dish Liquid, they also make laundry soap. Last week I had the area a top of my foot turning red and getting itchy,I washed it with the soap and smeared some on the area after drying my foot, did this also the next day, on day three all was clear...last spring I cleared a couple acres on the edge of the swamp..lots of vines..I washed down in the shower with this soap after each day of cutting and stacking brush piles...never got any poison ivy...it is great stuff, usually I'm getting the shots several times a year to clear up a case of poison ivy...thought I would pass on the info...Roy

[dan d]

Sorry, double post

[dan d]

Thanks !  I will give it a try. Very seldom do I miss a year where I don't find myself itching & scratching from it.

A few weeks back I had some (not too bad a case, just all over my ankles & shins) I tried a soap with jewelweed in it (the brand was Grandma's) I have mixed reactions on it, I will say it helped with the itching, but I still had a mild rash for a week & I washed with it for the whole week putting a lather of it on after I rinsed. Now what I don't know is did I have a bad case of it & the jewelweed soap kept it to a mild case or did I just have a mild case & the jewelweed did nothing.  

I should of bought some of the home made Jewelweed soap the iron works guys had at Comptons, it might have been a little bit better with a higher concentration of jewelweed in it.  

I will buy your recommendation just to have it on hand next time around.

Dan

[petalumapete]

I wonder how that would work on poison oak?

I don't catch it but have a lot of buddies that do

[ron w]

I'll pass this on to my daughter who just looks at poison Ivy and starts to itch....thanks

[Gdpolk]

Originally posted by petalumapete:
I wonder how that would work on poison oak?

I don't catch it but have a lot of buddies that do

It should work the same on poison oak/ivy/sumac.  The irritant oil urushiol is the chemical in those plants that cause the rash.

From Wikepedia:
  Urushiol is a pale-yellow liquid with specific gravity of 0.968 and a boiling point of 200 °C (392 °F). It is soluble in alcohol, ether, and benzene.[3] Urushiol is a mixture of several closely related organic compounds. Each consists of a catechol substituted with an alkyl chain that has 15 or 17 carbon atoms. The alkyl group may be saturated or unsaturated. The exact composition of the mixture varies depending on the plant source. Whereas western poison oak urushiol contains chiefly catechols with C17 side-chains,[4] poison ivy and poison sumac contain mostly catechols with C15 side-chains. The likelihood and severity of allergic reaction to urushiol is dependent on the degree of unsaturation of the alkyl chain. Less than half of the general population reacts with the saturated urushiol alone, but over 90% react with urushiol containing at least two degrees of unsaturation (double bonds). Longer side chains tend to produce stronger reaction.[5] This suggests that the allergic contact dermatitis is caused by Van der Waals forces.[5]
Before urushiol has been absorbed by the skin it can be removed with soap and water. However, time is of great importance as 50% of urushiol can be absorbed within 10 minutes. Once urushiol has penetrated into the skin, attempting to remove with water is inefficient.[5] Once urushiol has been absorbed by the skin it is recognized by the immune system's dendritic cells called langerhans cells. These cells then migrate to lymph nodes where they present the urushiol to T-lymphocytes and thus recruit them to the skin. Once in the skin, the T-lymphocytes cause pathology by producing cytokines and cytotoxic damage to the skin.[6]
Urushiol is an oleoresin contained within the sap of poison ivy and related plants, and after injury to the plant or during late fall, the sap leaks to the surface of the plant where the urushiol becomes a blackish lacquer after contact with oxygen at a certain temperature and humidity.[5][7][8]
   

[Gdpolk]

Does this dish soap sooth the sores like the Ivarest soap does?  I try to bath in grease-cutting dish soap after known exposure to it but after I've got it I usually wash with dish soap to help dry it out followed by Ivarest for the wonderful but temporary relief it offers.

[McDave]

I don't know about poison ivy, but Technu works great on poison oak, easily cutting the suffering in half, or even eliminating it entirely if you catch it soon enough.  Even if I don't notice it until it starts itching, which is a day or so after exposure, I wash frequently with Technu and the rash goes away in 3-4 days, if I'm lucky.

Be sure to wash all clothes & the dog thoroughly after exposure to poison oak. It doesn't bother the dog, but he will rub it on you.

[450 marlin]

I work in a factory and on my feet all day...in the 90's here that week and the rash on the top of my foot didn't bother me the couple days it was there, just picked up another bottle of the soap today.

[jax]

If you have a cure for poison ivy after it reacts with the skin you are a millionaire. No cure for it. Wait 10 days to 2 weeks and it will be gone.

[BellaMorte]

I found an amazing herbal remedy for poison ivy, i recently had a bad case when i helped to cut down a tree with my dad, my dads was even worse than mine. He had it so bad he had to get the shot but i found Jewel Weed works wonders if u already have the rash. If you google it you can find a picture, just split it open and rub on ur skin, took about 2 days for my ivy to go away

[TxAg]

I imagine it would also work great if your dog ever gets skunked. Skunk scent is oil based and I've had good luck getting rid of the oils/smell using Tecnu mentioned above.  Sounds like this dish soap would lather more and work even better.

[gregg dudley]

X2 on Technu.  Early and often!

[onewhohasfun]

Correct spelling is TECNU and it works very well. I got poison sumac 2 yrs. ago and it kept coming back every month or 6 weeks for a yr. or so. Did not use the Tecnu that time cause it was wintertime. Now I know, yes you can get poison sumac in the winter!

[agross1]

Man I'll have to give this a try.  I get poison ivy every year, numerous times, regardless of the season.

[Ron Vought]

Tecnu scrub is all I use after working around poison ivy and oak. I haven't had any poison since using Tecnu. It really works!

Ron

[hogless]

Wild rabbit lettuce also works. Crush leaves of plant and rub area of skin it works . I don't get it but my wife gets it bad she gets it from washing my clothes so I wash my clothes now after I have been in it

[Hoyt]

Been in the woods over 60yrs and never got it..till last Jan., either my immune system is growing weak or I got into some hard core stuff. I saw the juices coming out of the cut vines when I was going up the tree.

The ground and almost every tree around here is covered with it.

[Slickhead]

Best cure Ive found is taking a large knife and cutting off limb above joint on affected area.
Painful at first but itching soon stops.

All kidding aside I get it all the time.

I hate it with a passion!

[Dave Pagel]

I start using a product called Oral Ivy in the spring and keep it up through the hunting season and I have not gotten poison ivy since.  It is a simple liquid and you put a couple of drops in a small glass of water each morning.

I will have to keep some of the other items mentioned around in case I do somehow get it again.

D.P.