Never Get Poison Ivy Again! The Science Explained
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- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
- I poured poison ivy on myself to show you how to never get it yourself! The solution here isn't a magic bullet but there are at least 4 good things to consider when you're out in the woods this year.
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Dad taught us how to ID it the first time one of us got it. In spite of recognizing and avoiding it, we all kept getting it. Years later, I figured it out. The dog was the culprit. She plowed right through the stuff and we hugged and played with her.
Yes, for me as well. Dog runs through it, I pet him, not thinking, I rub my eyes. I had it on my face several weeks, no detergent worked. I very carefully used cotton balls and small amounts of everclear which cleaned off the oils and the rash began to dry up. After that I sprayed mists of everclear on my hands after petting the dog and haven't had it since. I mist arms and legs if I suspect I've had contact.
Yep. My dad washed his dog with dawn after hunting. He's had that happen.
yep!
SHOES, too!
I got it from milking goats 🐐 that were in a new pasture. Took me a few days to figure that out.
I grew up on the family farm, with LOTS of poison ivy. The absolute worst is to burn it. Never burn poison ivy, if you can avoid doing so! You can also get it from clothing that has been exposed to the oil from the plant, even if you never touched the actual plant yourself. So, if you're out in the timber, and you've brushed against poison ivy, you CAN get it from touching the clothing. So, what to do? We'd always go home asap, take the clothing off, put it in the washer immediately, and then take a hot shower with strong lye soap, or Dawn dishwasher soap (it really is the Best!) that way you can get it off of your skin before you have it cause the reaction. Very good video, so thanks for making it!
Thank you, Roger.
100% Roger. This is exactly what we did growing up in Appalachia
One other note tying into it being on our clothes..... Your pets can bring it to you also. If they get the oil on their fur and you give them a big hug......... you can get the Ivy! Be mindful of your pets, especitally while hiking.
We wash of instantly as well and it does the trick my crazy goats love poison ivy it seems to be one of their favorite leaves and in Virginia there is a lot of it
I use colder water to wash it off with. Warmer water opens up your skin more. Let’s more oil into your skin. Cold water and good strong soap!
A sweet, very elderly lady saw my arm when I was having a reaction to poison ivy (I'd stupidly cut it back with clippers and wasn't that careful). She went to her fridge and took out a jar of the nastiest looking liquid I'd ever seen, handed me a paper towel and told me how to brush it on my arm. The treatment was simple, keep the jar handy, and keep patting the liquid onto the rash every time it dried up. The very next day the rash was dry, the itching was gone. What was in the jar? She'd made a very strong tea of fresh St. John's Wort leaves, strained the leaves out, and put the jar of tea in the fridge. I keep my own jar in my fridge now, and it works as well as it did then. She was nearly 100 then, long gone now, but I thank her every time I'm dumb enough to get exposed.
interesting...
Herbalism saves!
Another thing that works well to relieve the rash after it appears is to go into the shower, rub soap all over your rash and make the water as hot as you can stand. Scrub the soapy water into your skin, and use your nails to scratch the skin as hard as you can without tearing your skin too badly (You might get a couple nicks in your skin because the rash tends to be bumpy and your nails might scratch off some of the bumps, so just scratch as hard as possible without doing damage). Rinse and repeat a few times. Then after you get out of the shower, dry your skin and then apply some regular, pharmacy-grade 3% hydrogen peroxide, and let it dry on your skin.
The rash will not immediately go away, but the relief from the itching is fast and amazingly effective. The peroxide might burn a little bit, especially where your skin might have broken slightly, but it is short lived and the relief from the itching and burning is well worth it. Not sure why this works, but my uncle told me about it and I have used it multiple times. It works almost immediately, and you will forget you even got poison ivy rashes within an hour after applying the peroxide.
Jewel weed soap always
You can do the same thing with plantain weed. Boil & simmer it down. Wipe on like the elderly lady said. I am very allergic to poison ivy & have never found anything that works as good as plantain.
I was a landscaper for 15 years. Technu extreme was my saving grace.
Expensive but worth it!
I am super-sensitive to poison ivy, and I'm NEVER without Technu at my house! Awesome product!
tried it all week....hasnt done a thing for me.....followed instructions to a T ...no help at all
just 20 bucks down the drain
@@garyallen383 if you’re already contaminated Technu won’t help much.
It’s mostly effective in removing the oils from your tools and skin before it gets ahold of you
The hairy vines was the one thing I did not know about poison ivy. I removed a HUGE vine from the fence of our house in the winter...
and then discovered that I had covered myself in poison ivy in the process... 🤦♀
A similar thing happened to me. My face swelled up 2 days after clearing up some of these and had to get a steroid shot to clear it up.
I had a similar experience several months ago. I knew to avoid “leaves of three” but had no idea about the “hairy vine” until watching this video. 😮 I ended up with the worst case of poison Ivy I have ever had and can relate to the camera guy’s story.
Oh man I have been ripping that off fence bare handed. Not again I won't thanks
Me too. I tore out old shrubs hairy vine was in twined unfortunately!
As a little child I climbed over a fence completely covered in it and I swelled up like the hunchback of Notre Dame... I woke up and hit my face three seconds before I should have with my hand.... and I couldn't open my eye they fed me a whole bunch of horse pills and I've never gotten poison ivy again. An old Italian lady showed me how to take care of it. Red wine vinegar and salt paste
As someone who is an unwitting expert on getting poison oak, watching you pour that nightmare smoothie over your arm was one of the most horrifying things I’ve ever witnessed. I’ve developed almost a sixth sense for poison oak and it’s amazing how much just seeing poison ivy triggers it too, the same evil lurks beneath 😂
Jonas said the same thing. EVERYONE who has had it bad is very aware of it! :)
We have a lot of oak and sumac here. Both very nasty just like ivy!
If you still go into the woods you may want to read my post above.
@@mitchgraves8197 There are 300 comments now and your "post above" is nowhere to be seen. Next time, consider posting a link to your comment (right-click or long-press on the time stamp of your comment to get the link).
I can't catch ivy ,but oak it fcks me up lol bad
You have to make sure you use DETERGENT not soap. Soap has oils in it, detergents like blue dawn (ultra) have de-greasers.
Yes, Dawn breaks down oil, which is why it works good
Good point. And, very important to know. Thank you.
Benadryl
Nope
@@modquad18 What do you mean "nope"? "Nope" to what? Your reply has no substance.
Since I learned that you have to SCRUB with a washcloth and soap, I haven't had poison ivy rash in many years. And I am extremely sensitive to it. This video is legit.
The best are the gritty mechanic soaps like fast orange or Gojo.
me too
Soap is a oil you need a "detergent" to cut through the oil/sap.
You can use paint thinner or alcohol, as well as kerosene and diesel fuel to dissolve the resin, then wash with soap. One time after spending several weeks in the dense bush, I found a tick on my balls that had grown to the size of an olive. Can't stress enough the importance of thorough hygiene after every day of roughing it through the heavy brush😅
No Drugs necessary !!! Plus those ALWAYS damage the gut microbiome. The OTC Zanfel is AMAZING at removing the oil from the skin at ANY point in time. The relief from itch... even the most severe will happen in seconds after washing with Zanfel. I have Zero affiliation with them, I just have a LOT of gratitude for how well it works
even after you have a pretty dense rash ?? Then what ? How long until the rash clears ??
@@MM-oi6ez Sometimes drugs are necessary for treatment. You shouldn’t medically shame people.
@@toofusnook He didn't say anything about shame, just that drugs aren't necessary. Duh. You shouldn't attempt to put words in people's mouths~
@@deneseiB - I didn’t “put words into” anyone’s mouth. Shame doesn’t work by declaring that it’s what you’re doing.
Drugs ARE necessary in some situations and genuinely useful in others. Trying to declare that use of drugs in these situations is wrong, unnecessary or harmful minimizes other’s suffering and denies the viability of such proactive interventions with problem situations. “Drugs” are neither categorically bad nor unnecessary. The comment to which I was responding declared one and implied the other. That is nonsense AND shames those who utilize said drugs to amend a medical situation.
I'm a land surveyor in Michigan so we see PI almost every day.
You should add to your show that you cannot get the rash by touching someone else with the rash unless they still have oil on them. Basically, the pus from the rash does not transfer the rash. This seems to be a really common misconception. You should also add that you get the rash in area's of your body that have not come into contact with the urushiol. Once your body starts to fight the oil, the response can travel through your body. Otherwise, good info.
As a land surveyor in NC, I was infected with poison ivy, poison oak 12 months a year,
I'm very allergic and have been to the hospital because of the infection the plants caused,
I was once cutting my way up a hill in very thick brush among pine trees, when I noticed these limbs coming off a tree I didn't recognize, it was an 18" pine tree with a HUGE poison ivy vine wrapped around the tree and completely choking it out,
The ivy vine was bigger around than the tree itself, with branches up to over 1 inch in diameter and at least 10' from the tree, forming a thick canopy unlike anything I've ever seen from poison ivy or poison oak!!!
Holysh t! That sounds like a nightmare! I hope you got a better job today!!!
That's incredible! I never saw one that big but I sure believe you! This stuff is evil!
My brother in NC quit his surveying job for the same reason. Became a mapper for the county. Retired with good benefits.
I know exactly what you are talking about. I have a 3 acre property with a lot of non-native invasive plants on it that I've been cleaning up for years. One section and a big tree had a Poison Ivy vine like that. I think it might have been a couple inches in diameter. Not something you could even use loppers on. It wasn't just on the tree either. It spread across the ground and covered a large area. I think the vine is a different variant. The stuff I normally see is on the ground and much smaller. It is easy to confuse Poison Ivy vine with Virginia Creeper. The stems are hairy like that. It would put the fear of god in me during Spring before the leaves came out. Luckily, I found that a lot of what I was seeing was actually Virginia Creeper, which as vines go isn't bad. I have a lot of Asian Bittersweet as well which strangles the trees. It's not poisonous, but, a very damaging non-native invasive plant that spreads around by birds eating the berries.
I've been there in the Philly suburbs...I am an arborist and I've been in many trees where you couldn't see me through the poison ivy 'branches'...
I used to be extremely allergic to poison ivy. We had a cottage on Lake Erie in Wheatley, Ont Canada. There were fields behind the cottages that had lots of poison ivy in them. I could walk down the road in the spring and literally come down with poison ivy that night. My worst case was went to a beach party one night when I was 16 and crawled threw some and didn't know it at the time. The next day I was covered in poison ivy. I had to be hospitalized. I looked like a leper. It took three weeks to get over it that time. Your doctor said there should be a way to stop people from getting it. One year they had these tiny pills that you broke into quarters to start. The first week you took one quarter of a pill daily, the second week 1/2 a pill daily. Third week 3/4 of a pill daily. Fourth week, whole pill til the pills were gone. They were only available one summer. Next summer went to the doctor and they had been pulled from the market supposedly because someone had taken too much at once and had died. I was pissed off because that was the first year I didn't get poison ivy. Today almost all new scripts can kill you and they don't seem to mind, Bring back the poison ivy pill.
Apparently, if u eat it, u become immune. That’s probably what the pill had in it in small doses. It probably has to be injested in very small doses, but u would have to know? Find a doctor that is knowledgeable. Maybe a Native American doctor. They know about plant better than us. They used to burn poison Ivy to deter their enemies. The Native Americans weren’t effected by it. So, they know something. Find an old Native American. They r good ppl with great natural knowledge!!
Or drops! Early 60's a dosing regime 1 drop to 10 in ten days.
Did Wheatley ever explode while you were there?
I took those. Had preventive shots as well.
There's no money in a cure, only treatment. They know how to cure it.
I can relate to Jonas. I accidentally inhaled very little poison ivy whilst pregnant. Worst experience ever 🤢😭 .
My body was leaking fluid out of every cell of my skin. My sheets needed to be changed 2x a day. We wrapped sheets around all my limbs because I was oozing so much liquid. I am definitely not afraid of poison ivy but we no longer burn leaves. That was 22 years ago. Poor Jonas. Horrible experience! Bless you all! Now go outside! 😅
😅
If you still go into the woods you may want to read my post above.
I got a bad case about 5 years ago and even laying on sheets hurt my skin. I put damask table cloths on my bed, as the silky surface felt better. My family thought I was nuts.
The hairy vine was new to me. We are always taught to look for “leaves of three”
The guy who invented Technu was a high school classmate. After several instances of exposure, I heard of it. I used it religiously for years and never had a rash again. The stuff works!
Yes. Amazing stuff. (Tecnu)
Thanks for letting us know! I’m a gardener and have carefully worked with poison ivy all my life (60+yrs) . This year was the first time I’ve ever had more than 2-3 little dots on my skin. It wasn’t horrible but it was enough to make me take a step back!!!😁
We keep Tecnu Oak & Ivy in all the medicine cabinets. It's a cleanser designed to bind to urushiol resin and remove it from the skin. It works well. I'm minimally reactive to urushiol, but my partner is very sensitive.
I find it interesting that in Japan, their lovely lacquer, used on bowls and boxes and chopsticks and Shakuhachi flutes, is made from urushiol resin. They have a native tree, the urushiol tree, that makes far more of the substance than poison ivy. They have a process that, over time, oxidizes the resin, making it harmless. There are individuals who are so sensitive, though, that even the oldest and most oxidized lacquer can still cause a rash.
I play the Shakuhachi (badly) so I needed to know this. It's for this reason I use flutes made from synthetic materials, no urushi lacquer at all. Also, I collect fountain pens, and some, usually from Japan, are lacquered with urushi lacquer. They're some of the most beautiful pens -- Japanese urushi lacquered items in general are well known for their inlay and extremely delicate layered work.
Wow! That's a GREAT tip!
This is one of the most interesting comments that Ive ever read 😲😲😲😎🔥🙏🙏🙏
Very interesting.
+1 for Tecnu. It's the only stuff I have found that works. As a kid, I had some poison ivy rash on some part of my body at all times and had a couple of terrible episodes and one that required a trip to the hospital. Calamine lotion only made it itch more and did nothing to keep the blisters from getting worse. I wish we had Tecnu back then.
Wash cloth, Dawn dish liquid soap, and diluted bleach!! That’s all u need. Dilute bleach by half. 1/4 cup bleach, 1/4 cup water. Put all on cloth and wash the spot once u know u touched it, or if u have it. And keep the product Technu around. Killed vines still retain the poison up to 5 years.
I’m one of the very lucky percentage of people who has no reaction to urushiol. But, ironically, I’m *very allergic* to almost everything else, including cats, newspaper ink, horses and dust mites. My dermatologist did a test year ago, and every single thing she tested showed an allergic response.
As a kid I had the same thing it was actually really bad because I would get so much on me I actually spent a good chunk of my childhood as an actual poisonous person. 😂 I remember that my friends and siblings would get horrible rashes all the time because I was always running through the bush. But I had a severe shellfish allergy 🤔
Also used to get dared to prove it all the time as a kid. So I would chew it, Rub it on my face and arms and be totally fine as if they were normal leaves. But I've also unintentionally caused permanent scarring on people who were really sensitive. 😶
Me too! Dust mites the worse.
Me too, I have been able to lay in it, rub it on me and nothing ever happens. When we were kids everyone around me would be covered in it and red and itchy and I thought I had super powers.
I’m also RH negative blood type and I’ve often wondered if it has anything at all to do with my lack of allergy to the oil. Just out of sheer curiosity, do any of you know if you’re RH neg?
This was very informative. I'm extremely allergic. 2 times my face has swollen so bad my eyes swelled closed due to poison ivy. Also for anyone reading this, the ABSOLUTE WORST thing to do is to burn it!
I have horrible reactions to it also. I had the same experience of having my eyes swollen shut.
If you still go into the woods you may want to read my post above.
Yup, i grew up around it no problem,
Until my dad burned it.
Benadryl and clorox are my new friends.
Any “Mean Green” mechanics hand soap is great to have around, cuts the oil great. Use alcohol too. Both work great! Wash cloth, Dawn dish liquid soap, and diluted bleach!! That’s all u need. Dilute bleach by half. 1/4 cup bleach, 1/4 cup water. Put all on cloth and wash the spot once u know u touched it, or if u have it. And keep the product Technu around. Killed vines still retain the poison up to 5 years.
I remember a kid smoked it and got it in his lungs, real darwin award territory there.
After the resin has soaked in and the body is in autoimmune response, no amount of washing will help, except for temporary relief from the water's cooling effect.
One can, however, do hydrotherapy, which WILL provide immediate and temporary complete relief!!!!! Start with immersing in the hottest water you can tolerate for 1 minute, then switch to the coldest you can tolerate for one minute. At least 3 switches is most effective. (Yes, at first the hot water will feel extremely 'exciting', wrong, and perhaps scary, but don't stop/judge until you've really tried it.)
If you get it bad, be sure to treat whatever you touched. I kept re-exposing myself through the steering wheel on my car and the arms of the chair in my office! Once I cleaned them well, I was finally able to stop reacting.
What did you use to clean them?
@@zoezzzarko1117 Dish soap.
That’s what I must be doing,re-exposing myself!
I got it last week while doing yard work and had it on my face ,hands and arms. Saw the doctor,and took prednisone for a few days (I don’t like the way it makes me feel so I stopped taking it) but It started to dry up after 4 days. I keep getting small little spots that itch like crazy in random places. I did wipe down every place I thought it could be,just not good enough I guess. 😬
I walked in some poison Ivy one summer without knowing it. Next day I put my shoes on by putting each foot up on my chair to tie my shoelaces. Couple of days later, I was getting a mild case on the back of my thighs from sitting on the chair in shorts, touching where my shoes had transferred it to the chair. When I finally figured it out, I felt like a Forensic scientist.
@@PlantsRMyJam it can remain on items FOR YEARS!!!!😮
Felsnaptha as mentioned below is exactly correct. I am highly allergic and I have used Felsnaptha whenever I suspect that I have been exposed. 50+ years experience and calamine (pink) lotion.
Calamine lotion is my hero at least once or twice a year.
I use a paste made of blue dawn dishsaop, with baking soda. Spead it on the exposed skin, and allow it to sit for a minute or so to draw the oil off the skin. Then with a damp wash cloth begin scrubbing the skin while standing in the shower to wash away the soap and baking soda. If you already have a rash, reapeat this process every time itch returns (and I make sure the rash bubbles are busted so the rash dries out faster) And use IVYRest topical immediately after. It may sting at first if you have open sores, but the lidocaine in IVYRest will quickly calm the burn.
Use a washcloth with dish soap and cold water and do it within a couple hours of exposure. The washcloth exfoliates to pull the urushiol out, the dish soap is a degreaser which helps remove the oil, and the cold water keeps the skin pores from opening and absorbing the oil. Urushiol has a similar consistency to axle grease and if you've ever messed with axle grease you know how hard it is to get completely off.
So just do exactly what the video just went over?
The best way to get grease off is to use some vegetable oil, which can then be wiped and/or washed off easily, without scrubbing.
Yep, I remember from high school chemistry we were taught that like dissolves like, so you want to use a similar or lighter oil to dissolve the urushiol.
We used to use mayonnaise to remove latex and oil based paint from hair and skin. Also works on gum, resin etc.
been foraging for years with the terrible secret that i couldn't ID poison ivy. I had been told what it looks like on feildtrips as a kid... but as the tallest kid i was always in back and unable to actually see it. i obvs tried to learn as i started foraging but everytime i thought i learned it someone would say "oh watch out for the poison ivy right there" and i'd never be able to spot it. thank you so much for this seeing that table really helped
The single thing that has helped me the most is the center leaf being longer, like a middle finger.
I’d rather avoid false-positives than miss one and suffer again.
@@firstmkb great way to describe it! 🖕I will always remember now
I love these comments. The humility to admit not being able to spot poison ivy in an area of expertise. And a helpful reply with a great memory device! I know too many people who pretend to know but won’t explain it-just to have the upper hand. Which situation is worse: toxic people or toxic vines? I loved this video and the comments section; it’s fun, knowledgeable, and didn’t trigger any anxiety.
Being a nurseryman I can't relate. Get it bad and you won't have a problem identifying it
I was one of the lucky ones that never reacted to poison oak. Unlucky for me that I didn’t know that the more you get exposed the more likely you are of getting it. Sooo I used to clear it for farmers and rub it on my body to win bets or dares. Then one day as a young adult one of the chickens didn’t want to go into the coop and decided to hide in some poison oak. I went right in and grabbed her like nothing and went about my business for the next couple days. Started out as a little patch on my arm and a few days later I looked worse than poor Joanis. My legs looked about like his, including both my arms, half my chest, most my stomach and half my back…what fun. Didn’t complain one bit when the Dr pulled out the needle and stuck my backside with steroids. If only the internet had come around a bit sooner.
That’s a great (and terrible) story. Thanks for sharing.
I didn't know that. I used to play in the woods as a kid and touched it a lot, never got a reaction. Now I'll try to avoid it extra 😅
Yours is the story that worries me. I have been pulling poison ivy out with my bare hands for years, I can make a 1 meter high pile of poison ivy and I'll have just a very small reaction. People keep warning me this might change, but why would it suddenly change after years, even decades, of doing this? I get a tiny rash, or at worst a small rash, like a red forearm or something.
The woods in CT are carpeted with a solid mat of poison ivy, when you mountain bike thru it, the second, third and forth biker is basically riding in a rain of poison ivy.. The first bike turns it into confetti.
I find that the more often I get it, the less of a reaction I have, as long as not too much time has elapsed between exposures.
Everyone is different, my sister has an extreme reaction to the smallest exposure. My kids have no reaction. Everyone is different so just be careful.
@@UntamedScience I ran across an article on cleaning a swordfish that proves why some people who clean a swordfish get poison ivy symptoms. Apparently bacteria on the swordfish put out a chemical that mimics the same symptoms as urushiol.
I had a customer who answered the door with her daughter. They both had red splotchy skin in places. She apologized for their appearance and said it really itched. She said she went to 2 doctors and they didn't know what it was. I noticed she had men working in the yard and she had a golden retriever. I asked her if she had poison ivy on her property. She said yes. I asked her if she let her dog outside. She said yes. I asked her are you affectionate with your dog. She said yes. I said i think you have poison ivy. It was clear as day to her then. 2 doctors, eh?
TWO GREAT TRICKS
1) if out hiking, bring a pack of alcohol wipes to wipe skin after. Helps to neutralize oil.
2) if you do get rashing. Make a mix of baking soda and vinegar and scrub open blisters with a scrub brush (I use non scratch dish one). Once blisters are open, use spray bottle of vinegar on area to kill oils(feels like peroxide on open wound)but more natural. Repeat if you miss spots. Should be gone pretty quickly.
I used to get poison ivy all the time growing up, it got to a point where I guess I built up a tolerance or something and didn't get it any more
Ivy league
More exposure less resistance
I am not allergic to it, neither are my relatives that are blood related. We grew up in it. So i don't know if it is genetic or getting tolerance. I think for us it's genetic because i have never had poisen ivory rash even as a child but i do stay away from stinging nettles. Those are torture.
What works for me is pretreating my skin with dish soap. If I know I'll be performing activities that may risk poison ivy/oak/sumac contact, I simply coat my skin with a thin layer of dish soap, and let it dry. This provides a barrier and it is also helpful in washing off if I notice I've gotten into the thick of it.
I do the same before working on my truck. Afterwords the grease and oil wash off easily.
Amazing!!! Thanks!!! 😊
Grew up a quarter mile from a woods walking path that had nettles and jewel weed growing everywhere. As kids we quickly learned the difference in the leaves, and that nettles burn, but jewel weed gel from the stem can help relieve the stinging and itching of the nettles. (Fun note, jewel weed leaves work great for making little leaf boats with a pebble in the middle to float down the stream!)
My older brother had an ex girlfriend who didn't know what nettles were. While going for a walk we pointed to a big patch of nettle plants. She goes "What, here?" and plunges her arm in and rubs it around the plants. We both gasped. She goes "Really? These? Right here?" She had no reaction to them. Only person we've ever met that didn't get a stinging, itchy feeling.
I can tell you from personal experience, opossums are also susceptible to poison ivy/poison oak rashes. I have a pet possum and l let him out on the side of the 15 freeway in a pull out area in southern California about a year ago to go to the bathroom and he got all up in some poison oak, which I am very familiar with, and within a couple of days, his poor little hands and feet were completely red and oozing and he could barely walk for about a week. Happy to report he has fully healed and is now doing great. I think it's likely because opossum's hands and feet are not covered in fur and there skin is very soft and sensitive, almost like human or primate skin as opposed to a dog's paws or a deer's hooves. God bless.
Do you still have him ? I know they do not live very long....3 yrs ? I currently have a feral one that has gotten used to interacting with me.I met him when he was barely weaned ( never saw the mother , she may have gotten killed.)
OMG do they GROW FAST ! He is perhaps 6 ? wks old & getting big !
Jonas' reaction was from the oil in the smoke from the woods. I've seen it many times on people that either had a bonfire or were burning brush and didn't think about it. My daughter and myself are extremely allergic and need the steriod pak. We have scars. My sons don't seem to react much.
I grew up around it no problem,
Until
My dad burned it...
Benadryl and clorox my new friends when i get around it.
My husband gets it bad I can walk through roll around a bit and don't get it. My daughter is 13 hasn't gotten it yet knock wood hopefully she doesn't
@@tanyasteers4802
The risk is that your immune system may learn from the exposure at some later time, and then you'll become allergic to it. It's not something to count on, as the experience of hanving a reaction isn't just a curiosity.
Easy identification tip from botantist: leaves of 3 AND Think of a playground slide, one side has jagged "steps" and the opposite edge will be smooth like a slide
If you want to get sticky grease off your skin, put vegetable oil on it first, which will dilute the grease, and then wash it with detergent and water. I would expect it would help with the poison ivy oil too.
55 years ago, I attended a Navy school in a bucolic area of Maryland along with several other young couples. A major diversion was an informal competition of gathering black raspberries. By the time my wife finished her degree to join me, most of the bushes were picked over.
However, one large of perfectly ripe berries stood in defiance with a heavy load of unmolested raspberries -
- guarded by broad apron of shiny poison ivy leaves. That needed a plan.
I'd previously done decontaminations and put the knowledge to use.
When my wife arrived, we converted our bathroom into a decontamination station, wore old clothes with bags over shoes and tape around ankles, wrists, etc. The main idea is to undress without touching the exterior of our clothes and shoes when we later undressed with brown soap and a shower at the ready.
Then we went boldly where no one had been before -- gathering several pints of perfect raspberries.
Yes, we started late, but easily picked the most.
Thank you john, 10/10 story, what degree did your wife earn? Who picked the most berries, you or her? Did you throw-out the raspberries that weren't perfectly shaped?
soap isn't wise, it's an oil, it won't remove the sap/oil, you should have used detergent.
So thankful to be in the few percent that doesn't react to prison ivy
For the auto mechanics; If you take a stick approximately 1 1/2 - 2 inches in diameter, get it good and wet. Hold it with one and and twist your hands around the stick. Then switch hands. Keep wetting the stick. Sounds weird I know, but my dad taught that little trick when was just a lad, and I still use it today. I never inquired how or why it works. Or you can wash your hands with soap and water. That stuff you can't get off? Try the stick. Keep it wet. My point is that if it gets auto grease and grime off, I am wondering about poison ivy oil.
The problem is you can brush against it without realizing it until you start to break out days later. I used to go out in the fields on the farm and when there was dew on the plants or rain it would soak through my clothing. Your not going to stop and identify every plant you brush against.
ID difference between PoisonIvy and BoxElder seedlings that has helped, since they look so similar and we have both, everywhere, is that PI as a vine has random branches around the stem (with the leaves) and BoxElder branches at 180 deg in pairs, so when you look at the center, the leaf stems come out in a cross.
There's a color difference as well. Box elder is a yellowish green, PI is a darker, cooler green.
I have a lot of both at my place. Scared me at first. I still have to check carefully because I've found poison ivy growing up and around the box elder. I also have clematis vines in random places. Unfortunately, I killed off a fair bit of clematis before I realized what it was.
Poison Oak is probably worse IMO I've seen massive trunks on it in California, but the resin dripping off of them is a gorgeous dark black sap that can hang off of vines and looks like nothing else in the forest.
That gorgeous black sap is used in some Japanese bowls and boxes as a black lacquer finish. It is dried, so it doesn't transfer well, but if you are sensitized, handling these items can cause a reaction.
@@davidberrien9711 wow good to know
Yikes! I had a very similar outbreak on my legs, similar to Jonas. It was like I had flesh eating disease for a month. It also ended up popping up all over my body. I believe it got into my blood stream and then just started popping up all over. Wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
That's your own allergic response, it's not an infection spreading thru your blood stream.
I would. Perhaps you don't have any real enemies.
I used to get poison ivy constantly, but ever since I learned that you have time to wash off the urushiol, I haven't had a rash once.
You need a rough rag and some soap. The blending was crazy because of spill potential.
Nicely done and much appreciated, as always!👍✌
it's better to use a washcloth or t-shirt to wipe the ivy juice away from the body,not just your hand. any soap but even just water is better than nothing if you use a washcloth.
Wouldn't some Georgia Pine gum spirits of turpentine be effective in removing the resin in conjunction with the soap?
Wowee! Seems like that would also remove the skin, too!
The only thing is there are many solvents which penetrate the skin DMSO, Acetone, paint thinner, lacquer thinner, turpentine, alchohol, gasoline etc. Any of these might carry it futher into your pours/skin/blood. Solvents are often used in drug delivery systems, if your exposed to solvents avoid toxins, poisons, insecticides, weed/foliage killers etc.
@@dananorth895 interesting, that does make sense. I did use gasoline once and it worked, but again, maybe I was lucky. I have washing my hands with mineral spirits and even paint remover for years, I was furniture refinisher.
Respectfully, her advice is very myopic. So to treat my poison ivy I have to go see a general physician which could take days or weeks, and then that physician gives me a referral to a specialist, which could be more days and weeks until that appointment comes up. They'll see me for 5 minutes and then charge my insurance company $5,000 of which only $3,500 will be covered. We're on our own people.
Sad but true. Insurance middlemen make tons of money and add no value. Death panels indeed. Current medical systems are often not helpful, and/or extremely expensive. Share knowledge among the people!
Prescription hydrocortisone cream is like $15 bucks at Kroger. Any doctor can prescribe it. A quick $90 stop at an urgent care clinic is all you need. Then you have the cream for later uses.
Took a one minute pit of advice (wash it off thoroughly) and made the explanation take over 17 minutes.
I had a REALLY bad reaction when I was a kid, but since then I havent had it once, and I go on hikes regularly. I know FOR SURE I've come in contact with it recently but nothing ended up happening. I know allergies can come and go as you age, but this was one I was really grateful for leaving behind. Knock on wood. I won't know if I'm allergic again until it's too late. Better to just play it safe and not tempt the poison plant gods.
I used to get it as a kid as well until one time I got it so bad I had to have steroids injected into my neck (true story). That was about 40 years ago and I never got it again. I live on 25 acres with tons of trees, plenty of poison ivy and oak, Im always cutting and splitting wood, I also burn a lot. Not sure why but I don't seem to get it anymore and my 21 year old son does not get it either. I cant help but to believe there IS some kind immunity to it.
@@jareds6611 there are immunities to it. There was a pill that was taken in weekly small doses. It was banned because someone took too much. Actually, the pill may still be around? But if u eat poison Ivy in small doses does the same, but only a nutritionist, herbal doctor, or poison Ivy specialist would know the dose amount. Ur body builds an immunity to it or antibodies. Native Americans didn’t get it for that reason and could burn poison Ivy against their enemies. They r knowledgeable on it. Find yourself an old Native American herb book or an old Native American who is knowledgeable on it. They know their plants!!
@@jareds6611 Yeah maybe if you get it super bad (like you and I did), your body builds up anti bodies or something to prevent that from happening again. Probably not everyone, since I've known people who had it bad more than once, but maybe we are the lucky percentage.
Very fitting video, considering I'm sitting here looking at the small rashes on my arms. Yeah... slipped up and didn't get it washed off in time.
This might be a bit radical, but I've found that blowing very hot air from a blow dryer onto the rash soothes it for about 12 hours. It doesn't make the rash go away, it just relieves the itching. For me, anyway. Great video.
YOU'RE THE ONE! I thought I was the only one who knew this: Scalding heat kills the itch instantly. Hot water, hair dryer, yesterday I used an iron. Whatever - I'll trade that awful, exquisite itch for a mild burn any day.
I never used to react to it, then moved to a farm and after a couple years of digging it out and yes actually burning piles of it, I had a reaction on arms and legs. After researching and learning you actually develop a reaction to it instead of an immunity, I am much, MUCH more careful now. I really hate the plant now.
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I had a poison ivy rash on both angles and hair no longer grows there and halfway up my calf’s which were not covered in rash, so the poison ivy killed the hair follicle 6 inches away from the rash. So it was a pleasant side effect too.
I used to think I wasn't allergic to poison ivy, as I had never had a reaction. When I was in my early 20s I used this (supposed) fact to my advantage and helped out my grandparents by clearing some poison ivy plants out of their yard. Even with gloves, I had it all up and down my arms and legs for two weeks. Even that, however, was not as bad as my experience last summer. I'm in my mid-thirties now and have been much more cautious since that first reaction, but I get poison ivy growing in my yard constantly. I suspect that birds eat the berries in the nearby woods and then the seeds land in my grass in their droppings, because it's randomly throughout my yard and not in the same place year after year (so it's not just regrowing from roots if I took it out incompletely). Last summer I spent the entirety of June with a case where I had clearly originally knelt on it, as the first rash was on my knee, but had my immune system really dig in and start popping up rashes all over my body for weeks afterward. Then a few weeks after it had faded I got basically the same thing AGAIN where I had an initial rash on my toes (stepped in it somewhere I assume) and had the travelling rash. Still have scars almost a year later from both cases.
Unfortunately, the problem is that it's really easy to miss the tiny plants growing in my grass. I'm really careful about washing if i knowingly encounter any and dig out the plants I find, but now I'm so scared of my backyard that I won't go out barefoot without carefully watching every single step, and my shoes get dumped by the door anytime I get in from yard work.
I was not effected by it as a kid. I would run through it all the time to get the basketball. Never got a rash.
As an adult who's falling apart, I'm not going to test if that's still the case.
@@ianashmore9910 I've never had it either and I walk along creek beds all the time. I don't really think about it but I also don't push it by pulling anything out etc.
I also never had it as a kid and get it SO BAD as an adult. I have autoimmune diseases, I think this has something to do with it. I wish that more people would talk about this- I want to know more about the connection/cause.
I may just be part of the 15%, I've spent a lot of time wandering through forests and thick brush, never took the time to learn how to identify poison ivy or poison oak and I've never had any sort of rash from contact with plants.
Be mindful of others though. If you get it on your hands, clothes, and shoes, you will spread the sticky oils all over the place and others who are allergic can get the terrible rash
Fels naptha soap!!
Where I grew up there was a lot of poison ivy!
My sister and I were allergic to it massively! Mom would Paint us with calamine. Then she met a lady who lived on a farm and she told mom about the Fels naptha soap! If you wash with it right away, you won't have a break out.
And YES, DO NOT BURN IT. Everyone down wind will break out with the rash! 💖
I never got poison ivy each . My mother used to pull it out by hand with no problem .
I grew up in the woods of western PA, and the poison ivy there would absolutely cover the forest floor in some places with stalks 3-4 feet tall and gigantic leaves. As a kid, I would wade through it without much thought, and I rarely developed more than a very slight itch. However, that all came to an end in third grade, when I guess my years of developing T cells finally caught up to me, and I became hyper-allergic almost overnight. I got a really bad rash on my hand that ended up in a GIANT painful blister that was as big in diameter as my palm and almost two inches in height. I looked like a leper, and couldn't use my hand for weeks. After that, even standing downwind of large poison ivy groves could cause a reaction. Thankfully, I found a remedy that worked for me: if I could get home quick after an exposure and wash with Pine Tar soap, I could usually avoid most of the rash and itch.
I had a blister almost as big that left a scar on the back of my wrist that was visible for three decades.
The pharmacy sells a wash for poison ivy that works wonders. Even washing with Dawn didn't help, but the wash took away the itch immediately.
As a kid in California i used to get rashes that spread HEAD TO TOE... (genitals being the worst!). I was even hospitalized twice for it... im not sure what happened but as i grew up i never got poisoned again, i figured i must have developed an immunity.
Yep, same here.
I’ve had a number of bad reactions over the years. Not fun, makes going into the woods stressful at times.
If you still go into the woods you may want to read my post above.
Got it many times as a kid. Finally one day a family member told me to scrape it with a butterknife enough to barely open the rash. Then sit in an iodine bath. That actually stopped the itching and healed me within days. No itching. I couldn't believe it.
I had poison ivy so bad a few years ago it was over about 50% of my skin.
It just kept spreading.
Finally a passerby suggested Chlorox bleach. I thought that sounded really crazy & that it would burn something awful.
Finally it got so bad i tried the bleach. It worked! It didnt burn at all & I got relief right away & it was all gone in a couple days with repeat application.
Also, the best thing for removing car grease from hands or clothes is automotive hand cleaner.
There is a Japanese maple tree that has leaves that look like poison ivy.
Poison ivy grows as a vine, not a bush or tree.
My brother a cousin and I walked through a brush pile fire. With in a hour my mom was taking him to get treated for poison ivy. My brother and I never got it but we didn't know he was that bad. Also we didn't know there was any poison ivy in the brush that was burning. I'm not sure if any of my nephews are allergic to it. I don't have kids to know.
Awesome video. I grew up getting it all my life as a kid, one year to the point my legs went septic looking similar to your cameraman. It’s purely anecdotal but I kept bottles of isopropyl around forever after that. I don’t think the alcohol helped but learning to identify it definitely did, I haven’t have it since. I’ve heard about the 7 year itch I don’t know how true that is.
My grandfather once used a torch to clear weeds and vines off the chain link fence, but it contained poison sumac. The smoke permeated his clothes, got into his eyes, and he inhaled it. He ended up in the hospital and almost died.
I've always gotten a horrible rash from poison ivy. When I was a kid I discovered that when I applied hot water, as hot as you can stand it to the rash, afterwards, you had several hours till the itch came back. It also helped draw out the blisters and dry them up faster. Years later someone told me told to hurry and take a tepid shower using Fels-Naptha laundry soap and you won't get it. The hot water smears the oil around too much so tepid is best. Ever since, when I see I've gotten into it, I hurry to the shower where I scrub with the bar itself and have never gotten it since.
Anyone else feel weirdly uncomfortable touching their face while watching this video?
I’m picking my nose.
😂😂 most definitely
I itching all over.
There is a problem with the title. It has always been known that poison ivy deposits oil on the skin that causes irritation and washing it off is the best remedy. The title implies that there is a way to become immune to poison ivy oils' effect, when the "way" was to get a full body scrub in the shower and still get some rash, albeit a small one. That isn't a real solution as most people do not carry a biohazard cleanup station when they're out exploring in the woods.
FYI, this wasn't mentioned in the video, but Zanfel scrub actually works to make the rash, even a bad one, go away. It's sold at most drug stores, and it is expensive (patented), but it does actually work. As someone who has had horrible poison ivy reactions in the past, I'm no longer worried about hiking around it, because I know there's a ready way out of weeks of suffering/itching. Systemic steroid pills (as shown in the video) have many short- and long-term side-effects, and you have to take the for a while. Zanfel supposedly unbinds the urushiol from the skin, even after the rash has formed. In my experience, the rash will dry up, scab over, and stop itching within about 24 hours after scrubbing with Zanfel, and then just heal nicely from there.
Fascinating video. My sympathies for Jonas Stenstrom. I've had cases of contact dermatitis far worse. The best "treatment" for poison ivy is to avoid it. As a young man I learned how to identify this trickster in all its variants, avoided going into wooded grasslands, and never petting outdoor cats or dogs. My last case of poison ivy was about 30 years ago. I was walking down a sidewalk with my young son in Williamsburg VA (Poison Ivy Central). A neighbour was weeding her garden and had thrown poison ivy cuttings onto the sidewalk. My son stepped through the poison ivy. I picked him up. I ran home. I undressed us both, turning our clothing inside out straight into a washing machine. We got into the shower and scrubbed and scrubbed. He was fine. I broke out with contact dermatitis all over. The best treatment is to avoid urushiol. I did. I moved to Switzerland! No poison ivy here.
We have a home outside of Ottawa Canada in a rural area. Poison ivy (does not get big here) has taken over virtually all of the forest edges, and almost the entire perimeter of the house.
We have a method to handle exposure - mechanics orange hand cleaner with small/not sharp grit, followed by a shower. It's worked just all the time.
Last year, when the poison ivy had all died back, my son insisted on digging down against the foundation about 18". No gloves, and sleeveless shirt through sand. This was to find a plastic water line that we use during the warm climates to feed my garage, and a bit of soil settling had sheered it off, and we wanted to reattach it.
2-3 days later, he started to swell and produce the characteristic rash. Over 100% of his body (yes, including those bits), and it was so bad that his eyes were swollen almost completely shut. His face looked like he lost a heavyweight boxing match.
And remember, he hadn't contacted a single leaf - it was from the root mass in the sand.
He went to his GP, and he had NEVER seen such an extreme case, and he had to call into the local hospital for advice.
As a consequence, he was given very high dose cortisone tablets (vastly stronger than OTC), with VERY strict instructions to take a specific high dose for exactly one week, a medium dose for exactly one week, and a lower dose for the next week. No skipping a dose under ANY circumstances.
It was a very strong steroid dose, and screwing around can lead to even more severe consequences. No joke.
The inflammation/rash started to subside about midway through the first week, was completely gone until the final week.
He didn't quite make it to the tubing, this time we're going to wear body armor and use a plastic shovel so he doesn't have to go barehanded.
Excellent report: educational, thorough, and entertaining. The urushiol “poison” can be acquired by secondary sources such as hunting beagle fur, the handle of a shovel, and-the worst-smoke from burning poison ivy. The spectrum of sensitivity is real. My first exposure as a nine-year-old was like your cameraman’s: a severe burn-like, weeping rash from head to toe, causing tremendous swelling especially in the face. Scrubbing affected skin-not just slathering the degreaser detergent-is crucial in preventing a rash. In case of rash development, immediate application of mometasone (Elocon) 0.1% topical corticosteroid cream once a day is highly effective treatment. Hope this helps someone.
My husband gets it every summer but we learned that if you vigorously wash the exposed area at least three times with cold water and Dawn the reaction will be either minimal or nonexistent. I never react to it. One of the few areas I win.
I'm pretty fortunate. I used to get it when i was younger but as i got older it stopped affecting me. I haven't had poison ivy in years. I honestly can't even remember the last time.
I've lived on the west coast for my whole life. I am extremely allergic to Poison Oak. In the Boy Scouts, we learned the same saying, "Leaves in 3, let it be. If it has fuzz, it's a berry." It seems like the only difference between Poison Oak
and Ivy is, Poison Oak leaves look more like Oak Tree leaves.
Thank you for posting this. I learned a lot. I will bring dish soap and maybe automotive hand soap with me when I go camping.
That’s funny because that’s actually how I’ve treated poison ivy for a while now. I saw something a long time ago that said it’s the oils so if you take dish soap and scrub all of your skin with it on a rag it tends to keep me from getting it real bad. Glad to know more people are finding out about this. I ripped a poison ivy plant out with my bare hands on accident a couple years ago and scrubbed like crazy and I just barely got it on my fingers and I normally get it super bad.
I got tons of poison ivy growing up. I found the best way to wash the oil off is goop hand cleaner. Gojo is a closeish second. You work the cleaner into dry skin, wipe the bulk of it off with a rag, then wash with soap to get the rest off.
The goop will take that car grease off your hands in under a minute without having pumice too. All the years I wrenched on tractors for a living my hands were only dirty during the day. I never had mechanic hands going out on the town.
In my experience is that the best way to get oil/grease off of your skin is to start with _dry_ skin, and rub in liquid soap -- then wash off the soap oil mixture.
When it's dry, the soap will do the best job of binding to the oil. once your oily skin is wet, the soap doesn't do as good of a job mixing with the oil.
I am 67 years old and have never known what poison ivy looks like, and never actually gave it a thought. As kids, we were outside barefoot all summer, played in the woods, ran through fields, etc. As an adult, I live in the sticks and spend a lot of time outdoors and in the woods, and I have never apparently come in contact with poison ivy or maybe I simply don't react to it.
I have LOTS of poison ivy all over my yard, so I think contact for me is inevitable. Therefore when I come in from mowing or yard work, I usually scrub exposed areas with dish detergent and baking soda with a microfiber washcloth. Then I finish with alcohol soaked cotton pads. Also do this after petting my outdoor cat who rolls in it. After a huge horrible 3 week long breakout over most of my body in places I care not to mention about 3 yesrs ago, so far all I've had were little weak patches on my arm now and then that I continued to rub down with alcohol that never really caused too much discomfort. In addition to that I've created an antihistamine reducing herbal rub that mitigates any swelling and itching. I recently got 10 fire ant bites and used this whenever the itching and swelling would start up. and it greatly reduced and relieved it. Last year I got one bite and had to go to the hospital from my reaction that led to a month long recuperation. However, I still love Nature and will continue risking these little inconveniences for it. 🌱💕😢
Not a Doctor, my son was eat up with poison ivy on his hands, calamine lotion and other remedies did not work. He came to me asking what to do. I warned him this would burn but scrub his hands and arms with rubbing alcohol then pop the blisters with a needle and immediately scrub with rubbing alcohol again. It started clearing up quickly and has now become our go to for poison ivy ever since.
Thanks for this information! Here in Northern California we have a native plant that absolutely cures poison oak. It is called “Soap plant” or “soap root”. It grows from a fibrous bulb about 6 inches under the ground. When sliced the bulb oozes a thick substance that when put over the rash, will seal & dry it. Typically the rash is almost gone in 24 hours. The Native Americans also used it for washing, hair combs & for fishing.
My dad would always reach under the car and rub grease next to a poison ivy reaction and then wash the entire area. I used to think the grease is what treated it. Only later I found out, if you’ve cleaned the area well enough to remove the grease, you’ve cleaned it well enough to remove the poison ivy oil as well.
When I was a young girl I went to a girl scout campout. The smoke from the fire had the PI oils in it and I got blisters all over my face. Now, when I have been in the woods I ALWAYS bathe after and vigorously scrub with soap and water multiple times. I leave my shoes outside, strip my clothes off and wash them immediately, and wash my dog if she is with me. I also ask my husband to do the same. I may wind up with a dot or two of blisters, and if I do I repeat the vigorous scrubbing on the affected area. I HATE POISON IVY!!!!!
So glad that Joey from Friends finally grew up and became a science communicator. 😋
While I was a child, I could run through the stuff, pull the vines right off the tree, while never getting it. Now as an adult, I have literally gotten it 2 times within the same month due to it growing throughout my yard, and under my gravel driveway.
as a gorilla grower for 30 years i found you can neutralize poison oak with baking soda if you dust good in the first 2 hours of contact !!!
I hope there's some help with poison Ivy . I get it quite often. The worst was from smoke from burning it when I was cleaning up my yard. 😢
Great video, really enjoyed it. I’m one of these individuals who gets a severe reaction to poison ivy. This is until I noticed one summer about 20 yrs ago while on a vitamin supplement to help with my varicose veins. I had just arrived home after being out and was in our yard talking to my husband while he was working pulling weeds and doing some trimming and gardening. As usual I couldn’t just watch as we’re talking so I started helping.
Now, he’s dressed practically as a bee keeper to protect himself where I’m in shorts and a sleeveless shirt after just running a few errands. He goes inside afterwards and showers, where I forgot and got busy with our kids and life. Fast forward the next morning my husband has full on poison ivy! Me, not a thing.
A few weeks later while on a beach vacation I usually burn if I’m not on top of re application of suntan lotion, as does my family. Though this trip I didn’t burn at all. Another yard cleaning where this time my kids all got poison ivy (yet everyone was wearing gloves and long sleeves etc.), again, I got nothing. So I looked what was in the supplement I was taking. This was verified this with a friend who was doing research at the time for the National Institute of Health on ZINK. Since then I take zinc daily in the spring going through until a couple of good frosts and I encourage my family (and anyone else that will listen) to take zinc before doing yard work or being in the sun and to continue for a few days afterwards just to be safe. Zinc has healing properties which helps in the healing of your skin some how. Any dermatologist I spoken to hasn’t heard of this, though none have said to stay away or not to continue. They all find it interesting. Btw, my husband only started taking the zinc about 10 yrs ago after realizing that showering immediately after yard work with lava soap and washing his clothes spin hot water wasn’t preventing him from still getting poison ivy. As someone stated in the comments, it was likely on his sneakers.
Anyway, consider looking more deeply into taking zinc prior to yard work or being out in the sun. Hope my story is helpful. Thanks again for your video.
PSA: as noted in the video, mango has urushiol in it. As a teen in Hawaii, i once helped uncle harvest his mango trees. Some time later the rash came, and it covered my entire body. It blistered, face became swollen...it lasted for a cpl weeks and they were the worst couple of weeks in my life. Do NOT handle mass quantities of mango without protection and properly cleaning afterwards.
I have a horrible reaction to PI, but I learned from a contractor that if you are exposed that you actually have several hours to get it off your skin, but you need to be thorough and not just wash, but wash several times and with a wash cloth that you rinse each time, this has served me quite well over the years. On and yes, wash your clothes! too!
Poison Ivy didn't bother me when I was a kid, but I finally got it as a teenager. As it happened, we had a trip to the beach planned and after a few hours in the saltwater, the rash dried up. I've been using saltwater ever since to deal with the itching and clear the rash.
Dawn is great for it, but you can also use rubbing alcohol to get the oil off. There is also a poison ivy gritty soap tubes that work really well.
Other important detail for IDing poison ivy (in my experience - your milage may vary). The leaves are almost always GLOSSY. Not all the leaves are, but if you see a lot of the three leaved vine, there should be SOME leaves with a high gloss.
Try Goop some time. You put it on first and after you do your work - or cover yourself in poison ivy - you clean off with a layer of Goop (lanolin).
While stone age man's got it covered, his kid is walking around the ivy pour barefoot.
Once you have red blistered skin the itch can be gruesome. Hot water or hot air from a hair dryer will help reduce the itchy feeling for a couple of hours.
Remember there could be dry poison ivy leaves in the leaf litter. Don't play in the leaves.
I am “hyper-allergic” according to the “doctors”😂
Have had it multiple times from head to toe!
Was reinfected about 9 months later while living in the city. I wore a jacket that I had worn while I was in the area of the ivy 9 months prior.
Another time I got it while being parked on the side of the road in the woods for a three day job I never went into the woods, but I remember there was lots of pollen in the air. I can only deduce that some of that pollen patch the leaf in blue in the air and then landed on me . Different people have different tolerances for the poison ivy oil and my tolerance is very low. I’m enjoying watching this video