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This video about how to wash off poison ivy changed my life. The key is that urushiol acts a lot like invisible motor oil in terms of how it sticks to your sk

by wprl 4y ago

This video about how to wash off poison ivy changed my life. The key is that urushiol acts a lot like invisible motor oil in terms of how it sticks to your skin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oyoDRHpQK0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oyoDRHpQK0

csours 4y ago
The answer in the video is Dawn liquid dishwashing soap and strong scrubbing with a cloth. I want a product that can show me where the oil is on my skin. I'm strongly affected by poison ivy. I sweat a lot, so I'm constantly touching my face. I've had bad rashes on my nose, eyebrows, and ears, amongst other places. I use a soapy cloth every time I think I've been in contact and I still miss places.
- aliqot 4y ago
  why do a spot wash when it costs about a penny to wash from head to toe with it? it's worth it. also, naphtha bar soap works really well.
  - csours 4y ago
    It's not a matter of washing head to toe, it's a matter of scrubbing thoroughly enough everywhere and not missing a spot.
  - ImprovedSilence 4y ago
    My grandparents always swear by using "brown soap" if you think you've been exposed to poison ivy. aka Fels-Naptha. It's a pretty strong soap, but I don't think it contains naphtha anymore.
    - aliqot 4y ago
      unless the formula has changed drastically in the past 6 months, it works still. also works great to pre-soap a stain on your pants
  - latchkey 4y ago
    I assume you're referring to fels naptha bar soap? Despite the name, it doesn't actually have naphtha in it any longer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fels-Naptha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fels-Naptha Even worse, it is almost impossible to find these days. The brand was acquired and the company that bought it is still ramping up production and distribution. Source: I emailed the company. Actually just bought some Zote (also now owned by the same company), just yesterday, to test it out... but from what I hear, I don't think it is as good.
- micahdeath 4y ago
  I haven't had luck with this, but it appears I'm allergic to something in dawn as it causes an itchy skin rash without having poison ivy =/
  - chefandy 4y ago
    I believe any dish detergent should have similar efficacy.
  - ldoughty 4y ago
    The video says that the most important thing to do is wash every possible surface with friction (wet wash cloth or luffa) and to be exceedingly thorough in it. Additives didn't seem as important, though it probably is good to use some kind of soap.
  - NumberWangMan 4y ago
    Strong detergents like Dawn can trigger eczema -- they destroy the tight junctions between skin cells and let foreign materials through your skin that your immune system reacts to. I've had great luck switching to milder traditional soap made from lye and fat, which isn't strong enough chemically to do this. Discovering this site was a godsend for my son, who had severe eczema as a baby: https://www.solveeczema.org https://www.solveeczema.org I would also get itchy skin hands after washing dishes, now, my skin feels great. I've not tried using traditional soap for washing off poison ivy, though it does work for other kinds of grease, so I would expect it's ok as long as you scrub well enough with a cloth or something.
- mannykannot 4y ago
  That would be ideal, but in its absence I have had success (mostly) using a barrier cream to keep the oils from reaching my skin in the first place. I buy it from a marine equipment store, where it is sold for people working with glass fiber and resins.
- eth0up 4y ago
  >I want a product that can show me where the oil is... https://www.poison-ivy.org/seeleaf-detection-wipes https://www.poison-ivy.org/seeleaf-detection-wipes edit: PS: skip the dawn and use Gojo (the stuff from the autoparts store), or both.
marymkearney 4y ago
A friend sent me that video a couple years ago, after seeing how much time I spend in the woods. Changed my life too! He's right that scrubbing hard with a cloth is the most important part. For spot exposures mid-hike, a hard scrub with plain water in a stream or river, even without soap, has worked for me. A stone or a piece of bark can work as your scrubber. Better than your hand or your shirt. I swear that guy's saved me weeks of agony. Thanks for sharing.
dec0dedab0de 4y ago
I used to end up at the doctor every time I got poison Ivy, becuase it was so out of hand. That is until I took the time to understand urishol, and invest in "extreme green power hand scrub" which used to be called mean green soap, but they got in a trademark dispute with a bigger company. extreme green power hand scrub is the same ingredients as zanfel, which is like $40 for a tiny tube. I keep tub of it in my shower and any time I see it starting, or think I may have come in contact I scrub the crap out of it, and it goes away in a few days. I haven't had a major breakout in well over a decade, and I reccommend it to everyone whenever the topic of poison ivy oak sumac or cashews comes up.
- hackernewds 4y ago
  how do y'all come in contact with poison ivy so often?
  - wantoncl 4y ago
    Live in the south. I have tons of it in my yard, and I'm genetically incapable of recognizing it by sight. I've gotten it 3 or 4 times in the past 10 years, and it's really annoying. I have some other type of vine, it's maybe kudzu but I'm not sure, that has completely enveloped trees, fences, climbing up my house. It's certainly intertwining with poison ivy and all the other plants and could very well pick up the oil from it. There's an old movie called The Day of The Triffids, about walking/ambulatory plants, and you could shoot a remake of that in my yard and probably not need special effects. Kudzu can grow so fast you can almost see it in real time.
  - irrational 4y ago
    For us, we moved into a house that has about an acre of forest land. We’ve been trying to clear it out so the kids don’t come in contact with it while playing back there.
barake 4y ago
I have a very severe poison ivy allergy. The techniques in that video are the only way to stay out of trouble. Three things work for me, in order of escalation: 1. Rubbing alcohol 2. Dawn dishwashing soap and scrubbing 3. Mean Green hand cleaner and more scrubbing
lyjackal 4y ago
Same here. I dump all my clothes in the laundry and scrub down in the shower and that’s prevented bad reactions since. Occasionally I miss small spots
bolangi 4y ago
You can treat the rash with a paste made of St Johns Wort powder with a little water. It calms down the itching for a couple hours.
simple10 4y ago
This video was a game changer for sure. It's amazing to see it racked up 8M views over the years. There was a scientist at UC Santa Cruz who patented a chemical that could be used to detect urushiol under a blacklight. I contacted them years ago to see if they were going to turn it into a commercial product, but AFAIK, it hasn't made it to market yet. The idea is intriguing... a special light or cream to make urushiol visible on the skin to aid in scrubbing it off. Now that would be truly life changing!

by wprl 4y ago

csours 4y ago

The answer in the video is Dawn liquid dishwashing soap and strong scrubbing with a cloth. I want a product that can show me where the oil is on my skin. I'm strongly affected by poison ivy. I sweat a lot, so I'm constantly touching my face. I've had bad rashes on my nose, eyebrows, and ears, amongst other places. I use a soapy cloth every time I think I've been in contact and I still miss places.

aliqot 4y ago
why do a spot wash when it costs about a penny to wash from head to toe with it? it's worth it. also, naphtha bar soap works really well.
- csours 4y ago
  It's not a matter of washing head to toe, it's a matter of scrubbing thoroughly enough everywhere and not missing a spot.
- ImprovedSilence 4y ago
  My grandparents always swear by using "brown soap" if you think you've been exposed to poison ivy. aka Fels-Naptha. It's a pretty strong soap, but I don't think it contains naphtha anymore.
  - aliqot 4y ago
    unless the formula has changed drastically in the past 6 months, it works still. also works great to pre-soap a stain on your pants
- latchkey 4y ago
  I assume you're referring to fels naptha bar soap? Despite the name, it doesn't actually have naphtha in it any longer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fels-Naptha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fels-Naptha Even worse, it is almost impossible to find these days. The brand was acquired and the company that bought it is still ramping up production and distribution. Source: I emailed the company. Actually just bought some Zote (also now owned by the same company), just yesterday, to test it out... but from what I hear, I don't think it is as good.
micahdeath 4y ago
I haven't had luck with this, but it appears I'm allergic to something in dawn as it causes an itchy skin rash without having poison ivy =/
- chefandy 4y ago
  I believe any dish detergent should have similar efficacy.
- ldoughty 4y ago
  The video says that the most important thing to do is wash every possible surface with friction (wet wash cloth or luffa) and to be exceedingly thorough in it. Additives didn't seem as important, though it probably is good to use some kind of soap.
- NumberWangMan 4y ago
  Strong detergents like Dawn can trigger eczema -- they destroy the tight junctions between skin cells and let foreign materials through your skin that your immune system reacts to. I've had great luck switching to milder traditional soap made from lye and fat, which isn't strong enough chemically to do this. Discovering this site was a godsend for my son, who had severe eczema as a baby: https://www.solveeczema.org https://www.solveeczema.org I would also get itchy skin hands after washing dishes, now, my skin feels great. I've not tried using traditional soap for washing off poison ivy, though it does work for other kinds of grease, so I would expect it's ok as long as you scrub well enough with a cloth or something.
mannykannot 4y ago
That would be ideal, but in its absence I have had success (mostly) using a barrier cream to keep the oils from reaching my skin in the first place. I buy it from a marine equipment store, where it is sold for people working with glass fiber and resins.
eth0up 4y ago
>I want a product that can show me where the oil is... https://www.poison-ivy.org/seeleaf-detection-wipes https://www.poison-ivy.org/seeleaf-detection-wipes edit: PS: skip the dawn and use Gojo (the stuff from the autoparts store), or both.

marymkearney 4y ago

A friend sent me that video a couple years ago, after seeing how much time I spend in the woods. Changed my life too! He's right that scrubbing hard with a cloth is the most important part. For spot exposures mid-hike, a hard scrub with plain water in a stream or river, even without soap, has worked for me. A stone or a piece of bark can work as your scrubber. Better than your hand or your shirt. I swear that guy's saved me weeks of agony. Thanks for sharing.

dec0dedab0de 4y ago

I used to end up at the doctor every time I got poison Ivy, becuase it was so out of hand. That is until I took the time to understand urishol, and invest in "extreme green power hand scrub" which used to be called mean green soap, but they got in a trademark dispute with a bigger company. extreme green power hand scrub is the same ingredients as zanfel, which is like $40 for a tiny tube. I keep tub of it in my shower and any time I see it starting, or think I may have come in contact I scrub the crap out of it, and it goes away in a few days. I haven't had a major breakout in well over a decade, and I reccommend it to everyone whenever the topic of poison ivy oak sumac or cashews comes up.

hackernewds 4y ago
how do y'all come in contact with poison ivy so often?
- wantoncl 4y ago
  Live in the south. I have tons of it in my yard, and I'm genetically incapable of recognizing it by sight. I've gotten it 3 or 4 times in the past 10 years, and it's really annoying. I have some other type of vine, it's maybe kudzu but I'm not sure, that has completely enveloped trees, fences, climbing up my house. It's certainly intertwining with poison ivy and all the other plants and could very well pick up the oil from it. There's an old movie called The Day of The Triffids, about walking/ambulatory plants, and you could shoot a remake of that in my yard and probably not need special effects. Kudzu can grow so fast you can almost see it in real time.
- irrational 4y ago
  For us, we moved into a house that has about an acre of forest land. We’ve been trying to clear it out so the kids don’t come in contact with it while playing back there.

barake 4y ago

I have a very severe poison ivy allergy. The techniques in that video are the only way to stay out of trouble. Three things work for me, in order of escalation: 1. Rubbing alcohol 2. Dawn dishwashing soap and scrubbing 3. Mean Green hand cleaner and more scrubbing

lyjackal 4y ago

Same here. I dump all my clothes in the laundry and scrub down in the shower and that’s prevented bad reactions since. Occasionally I miss small spots

bolangi 4y ago

You can treat the rash with a paste made of St Johns Wort powder with a little water. It calms down the itching for a couple hours.

simple10 4y ago

This video was a game changer for sure. It's amazing to see it racked up 8M views over the years. There was a scientist at UC Santa Cruz who patented a chemical that could be used to detect urushiol under a blacklight. I contacted them years ago to see if they were going to turn it into a commercial product, but AFAIK, it hasn't made it to market yet. The idea is intriguing... a special light or cream to make urushiol visible on the skin to aid in scrubbing it off. Now that would be truly life changing!