Home remedy for poison Ivy or oak

My husband is extremely allergic to poison Ivy. So much so that it will cover his entire body and even a doctors visit will not help much. We have tried many things. The best and quickest to cure is salt water, bleach/chlorine water and a paste of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide.

This crazy little plant does not bother me. I am thinking it is because I have very dry skin that will not soak up lotion or oil. The plant oil is the problem with this nasty rash. As you scratch, the rash releases more oil to cover other areas touched. I have been told by doctors that this is not true. That some places on the body just take longer to present. I told this idiot what I thought. If he is right then why does it spread to my husbands butt ( or other touchy areas) after a bathroom break? Nothing would help the poor guy. I set out to stop his whining or at least cute it to a minimum. I can't complain of a kidney stone, so he sure can't pull this crap with a rash!

A cool is the first tool to shut this rash down. Warm water is better for oils and helps it spread faster. While in the shower the first step is to wash with a degreaser dishwashing soap. Any will do, but I use dawn or GoJo.

After a good scrub. (Like an over the top surgical scrub down.) Pat dry. Soon after, I put on a thick paste of hydrogen peroxide and backing soda. This will burn as I use it as a pore cleaning facial mask. If you have an over dramatic husband like me, he may cry. Once the paste dries and starts to flake off, rinse off with cool water. Repeat a few times a day as needed to dry out blisters or to just plain shut the guy up.

The second method we use when we are out of baking soda is to drop hand sanitizer onto the rash. Leave a think layer until it evaporates. Bleach can also be used as well as salt water. They both aid in drying out the rash with less burning. I prefer the burning of peroxide/soda. Not only is it more fun to watch, it works faster.

With a wet wash cloth, scrub well with dishwashing liquid again. Pat dry. I suggest to do this in the shower so you will not ruin anything in the house. You can use straight unscented bleach, but I prefer one part water to one part bleach.

Load the mix into a spray bottle and spray the rash once. Let set five minutes. Then repeat. The last time add the dishwashing liquid again and clean well or your couch may suffer bleached out spots.

We usually apply the paste after this cleaning to continue to dry out the puffy patches. When the paste is flaking off again, clean it with cool water.

At night we wrap the area with a thin layer of the baking soda/ peroxide mix. This may not be needed, but we take no chances of scratching or spreading. Calamine lotion is used in between these applications to keep the area covered. This is useless. It is only there to remind my poor husband not to touch.

Hope this helps for those of you that get this rash easily. If you have another cure leave me a message!