Poison Ivy Cure

A bad poison ivy rash can take weeks to go away and can drive you crazy with itchiness.  As an avid backpacker and camper, I’ve had my share of poison ivy rashes, and I’ve tried a lot of different poison ivy cures.  Some of them don’t do anything at all, yet others are actually very effective. 

The best poison ivy cure is of course avoiding it in the first place.  Once you get a poison ivy rash, it is very hard to cure completely.  So don’t get one!  Wearing long sleeved shirts and long pants is always recommended if you suspect you may be around poison ivy.  This can be difficult, as backpacking often causes you to work up quite a sweat, but its worth it.  Long clothes are also a good way to prevent ticks, so its more than just poison ivy you’re protecting yourself from. 

Learn how to identify the plant.  There are pictures of it all over the web, and once you’ve seen it enough times in real life it becomes easy to spot.  If you think you’ve come in contact with poison ivy, wash off with soap and water as soon as possible.  Also, thoroughly wash your clothes.  Washing the oil within half an hour after contact off is effectively a poison ivy cure.  There are also some preventative poison ivy lotions available that can boost your resistance.

Once you’ve got that rash, it’s going to be hard to remove, but there are some poison ivy cures that will hasten its departure.  One thing that works great for me is hot water; I just run the effected area under some hot water for ten or more minutes several times a day, and within five days the rash is gone, whereas it would otherwise stick around for much longer. 

Five days is still a while, but there are other things you can do to speed this up even more.  There is a lotion called ‘Tecnu’ that is just shy of being a magic poison ivy cure in itself.  Using the lotion regularly will greatly speed up the rate that your rash leaves.  Additionally, if you rub this lotion on within a day after exposure, it often prevents the rash from occurring in the first place.

So the best poison ivy cure I’ve found to treat the rash is hot water plus Tecnu.  Used together (but not at the same time!) I’ve gotten rid of rashes in less than three days.  In the meantime, I find that some lotions, such as calamine lotion, can reduce the itchiness.