Remedy For Poison Ivy

I’m not one to get poison ivy badly, but if I come into contact with it, I do still get a few small itchy rashes that drive me crazy.  Sometimes it’s hard to identify poison ivy.  There’s the saying of “leaves of three~let them be”.  There are, however, other plants besides poison ivy that have “leaves of three”.  Here’s a few pictures of poison ivy throughout the year.  Did you know you can catch poison ivy in the winter?  There’s no time of year to let your guard down, especially if you’re really allergic to it.  Poison ivy can grow as a vine up a tree; it can grown along the ground as a vine or plant; and it can grow as a small “bush”.
 *Images taken from Wikipedia Commons*

~This is poison ivy in the fall.  Poison ivy can make beautiful colors, so don’t be fooled and pick it for a fall display ;)~

Here are poison ivy leaves that can be scattered here and there along the ground, just waiting to grab your ankles. It’s harder to avoid this type of growing because the leaves appear out of no where! 🙂

One remedy that you may find close to poison ivy is jewelweed:

Another plant you can use to remedy poison ivy that grows everywhere is plantain.  I’ve written about plantain in two other articles for acne and wasp stings.

You can make a tincture by filling a jar with half jewelweed and half plantain, but I can’t seem to find jewelweed anywhere nearby, so I just used a plantain tincture, and it works great!  I soaked a cotton ball with the tincture and rubbed it on the rash.  You can even scratch the surface of the rash off with your fingernails (be sure to wash your hands well so you don’t spread the oils around!), and then put the tincture on.  This makes it burn, but I find that it dries the rash up after only applying the tincture once – I had no more itch at all!!!  I continue to use this on the rash 2 or 3 times a day until gone or use as often as needed.  Make sure you never double dip a cotton ball in the tincture as this will contaminate it.  I place some in a squeeze bottle for a clean way to use the tincture.  To find out how to make a plantain tincture, view my article on acne – it has complete instructions, including how to buy dried plantain if you’d prefer (though fresh plantain is free in your yard!), and how to buy the vinegar if you can’t find some in your area.  You can use this same tincture for acne, wasp/bee stings and poison ivy.  Plantain is a very versatile plant – I love it!

This is linked to:
The Prairie Homestead
Raising Homemakers
Women Living Well
Like A Bubbling Brook