How to Never Get Poison Ivy Again
Recently I’ve been doing a lot of work managing invasive plant species in a preserved tract near to my house. Besides the ever-present threat of deer ticks, many of the invasives bare literal teeth at land managers trying to eradicate them – Mile-A-Minute vine, Japanese Barberry, and Multiflora Rose all feature thorns, some which are sharp enough to puncture vehicle tires! If these two factors weren’t enough of a deterrent, much of the tract where these invasives are thriving is riparian habitat with poison ivy populating the understory. Many times I have stepped into the brush or reached in to pull a weed and found myself face to face with the three-leaved menace. However, I have managed to get poison ivy only once out of those times. It was inevitable – I was pierced by a thorn of Mile-A-Minute vine that must have allowed some of the ivy oils to get under my skin. Since that time, I’ve gone farther into the brush without incident and have perfected a method of poison ivy avoidance.
For those of you who are fortunate to have never encountered poison ivy, Toxicicodendron radicans is a hairy vine with leaves of three. It is generally found in areas near water and can trail along the ground, climb trees, or form a shrub. The leaves can be shiny and reddish (new growth) to a dull green. The sap contains urushiol, which is a plant oil that produces a blistering, itchy, swear-inducing rash after skin contact. Don’t be fooled by leaves that appear dry – they are just as likely to give you a rash. Common memory devices are “hairy vines, scary vines” and “leaves of three, let them be.” Often, two of the three leaves appear to have thumbs (hold your hand out flat with all fingers touching each other and thumb tucked on the side of your palm). This website has good photos of poison ivy throughout it’s growth.
My tried and true method of preventing poison ivy rash is 3-fold:
- Wear long pants and long sleeves.
This is an obvious one but it is worth saying — I was able to get poison ivy on my arm by wearing a sleeveless shirt while pulling spiky vines. Long sleeves and long pants limit exposed skin that could potentially brush against a poison ivy leaf, and double as tick protection. (I highly recommend treating clothing with permethrin to kill ticks). Despite these long layers, I’m still very careful not to touch any other exposed skin. I take my gardening gloves off before touching my face, and even then I avoid touching around my eyes, just in case.
- Rub down exposed skin and clothing with hand sanitizer/alcohol wipes.
Urushiol is basically an oil, so it is not soluble in water. Simply flushing with water will remove some of the oil, but most of the oil will remain on skin and clothing because it does not mix well with water. The main ingredient in hand sanitizer is isopropyl alcohol, which is an organic solvent that oils readily dissolve into. After pulling weeds around poison ivy, I use liquid hand sanitizer and put several pumps worth into my gardening gloves and rub them together. I then use alcohol wipes and add some extra liquid sanitizer to them and thoroughly rub the tops of my shoes, being sure to get the laces wet. I wear sneakers that are mostly fabric, so I make sure the fabric gets a good scrubbing with the wet alcohol wipe to get up any oils. I also clean my cutting tools with a wipe. I’ll then wipe my hands with sanitizer before getting in my car to go home.
- Shower within a few hours with copious amounts of dish soap and a washcloth.
Dish soaps contain detergents which dissolve oils and grease, which is why they are good to clean pots and pans and why Dawn advertises it’s use for cleaning adorable little duckies after oil spills. Using dish soap will help dissolve any remaining oil but the key is to use a wash cloth to manually lift oil from the skin. It takes some time for the oil to penetrate the skin, so you should be safe if you shower within a few hours of being outside. If you are going to be without access to a shower for days at a time, I recommend giving yourself an alcohol wipe bath. It may dry your skin a bit (and is not good for skin long term), but you won’t be in the backcountry with a chafing boil rash that makes you wish the bears would just eat you.
- Soak exposed clothes in dish soap before laundering.
Okay, I know I said 3 steps, but I also do this fourth step just in case. Urushiol has been known to persist on fabrics for months, even years some say, so I try to be extra careful not to re-expose myself later. Laundry detergents work the same way to dissolve oils, so in theory just giving the clothes a good wash should be enough to get the poison ivy oil out, but it can’t hurt to add an extra washing step. I usually put my clothes in the sink with warm water and a generous squirt of dish soap, mix it all up, and then commence my shower process to make sure I’m fully decontaminated. When I move the clothes to the washer, I wash my hands with dish soap and give them a good lather and scrub to make sure I didn’t re-expose myself. I used to take my exposed shoes apart, removing the soles and laces, and scrub them liberally with dish soap and a toothbrush every time I’d walk through poison ivy. That gets to be too much effort when you go out into poison ivy infested territory every week. I’d need 4 pairs of shoes just to have a dry pair to put on. This is where the alcohol wipes are essential – I haven’t had to clean my shoes yet this year and can put them on without fear of waking up with a rash.
Follow these tips, and you can explore the woods without worry!
