Poison Ivy/Oak Lotion With Gunpowder?

[jonp]

One of my wife's employees recently told her about a home remedy for poison ivy/oak his grandmother used on them when he was a kid. When they got it she would mix condensed milk with gun powder and smear it on the itch. Within a day or two the rash was gone.

Think this would work and anybody care to conjecture how?

[Winger Ed.]

I'm more of a Benadryl guy when I get a rash.

By the time the milk sours, it might be one of those Grandma remedies,
like a big spoonful of castor oil--- the cure is worse than the ailment.

[schutzen-jager]

black or smokeless powder ?

[Wayne Smith]

Lye soap will wash the oil off the skin.

[William Yanda]

I heard about a Texan who made a habit of taking a spoonful of gunpowder with his breakfast every morning. He believed it was good for "what ails you" and had a side benefit of improving virility. He lived to 107 and outlived three wives. He left 17 children, nearly 50 grandkids, a passel of great grandkids .....



and a 28 foot hole in the ground.

[Winger Ed.]

Lye soap will wash the oil off the skin.

Too much will wash the skin off your bones too.

[Noah Zark]

A paper towel soaked with Witch Hazel extract and kept on the affected area for as long as possible (1-2h multiple times a day) works very well for me in relieving the itch and blistering quickly.

Noah

[Texas by God]

As the " immune kid" of the family, I got selected for rhe toxic jobs almost daily....

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[JonB_in_Glencoe]

It's an oil. So if Gunpowder and/or condensed milk deactivates the oil, I suppose it'll work. Seems wise to just use Soap and other careful handling practices, like is mentioned in this article.

https://www.al.com/sports/2012/07/how_to_avoid_poison_ivy_treat.html

[jonp]

As the " immune kid" of the family, I got selected for rhe toxic jobs almost daily....

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Join the crowd
Wool, poison ivy...nothing seemed to bother me much. On the plus side few folds, flu and the deadly Covid only made me feel off a day ir so.

[poppy42]

I Wouldn’t waste the powder!

[Skipper]

I had a buddy who got poison oak on the brain.

Doctor told him to go home and think about sandpaper. :bigsmyl2:

[jonp]

I had a buddy who got poison oak on the brain.

Doctor told him to go home and think about sandpaper. :bigsmyl2:

Har Har, Hardy Har Har. Dont quit your day job

[gwpercle]

Lye soap will wash the oil off the skin.

Lye soap will wash the skin off the skin ... be careful !.\

My Mother was born Dirt Poor raised in middle of East Texas 1930 Big Depression and had home remedies for everything ... they didn't store buy anything but sewing needles and thread .
I never heard her speak of Condensed Milk and Gunpowder and she never used that on her children .
Her poisen Ivy treatment was a paste of Arm & Hammer baking Soda and water ... after it dried you left a trail of white baking soda residue wherever you went . When we becamce more affluent she bought some pink stuff ...Calamine or Calrdryl lotion .

Condensed Milk + gunpowder ... that's a new one !
Gary

[DocSavage]

I heard about a Texan who made a habit of taking a spoonful of gunpowder with his breakfast every morning. He believed it was good for "what ails you" and had a side benefit of improving virility. He lived to 107 and outlived three wives. He left 17 children, nearly 50 grandkids, a passel of great grandkids .....



and a 28 foot hole in the ground.
I saw that ione coming a mile away. Baking soda and water was a go to for bug bites and bee stings no reason it shouldn't work on poison ivy/oak and sumac.

[BLAHUT]

Grandmother made homemade Lye soap and we used it for everything. Clothes hair hands baths dishes. We all stayed healthy ?

[MT Gianni]

I saved a link somewhere where the poster claims that if you use Lava soap and a washrag with hot water and a 5-10 minute scrub down you eliminate the oils that cause the irritation. The kicker is that you must use it within 8 hours of contact.

[littlejack]

When I was a young adolescent taking a bath, I would reach for the Lava soap to wash my hair. Then when I would comb my hair afterwords, I was always wondering why I would have fine grit in my comb. [smilie=b:

[gwpercle]

Grandmother made homemade Lye soap and we used it for everything. Clothes hair hands baths dishes. We all stayed healthy ?

My Mom once explained to me how they made Lye Soap when she was a girl . After rendering out the hog lard leftover from a hog killing (Boucherie' ) they would mix wood ash from the fire into the hot hog lard and stir it with a wood paddle to make Lye Soap .... I didn't say so ... but I thought she was telling me a tall story ...
...it didn't sound right that soap came from hot hog lard and wood ashes from a fire !
Gary

[BLAHUT]

My Mom once explained to me how they made Lye Soap when she was a girl . After rendering out the hog lard leftover from a hog killing (Boucherie' ) they would mix wood ash from the fire into the hot hog lard and stir it with a wood paddle to make Lye Soap .... I didn't say so ... but I thought she was telling me a tall story ...
...it didn't sound right that soap came from hot hog lard and wood ashes from a fire !
Gary

I do not remember grandmother mixing wood ash in the lard? I do remember her putting the wood ash in a trough and pouring water over it and collecting what drained out the bottom ( lye ) and then mixing this with the lard. Don't remember how she did any more, other that it was poured into bread loaf pans and cut with a knife, to make bars ?

[Froogal]

The one time I was exposed to poison ivy, and knew it immediately, I headed straight to the shop, grabbed a can of aerosol brake cleaner and doused the area thoroughly. It worked.

[Half Dog]

Rubbing alcohol works for me.

[jonp]

My Mom once explained to me how they made Lye Soap when she was a girl . After rendering out the hog lard leftover from a hog killing (Boucherie' ) they would mix wood ash from the fire into the hot hog lard and stir it with a wood paddle to make Lye Soap .... I didn't say so ... but I thought she was telling me a tall story ...
...it didn't sound right that soap came from hot hog lard and wood ashes from a fire !
Gary

We made several bars of soap like that not long ago but used Snowflake Lard. Worked ok. Now we make castille soap in a crockpot for all uses. Bath, washing clothes (although Bronners concentrated works better), dishes etc

[jonp]

The one time I was exposed to poison ivy, and knew it immediately, I headed straight to the shop, grabbed a can of aerosol brake cleaner and doused the area thoroughly. It worked.

Since oil is supposed to clean it off i wonder if WD40 or Ballistol would be better?

[MaryB]

I am in the immune crowd... friend walks by stinging nettle he breaks out in a rash... I can pull the stuff without gloves... got into poison ivy at his house, the tip of a leaf touched his arm and his entire arm broke out in hives and a blister where the contact was. I was pulling car parts off the junk car and had brushed up against it all afternoon... we had to run the part thru the parts washer before he could handle them! I washed down with dish soap and hot water(strips skin oils so have lotion handy!) and was fine.

[reddog81]

I saved a link somewhere where the poster claims that if you use Lava soap and a washrag with hot water and a 5-10 minute scrub down you eliminate the oils that cause the irritation. The kicker is that you must use it within 8 hours of contact.

I use Dawn dish soap and cold water. It works well if you get to it within an hour. Once I used method on my leg and did not take off my shoes and socks before doing so. It rinsed the poison ivy oils down to the socks and I had a ring of poison ivy rash around my ankle from it. I use cold water because I heard warm water will open the pours and make it easier for the poison ivy oils to enter the skin.

I've used straight river water without soap before. It's not as effective but turns what would a bad rash into something very mild.

[chambers]

Well I have had multiple really poison ivy/oak and not a good time, by the time I tried everything I could read on internet and try, it was blistering and spreading badly then went to see doctor, prednesone and some others finally took care of it. Advise go to doctor sooner rather than later. I never had it for many years being in woods then got it twice and blisters and spreads.

[rockrat]

I use B12 carb cleaner. Takes all the oils off the skin. Works for killing chiggers too.

[Winger Ed.]

Works for killing chiggers too.

Hey! In our modern and enlightened times, we can't say that any more.
Now we have to refer to them as cheegroes.:bigsmyl2:

[Texas by God]

I use B12 carb cleaner. Takes all the oils off the skin. Works for killing chiggers too.What's chiggers? Just kidding I know what they are but I've never had them.

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[Good Cheer]

Poison ivy works on me like it's a drive-in science fiction movie so I learned to wash it off with soap and water with rubbing alcohol in the suds and follow up with hydrogen peroxide to oxidize the remnant.
Success!

[farmbif]

ive had awful bad experience with poison ivy and poison oak getting spread around with bar of soap in shower.. it was not pretty for a couple weeks.
but maybe its just me. if I just look at a healthy poison ivy vine I break out in rash.
in all reality I deal with a lot of it around the farm. there are some poison ivy vines climbing up trees in my forest that are more than inch in diameter. I only cut trees for firewood in cold weather wearing long sleeve shirt and gloves and leave all the cut vines in the woods.
the oils can and will spread with soap and water if your not very careful.
ive found the best way to clean off poison ivy or poison oak is with paper towels and 90% alcohol. use piece of alcohol soaked paper towel only once washing effected area . then get new square of alcohol soaked paper towel and do it again.

[varmintpopper]

I'm more of a Benadryl guy when I get a rash.

By the time the milk sours, it might be one of those Grandma remedies,
like a big spoonful of castor oil--- the cure is worse than the ailment.

Caster oil is a good cough medicine,, Drink enough and You will be afraid to cough !

[Winger Ed.]

if I just look at a healthy poison ivy vine I break out in rash.
.

I can see a picture of it and start to itch.

[bedbugbilly]

Dad and I would get into poison ivy - one time we got into poison sumac while repairing fences and just a few little blisters of that and we both ended up with it in our blood stream and it spread all over our bodies. Nasty stuff. The doctor told us to use Feld Naptha soap and they had the pharmacist make up a large bottle of zinc oscine solution. My mother would literally paint it on with cotton and it would sooth the itch. I don't remember the doctor prescribing any medication (oral) and after about a week and a half the blisters and the swelling from the poison sumac subsided and cleared up. We always kept a bottle of the zinc oxide solution on hand after that and it worked well on the poison ivy - also used calamine lotion.

Be interesting to hear what the OPs solution had in it, from someone who has a chemistry background, that would make it work to clear up the blisters and the itching.

[webfoot10]

Find some jewel weed and mash it up and put the green slime from the stem on the
poison ivy. It should clear it up fast. I was at a vou a few years ago and they had mowed the fields
for the campers. You guessed it, they mowed the poison ivy down and everyone got poison ivy.
So I went out and found some jewel weed and my wife cooked it down in olive oil and mixed a
little beeswax with it, when cooled it was like a green slime paste wax. The guys with the bad
blisters rubbed it on and a couple of hours later the itching stopped, The next day they could
peel off the dead skin. I don't know if you can find jewel weed everywhere, as it only around
in the spring. It grows wild in the swamp by my house. So when it gets up and mature I pick
a bunch and boil it down in olive oil with beeswax and store it in the freezer for future use.
I don't know how long it will keep as I haven't had to use any since the vou.
webfoot10

[Texas by God]

I've never met anyone immune to Bullnettle, though. The seeds are delicious- picking them is the tricky part!

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[Horn Ridge]

TechNu scrub works great for me. I’ve tried everything short of a blowtorch.

[Kosh75287]

Hey! In our modern and enlightened times, we can't say that any more.
Now we have to refer to them as cheegroes.:bigsmyl2:

Not QUITE right... To be completely politically correct (barf), they should be called "Chafrican Americans".

[Johnch]

My former boss installed Cellulose Insulation
It has Boric Acid in it to control insects ( I think )

But we found Boric Acid , either the insulation or a powdered form
Would quickly stop a poison ivy outbreak

John

[MT Gianni]

Since oil is supposed to clean it off i wonder if WD40 or Ballistol would be better?

Supposedly it is an oil that causes the irritation. You want to remove the oil or neutralize it. Oils might dilute it or allow it to migrate. No experience with oil, just thinking.

[waksupi]

Too much will wash the skin off your bones too.

I use it all the time. If it has aged properly, its some of the mildest soap you can use.

[legend 550]

Baking soda and water. Make a paste and rub it on the affected area and let it dry, baking soda will draw the oils out. Works on bee stings too.

[shooterg]

what's chiggers? Just kidding i know what they are but i've never had them.

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shouldn't have said that ! Now they're coming for you !