Should you wash the poison ivy blisters with warm water?

Answer 1

You do need to keep the area of the rash clean, especially if the blisters have opened, are oozing, or you have scratched and opened the skin. Gentle cleansing with soap and water is best. If gently washing under the faucet is uncomfortable then dab with a damp cloth and mild soap, then rinse well. Baby shampoo (only a few of drops with water) can be a good choice for a mild cleanser. Cool water will feel better than warm and for this purpose would be adequate to clean the area, rinse well with running cool water. There are cleansers made specifically to remove the poison ivy oils, that contain the irritant, from your skin. If used quickly after an exposure or suspected exposure, these special poison ivy cleansers do work well and can prevent the rash.

As far as remedies for the condition once you have a rash, the following treatment was taught to me by a very old farmer when I was a child and it has proven itself many many times for me and for others whom I've told ever since: Find fresh rhubarb and break open one of the stalks, rub the thick sap that oozes from the broken stem (much like the juice from an aloe plant used for burns) on the rash. It instantly will stop the itch and dries the rash up faster than any commercial products I've ever used. Friends have told me that when they could not find fresh rhubarb they used the frozen rhubarb and had the same results, although I can not confirm that personally.