On 8/19/2015 10:58 AM, ceg wrote:
On Wed, 19 Aug 2015 09:38:28 -0500, Muggles wrote:

So, how do you keep from breaking out in poison oak/ivy rashes all the time?

I *understand* my enemy. I'm intelligent. And I'm trained as a scientist,
so I apply pure cold scientific logic to the problem.

In fact, I could write an entire book on how to handle poison oak (having
researched Epstein, et al, who are the eminent scientific urushiol experts
in the bay area).

I've probably read every single reference found in the first ten or twenty
pages of Google search results on poison oak, and much of what people say
is pure hogwash.

And, knowing chemistry and biology and physiology, I do a whole host of things,
both preemptive and retroactive, to ameliorate the risk.

As just a sampling, I don't shower before hiking, I sometimes pack on
bentonite driller's clay, I always wear cotton or leather long sleeves
and long gloves, I hose down my tools and boots and wash all my clothes,
I wash with Dawn dish detergent (long hot water showers, despite what people
say about opening the pores), I wipe with rubbing alcohol, tinged with a
drop or three of bleach, and I scrub latent spots with a mix of surfactant
and toothpaste (abrasive) on a toothpaste brush. I don't have a supply of
tiny surfactants such as non-oxyenol-9 (i.e., spermicide), which work even
better than Dawn dish detergent though. And, after I shower up, I don't
go back out into the poison oak fields unless I absolutely have to.

There's more to it, but, I do very well understand the immunology (it's
a type IV cell mediated immunology, so nobody is immune, although some
haven't gotten it yet - and it never gets better - it can only get worse,
since that's how type IV CMI works. Everyone who thinks otherwise doesn't
understand the science involved.

I could go on, but, that should give you an ad-hoc taste of how I approach
things.


I like your approach to things. If it were me I'd try to research all I
could via google, but would probably be frustrated that everything I
read really didn't work and I'd still end up getting the rash. You have
a really practical approach, which I do appreciate.

--
Maggie