It doesn't irritate your skin? Is it expensive? Would this be better than rubbing alcohol?

And here I thought you meant DRINKING it of course then you would feel no pain!
Seriously though, that is a useful tip!

where do you buy Grain Alcohol? Feed store? Thanks for the useful tip. I never got a case of poison ivy until I was 40 yrs.old. My daughter and I cleaned up a large round flowerbed for an elderly lady and boy, did we both get it! I took clorox baths..1 c. clorox per tub of water, calamine lotion and finally headed to the Dr. for some prednisone..

LOL Hetty, yep, you'd still have the rash, you just wouldn't know or care!

Will reumatis medicine aka moonshine work too?

Just don't light a match

Grain alcohol will cure a lot of ills if you drink enough

I will try this if it ever happens to me again!
I suffered for weeks.

And I'll definitely save a shot or three for that kind of help, too!

After reading this, I suddenly wanted to drink a margarita. I slept like a baby last night! I think we need to campaign for medical grain alcohol instead of marijuana.

I think we need to campaign for "Whatever gets you through the night" without hurting anyone else!

I agree.

I never tried super-strong alcohol, not applied to the skin anyway. I could easily believe that 180 proof (90%) would work much better than vodka (80-90 proof = 40-45%). Or you might try 91% isopropyl alcohol (available from the drug store) and let everyone know how it worked. the 'poison ivy oil' might be much less soluble in 40% alcohol, or whatever skin reaction is involved might require the good stuff.

I would also guess that it might work better to kind of "blot" the affected skin like removing a stain, and throw the cotton balls away fairly often, rather than scrubbing up and down and around with just one cotton ball or paper towel. That might spread the urushiol oil around to a wider area.

I did this once and urge everyone NOT to:

I had some poison ivy on a few fingers, not too bad. If I remember correctly, it had already been there for a day or more, and I assume that I must have washed my hands a few times already (but not with concentrated alcohol.

However, then I sharpened some knives, which at that time I did with oil stones, and set the stones in a tray with a little oil between uses. Well, you get a little oil everywhere when you do that.

There must have been some residual "poison ivy oil" on my skin, because working with oil spread that poison ivy rash up and down my lower arms. I assume that the urushiol from the poison ivy dissolved into the motor oil, and then spread everywhere.

clintbrown said:Will reumatis medicine aka moonshine work too?

If it's not been watered down too much...

I've not tried this but 90% ethyl is worth a try in my book. Everclear 180 isn't sold here but I picked some up in a neighboring state (Kentucky) just to exercise my freedom. We're allowed to have it but it's not sold here.

Important to note that if you have any children, young or old, you do not want them to get they're hands on this stuff. A college favorite for "punch", at twice the potency of standard liquor it can be a killer. A small child probably wouldn't ingest a huge amount and easy enough to keep out of reach. Really scary with teenagers though.

Rick, from what I have read poison Ivy does not spread that way. From what I read your arms just took longer to respond and broke out later. That is what I have read (on the internet) and we all know it has to be true to be posted on the internet!

My doctor told me what happens is that it gets (from the plant) on your CLOTHES and unless you know to wash them in HOT water with LOTS of soap, you can reinfect yourself. If you wash in cold, the oil might spread to other clothes, even!

The rash itself is NOT contagious. The moisture in the rash is your antibodies to the oil.

You must thoroughly wash every piece of material that could have gotten the plant oil on it.

He also said that good old Calomine lotion is best for it - stops the itch and dries up the rash.

We have tons of poison ivy popping up this year because of all the rain. And I get little breakouts after mowing the yard, etc. every year, and spend a lot of time with poison ivy killer in hand. Calamine has never helped me much. And had to go the Prednisone route at least three times. I had a doctor once tell me to wet paper towels with vinegar and leave it on the breakout like a poultice. That sort of helped. If Everclear can dry up small outbreaks then I am all for giving it a try. Most liquor stores carry it, and I don't think it is very expensive.