rondot@spiritone.com
Hey all.
Proper spelling (I know I misspell often) is tecnu.
This is a little wordy, but if you are interested, this is what I do to try to NEVER again get poison oak.
I think MOST people do not get on well with Poison Oak. I am one of those who blister (I seem to imagine at least) if in the same county as one plant!
Thanks Melissa for the info on the Mean Green. I am going to look into that product. Also thanks to others for more info about the chemicals in general.
The only thing I would add is when in doubt with regard to what it might have contaminated......wash it with tecnu. Not just clothes, shoes etc. but car doors, steering wheel, wiper knob and car keys.
When I am sure I have been in the stuff or pretty sure, I wash. In this case better safe than sorry.
Having a small container of tecnu at contamination area.....car at the end of bike race for example, will allow you to clean up your hands, arms and maybe legs initially. You can bag the contaminated clothing. When home, the tecnu gets used on clothing, shoes, bike (including tires), tools / whatever (or you are pretty sure had a good chance of being contaminated). I start with another quick wash of my hands. Then put on heavy rubber gloves (the blue ones).
I use tecnu on the shoes / tools (the stuff I know got a good dose of poison oak). Rub it on them and let set. Then for clothes I add maybe 1/4- 1/2 cup of tecnu to a 5 gal. bucket, with maybe 1 gal of water (the rubber gloves are sweet here kids!). Put the clothing in one piece at a time and get saturated. You might have to add some more tecnu and water depending on amount of stuff you are washing. Get all the misc. stuff washed and let it set until all done!
Then use the garden hose to spray it off. I then add small amount of DAWN detergent to the bucket and do a quick light wash of items followed again by hose rinse. Then the clothing gets regular laundry. Shoes, tools etc. are ready to dry. And remember the bike! Usually the most contaminated parts are the tires / wheels, handlebars / shifters, pedals / cranks and rear and other low points in general. diluted tecnu (as mentioned above) then dawn detergent cleaning (a brush and the rubber gloves are great) and a good spray off.
The good news for tecnu lovers is I buy it in the 32 oz size for about 17 dollars at Sanderson Safety Supply in SE Portland. They supply lots of contractors with misc. supplies and I assume they carry this because those folks are out there in the poison oak very often. But if the Mean Green works and is less expensive, that would be sweet!
Good luck. Don’t let poison oak prevent you from getting out and having fun. Know what it looks like if you suspect in an area where it is located. That is a huge part of prevention. Then be prepared to remove it when done playing or working. You will look back on your day in the poison oak fun park as a good one instead of week or so preview of hell.
Like cycling. There is no bad weather, just bad clothing choices. I think I heard that from a Canadian!
ron
From: Todd Dye
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 11:23 AM
To: Ben Fischler
Cc: OBRA list list
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Poison Oak @ Barton??
Washing your shoes is a really good idea, since your hands touch the straps and buckles before and after every ride, and often times during it.
Since your shoes are spinning around down at poison oak level they are more likely than anything to pick up the oil, and then your hands can spread it pretty much anywhere.
I put technu on a baby wipe and give my shoes a scrub if I've been in the Oak.
On Nov 12, 2012 10:42 AM, "Ben Fischler" wrote:
Good info. Thanks for sharing!
After having a couple of PO run ins over the years I got in the habit of putting Tecnu on BEFORE I ride. I slather some on my lower legs and forearms. Usually I do this on rides where it's a known issue, but it makes sense in general when riding in the woods, especially in the warmer months.
Post-ride I shower in a cold-ish shower (keep pores closed!) and wash with Tecnu.
This combo usually gets rid of most of the Urushiol that might have made skin contact. The tough part is clothes, shoes etc. If I know for sure that I've ridden through some patches (ie: Syncline in spring, summer, fall) then I'll wash my clothes with Tecnu in the washer.
Shoes I don't bother with, but maybe I should.
And someone mentioned ingesting it (joking I think,) and I do know that if you're at all allergic above the norm that can be Really Bad. Same goes for burning the stuff and accidentally inhaling the fumes.
-B
AnimationMentor.com
[ ben.fischler@gmail.com ]
On Nov 11, 2012, at 8:09 AM, Sarah Tisdale wrote:
I have fairly recent personal experience with bad poison oak exposure. I bought the vaunted (and extremely expensive) Zanfel. I used it a few days after the rash appeared. I found it wholly ineffective. If the rash is older than a day, I would suggest skipping the Zanfel and save your money. The Zanfel makers are capitalizing on the fact that when we are desperate, we will pay a LOT to stop the itching.
Once the rash is "set in", no product today (Zanfel, Tech-nu, Calamine, Caladryl, ...) can remove it.
- Calamine lotion is useless (shown useless in clinical studies)
- Caladryl lotion contains benadryl and is useful in reducing itch
- Extremely hot showers provide temporary relief for the itch
- Weeping fluid from the rash will NOT spread the rash
- Try not to itch a bad rash. Itching a bad rash too much can push the urushiol oil into the blood stream, spreading the rash through the blood. Bad.
Your best bet is to wash it off within 60min. Of course, most of the time you don't even know you were exposed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urushiol-induced_contact_dermatitis#cite_note-wkhealth-11
YMMV.
Sarah
On Sun, Nov 11, 2012 at 6:24 AM, jeff@ultrafreaks.net wrote:
Urushiol is the chemical in poison oak/ivy that causes the rash. It can remain active for years.
Agree w/ Stewart on washing everything. If you know something came in contact, wash twice (shoes, gloves). The biggest gotcha with PO is that the urushiol can hang around on your stuff for eons and you won't know it. Weeks or months later you'll get another rash and wonder, "what the hell..."? So take care to clean anything that might have come in contact.
Technu Cleanser(Rite Aid, etc) will remove urushiol from skin effectively for up to an hour or two after exposure. After 45 mins to a couple hours the chemicals bind with the skin and Technu Cleanser is not effective. The Cleanser does nothing to help the rash after that point. (It does remove the active chemical from clothing, tools, etc indefinitely after exposure.)
If you get a rash from poison oak the ONLY really effective remedy is Zanfel. It's $25-30 a tube over the counter at drug stores, so spendy. You can find a generic equivalent at Walgreen's as well for a few bucks less. Technu Extreme Poison Ivy Scrub was designed to compete with Zanfel but IMO it's much less effective.
Trust me, if you get the rash and it's driving you crazy, get Zanfel. Don't screw around with home remedies (hot water, cold water, Lava soap, calamine, salt, vinegar/baking soda, etc). After one or two applications the itch is gone - period. No, I don't have any interest in it but after a lifetime of living with PO it's nice to find something that really works. Sorry for the rant; I hate poison oak with the white hot passion of 10,000 suns :-)
-j
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