Pioson Oak Treatment

It's that time of year again. Spring is in the air, and lots of people are getting the itch to go hiking or mountain biking on the trails in Nor Cal. If you're not careful that "itch" can stay with you in the form of Poison Oak. Due to the wet winter the poison oak seems to be everywhere this year! I've already had it twice times this year (every other weekend, as far as I can tell). But then I go mountain biking 3 or 4 times a week. Although I'm pleased to say that using a few new tricks I've avoided getting poison oak for the past 2 weeks, despite coming in direct contact with it. Below are a few of the tricks.

Keep your skin covered! But if it's too hot, or inconvenient to keep your skin covered, then try something like Ivy Block or Buji Block. Both coat your skin with an invisible layer that protects you from the Poison Oak oils. The IvyBlock leaves a bit of a white film on your skin, which looks a little odd, but hey, if it's that or getting Poison Oak, it might be worth looking pale.

Keep your eyes open! Learn to spot it, and avoid it whenever possible! The often quoted rule is something along the line of "leaves of three, let it be." In the spring the leaves can be red or green and can be shiny or dull colored.

Immediately after you get back to the car or house after a ride or hike, wash your exposed skin (arms & legs) with Technu. You can pick it up at REI or a whole bunch of other locations. Technu cuts through the Poison Oak oils that cause the allergic reaction. Or, you could try dish soap. It stands to reason that if Techu works buy cutting through oils, then dish soap should work well too. I've used dish soap a few times lately immediately after a ride and it seems to have worked well. Then rise with cold water. You don't want your pores to open up and absorb the oils. You want to clean it off before they open up.

I recently started using Zanfel and think it's amazing! It's a cream that you use to wash Poison

Oak oils from your skin either before or after the irritation has shown up. It's available at Walgreens. Walgreens makes a knock-off, Wallgreens brand version, but I hear it's not as good as the real thing.

Wash the area with Zanfel twice a day and you may never even need anti-itch cream. It stops the itching from the poison oak almost immediately and in my experience works for 10 or 12 hours.