My husband was in the bush chopping down trees and he's usually not affected by it, but this year he seemed to get a really bad case of it.

We bought a small bottle from Shoppers Drug Mart called Dermaplast Poison Ivy Control. It's $30 CDN for a bottle but well worth every penny. It will last you a serious case of it or a full summer if you think you got it.

You wet the area, squeeze out a dime's worth of this liquidy ointment that looks like oatmeal and you start rubbing it onto the wet affected area. It starts to foam up and lather. you wash with it for 2 min and rinse clean.

It stops the itch immediately and removes any residual oils that could make the rash worse.

I use it even if I think I walked through it in the garden. I wash my feet, ankles, wrists where the garden gloves were and my face, because I am usually wiping my brow from sweating. Haven't had a rash ever since, and I was standing knee deep in it holding the ladder last month while my DH was installing the bat box. Came right in, washing from the knees down with it, threw the clothes into hot soapy washing machine and never had a problem.

Like I said, it removes residual oils still on you and stops the itch RIGHT AWAY if you have the rash. He had bad blisters so we washed with it at night for bedtime relief and again in the morning shower so he's be fine for the day at work. Because he didn't scratch there was no scarring from the scabs while it healed.

It's a godsend!!!

Now if I could only find a plant that would overtake PI and choke it out, I'd be happy. I'm thinking mondarda or evening primrose...but that's on another thread ;o)