Amazed at volume of remedies (05/05/08)

Try Castile soap. It will keep you from getting poison ivy. It always worked when I was a kid picking strawberries at the end of the lane.

Use homemade lye soap. First cover yourself in the lather and let it dry. Then go weed. Then wash in the same lye soap when you come in and you won't get a bad reaction.

Go to the doctor and get a shot or else the poison will get into your bloodstream and kill you.

Have you tried Ivy-Dry? It works wonders.

I'm telling you, put bleach on it. It will clear it right up.

Salt water will cure it. I walked in the ocean when I had it as a child and the salt water made it go away.

Pure alcohol will dry it out. You want to dry it out to make the rash disappear.

Have you tried that new thing they came out with? I think I saw it at the drug store. There is also one that you wash with beforehand. Try that.

Those were all things that people told me. I am amazed at the response from last week's column stating that I had poison ivy. There are as many remedies as I have itchy spots.

I tried the only thing I know that works, as my old standby, yellow laundry soap, failed me this time. Time and plenty of hydrocortisone cream are what effectively control the rash and itching for me. Oh, and lots and lots of scratching. A visit to the doctor would also have worked but I was too cheap to go.

The swelling is gone and the rash is somewhat under control but the suggestion from a reader to try Castile soap brought back memories. I could almost smell it as the gentleman was talking.

Real Castile soap is made using vegetable oil, preferably olive oil, instead of animal fat. What, you didn't know there was animal fat in soap? That's what they do with the fat when an animal has liposuction. Not really. I'm kidding.

Modern soaps are probably made of mostly synthetic ingredients now but there was a time that animal fat was an essential ingredient for soap making.

One recipe I found for Castile soap calls for olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil, water, lye and the fragrance of your choice. Personally I would rather buy it than make it. And true Castile soap only has one fragrance.

It smells like my grandpa. I remember many a day that he would straddle the toilet and have me wash his back for him. I would prattle on like little girls do and he would pretend to listen as I washed his back with Castile soap.

I suppose that little girls don't do that any more. Everybody seems to have turned into such prudes nowadays. Something so innocent would be viewed as improper behavior.

But there was nothing improper about it. It was just a little girl and an old man spending time together.

He also taught me to whistle by imitating the bobwhite call of the quail that lived in our fields. He tried to teach me the constellations but I could never see the shapes he pointed out. He was my best friend and I worshipped him.

He has been gone for well over 40 years now and I still think of him when I smell Castile soap. I even think of him when someone reminds me of those rectangular white bars that are still made today. Maybe I'll pick up a bar or two at the grocery store for the next time I get the urge to weed the bushes. Even if it doesn't prevent the rash it will bring back pleasant memories.[[In-content Ad]]