The Season for Dawn Dish Soap Showers Has Arrived

It took way too long to learn this trick for preventing poison ivy rashes.

Being covered in poison ivy rashes and then taking prescription steroids was a fact of my childhood. I can vividly remember one specific time, I was around 5 years old, when tiny bubbles stacked on top of each other, all over my body. It was up and down all my fingers, making them painfully inflamed difficult to bend.

We tried all sorts of things. Oatmeal baths. Every over the counter cream. It seemed bleach water sponge baths cut the effect, and I continued doing this after exposure until very recently.

Last summer, after cutting the grass on the farm, I was hanging out with some friends around a campfire. I mentioned that I was mentally preparing myself for a lot of itching and explained that I turned poison ivy bushes into clouds all evening and walked through them.

Bob told me all I needed to do was take a shower with Dawn dish soap. He said it so matter of factly, and this was a trick I hadn’t heard yet. So I bought a bottle of the blue stuff for the first time in my life on the way home, and covered myself in its lather before going to bed. I put my clothes in the washer and gave the load a nice squirt, as well. It was a miracle, no reaction. Sticking to this routine kept me in the clear the rest of the year.

So last week I did the first grass cutting of the year, and forgot to utilize the dish soap. Big mistake, I have been sorely reminded. I’m taking the reckless approach to dealing with it this time — attacking the dermatitis with my nails to my heart’s content, then spraying the ruptured blisters with alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Scratching my way through this bout, I will be sure to rock the Dawn from here on out.