Leaves of Three, Leave them Be!
Poison ivy, a totally normal looking plant or shrub that you can find growing along the roadside, your favorite hiking trail or backyard fence, is a dangerous plant that can cause intense negative reactions on skin. When your skin merely brushes it, a clear liquid compound known as urushiol is immediately exuded by the plant, irritating the surface of the skin and causing itchiness, redness, swelling, rashes, bumps and blisters which can become pus-filled at a rapid rate.
Poison plants like poison ivy, oak or sumac are best avoided because once they come into contact with skin, especially when you’re having a good time hiking around in Nature, it’s hard to quickly wash the area and apply something soothing on it – hence the olden times saying, ‘leaves of three, leave them be!’ When you spot an innocent looking plant/shrub or vine with three large almond-shaped leaflets, just keep your distance.
Why Use Shea Butter on Poison Ivy?
Shea butter has a high healing fraction that surpasses many natural oils including coconut oil! It’s a great soother for poison ivy rashes and promotes speedy healing of wounds. Below are some of the reasons shea butter is good to use on poison ivy rashes:
→ Reduces Inflammation – Rich in cinnamic acid esters that are known to reduce inflammation and heal skin, shea butter is known to calm inflamed skin conditions including eczema and psoriasis.
→ Soothes Rashes – Shea butter instantly soothes skin rashes and swellings – be it bug bites, itchy skin rashes, razor bumps and poison ivy rashes. Its fatty acids play the healing role here. They create a protective film over skin, lubricating & moisturizing it as well as repairing damaged skin as in the case of poison ivy blisters and stings.
→ Takes Away the Sting – Something so soothing as shea butter can be a God-send for relieving the stinging sensations caused on skin by poison ivy. Lightly smearing shea butter on poison ivy after wiping it down with antibacterial wet wipes can provide immense relief from poison ivy stings. Shea butter is also good for minimizing the sharp piercing pain that is associated with poison ivy stings.
→ Protects the Skin – The allatonin content in shea butter not only promotes quick recovery of wounds but also protects the skin from harsh elements including the skin irritating compound urushiol found in poison ivy sap.
How to Use Shea Butter for Poison Ivy
Note: Before applying shea butter on the affected area, ensure to first wash it with cool water and a mild soap to remove traces of the plant sap or swipe it gently with an antibacterial wet wipe. Here are some ingenious ways to use shea butter for poison ivy:
1. Straight up – Scoop up some unrefined shea butter from the jar using clean fingers and gently run it over the affected area.
2. Mix in some aloe vera gel – Aloe vera gel is another wonderful natural product that is soothing and cooling for hot and aggravated skin like that caused by poison ivy. When mixed with shea butter, it makes shealoe, a luscious product that’s exceptionally skin saving with the powerful combo of soothing shea butter + cooling aloe vera. You should buy pure aloe vera gel and avoid extracting & using the one directly from the aloe vera plant to lengthen the shelf-life of your shealoe.
To make shealoe, whip up ¼ cup shea butter with 2 tbsp aloe vera gel either manually using a whisk or with the help of a hand mixer. With the whisk, you’ll need the energy to beat the ingredients for 7 minutes or more while with the hand mixer, you’ll get a fluffy smooth mix within a couple of minutes.
3. Mix in some essential oils – I’ve found essential oils to be very effective at instantly relieving and curing poison ivy. This great article explains a list of essential oils best for poison ivy rashes – there’s lavender, eucalyptus, tea tree, cypress, chamomile, peppermint and myrrh. My top three picks out of those seven would be lavender, tea tree & eucalyptus because they’re cheaper and easily available.
If you choose to use any of the essential oils, make sure to use a 2% dilution ratio of 2 drops of essential oil to 1 tsp of shea butter (that’s the recommended essential oil dilution amount for adults). Also ensure to first test the essential oils using a patch test on your inner elbow for allergies but normally, the three oils I mentioned above are safe to use without any problems.
Tips
- Getting a poison ivy sting can be extremely inconvenient during hikes in the woods so make sure to take some wet wipes in your backpack plus a little salve tin of shea butter to quickly cleanse the area and heal it before the area blisters and oozes pus.
- If you’ve gotten a poison ivy sting more times than enough, why not make a healing shea butter salve to keep in handy? Please take a look at my super easy all-purpose salve recipe that’s incredibly effective for many skin issues including poison ivy.
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