Perserverance is killer!

by Ariel
(Pennsylvania)

This year, I had three days before school started and I caught poison ivy by ripping some affected grape vines off of a fence. Needless to say, I freaked out (I'm fifteen, peer pressure is strong.) So I did everything within my power to stop the poison (which was on half my face) before school resumed, touting every five minutes to my mother, "My willpower will stop the poison before school!" Two days later, I was cured. My rather head-strong method was this:

1. I stayed out of direct sunlight or strong artifical lighting for a couple of days.
2. I did not itch AT ALL. That only makes it worse.
3. I held ice on my face at any given opportunity to ease the itch.
4. Calamine lotion- lots of it!
5. Cold showers, as cold as I could stand, so it couldn't feed off of the heat.
6. Washing my face with Dawn soap- the ultra concentrated stuff. It gets rid of oils like nobody's business!
7. Having my air conditioner on to freezing at all times.

I choked off all the poison's power sources and it didn't survive. This was a much more hardcore method and might be harder to accomplish if you are more active and have things to do, but if you're trying to look better in time for something, this is the quickest way I have ever gotten rid of it, and I would know- I get poison ivy like clockwork, twice a year.