This video about how to wash off poison ivy changed my life. The key is that urushiol acts a lot like invisible motor oil in terms of how it sticks to your skin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oyoDRHpQK0
I want a product that can show me where the oil is on my skin. I'm strongly affected by poison ivy. I sweat a lot, so I'm constantly touching my face. I've had bad rashes on my nose, eyebrows, and ears, amongst other places.
I use a soapy cloth every time I think I've been in contact and I still miss places.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fels-Naptha
Even worse, it is almost impossible to find these days. The brand was acquired and the company that bought it is still ramping up production and distribution. Source: I emailed the company.
Actually just bought some Zote (also now owned by the same company), just yesterday, to test it out... but from what I hear, I don't think it is as good.
Discovering this site was a godsend for my son, who had severe eczema as a baby: https://www.solveeczema.org I would also get itchy skin hands after washing dishes, now, my skin feels great.
I've not tried using traditional soap for washing off poison ivy, though it does work for other kinds of grease, so I would expect it's ok as long as you scrub well enough with a cloth or something.
https://www.poison-ivy.org/seeleaf-detection-wipes
edit: PS: skip the dawn and use Gojo (the stuff from the autoparts store), or both.
There was a scientist at UC Santa Cruz who patented a chemical that could be used to detect urushiol under a blacklight. I contacted them years ago to see if they were going to turn it into a commercial product, but AFAIK, it hasn't made it to market yet.
The idea is intriguing... a special light or cream to make urushiol visible on the skin to aid in scrubbing it off. Now that would be truly life changing!
He's right that scrubbing hard with a cloth is the most important part. For spot exposures mid-hike, a hard scrub with plain water in a stream or river, even without soap, has worked for me. A stone or a piece of bark can work as your scrubber. Better than your hand or your shirt. I swear that guy's saved me weeks of agony. Thanks for sharing.
extreme green power hand scrub is the same ingredients as zanfel, which is like $40 for a tiny tube. I keep tub of it in my shower and any time I see it starting, or think I may have come in contact I scrub the crap out of it, and it goes away in a few days. I haven't had a major breakout in well over a decade, and I reccommend it to everyone whenever the topic of poison ivy oak sumac or cashews comes up.
I have tons of it in my yard, and I'm genetically incapable of recognizing it by sight. I've gotten it 3 or 4 times in the past 10 years, and it's really annoying. I have some other type of vine, it's maybe kudzu but I'm not sure, that has completely enveloped trees, fences, climbing up my house. It's certainly intertwining with poison ivy and all the other plants and could very well pick up the oil from it.
There's an old movie called The Day of The Triffids, about walking/ambulatory plants, and you could shoot a remake of that in my yard and probably not need special effects. Kudzu can grow so fast you can almost see it in real time.
Three things work for me, in order of escalation:
1. Rubbing alcohol 2. Dawn dishwashing soap and scrubbing 3. Mean Green hand cleaner and more scrubbing