Lots of good information in this thread. Thanks a bunch to everyone who chipped in.

I disagree with some parts of the video above. Here's why.. I can wear long pants out into the woods and STILL get poison ivy on my legs, calf's, and tops of my feet by INCORRECTLY using a wash rag and shower/hand soap that DOES NOT BREAK DOWN THE OIL. If you have URUSHIOL on any part of your body, and you use a wash rag with hand soap and wipe that oil up and then use that same wash rag on other parts of your body-you will spread the oil, and then you will have spread the rash.

Here is what I would recommend; Before going out into the field liberally apply hand lotion. Borrow some from your wife, or get the unscented kind from the store. Apply it to your legs, your hands, your face, any exposed skin that you can reach WITH A WASH RAG (because those are the areas you are most likely to spread it to). The purpose of the lotion is that it will fill in the pores on your skin and it forms a barrier that stops the oil from bonding to your skin. After getting dressed, apply a second coating of hand lotion to any exposed areas such as your neck, face, ears, hands, and arms if you are wearing short sleeve shirts. This is the BEST protection I have found to date. In addition to the hand lotion, I also wear long sleeve shirts, and long pants.

After you get home, if you think you have been exposed to URUSHIOL wash with Dawn dishwashing detergent. Don't even use a rag initially, just squirt it on full strength and spread it all over your body. After getting good coverage, then use your rag with COLD WATER only and begin washing your body methodically. You should wash one arm completely, and then rinse that rag with cold water until there is no soap left on it. Then re-soap the rag, and then wash the 2nd arm. Do each body part separately while completely rinsing the rag between each body part. The rinsing is trying to get the oil out of the rag so you don't transfer it to the next body part. Do this entire regimen TWICE and then rinse with cold water. I normally do this in the yard with a garden hose.

The only times I get P/I now are when I do not follow this regime. If I just throw on my clothes and head out hog hunting and we go traipsing through the fields, and climb fences, I always end up with it. However, when I properly prepare with the hand lotion, and wash correctly when I get home, it's never an issue. Kind of hard to stand in your yard in your undies washing yourself at 4AM after hog hunting though.. Even then I try and use the Dawn in the shower, but it is much less effective if I don't use the hand lotion first. I've also read that it takes up to 20 minutes or so for the URUSHIOL to bond to your skin. Regardless of how well you shower, or bathe, if the oil has already bonded to your skin, or otherwise gotten into your pores-YOU ARE TOAST. There is no solution on this planet that is going to stop your body from having a reaction to the oil once it permeates the skin. The shots and the pills that doctors prescribe are just to cause your body to stop attacking itself. That's all the rash is, your body is trying to isolate the oil by causing pustules/blisters to form around the oil at the affected site to isolate them from the surrounding skin.

I like the guys idea above about Tide dishwashing detergent. I know it's a bit extreme but I have had good luck using chlorine bleach on a cotton ball to wipe affected areas. I can feel when the oil is on my skin as it causes a slight burning sensation. If I take a cotton ball and wipe it with rubbing alcohol, or chlorine bleach, I know I have broken up the oil, and now it can't bond to my skin and then no rash.

I've had the stuff so bad in previous years that I have had it over 80% of my body. I've not had it that bad since that one episode, and hopefully never will. It was because I spread it all over my body with the wash rag. I don't do that anymore.

I believe there are those that indeed are immune, but I think a lot of those have not identified poison ivy correctly, have not been exposed to it well enough to get a reaction, or have unknowingly washed it off before they had a problem.
My dad claimed that it never bothered him, till one day when he was in his 60s, he broke out all over. And just like PMK, he was weedeating when it happened.

I'm starting to itch just reading this thread...

Charlie

Had it head to toe after taking a hot shower after being exposed once. Always use cold water

Good reason NOT to shower with HOT water and soap after exposure to PI.

Sorry for your pain. My understanding is that you will only get the blisters if the oils aren't removed. Your hot shower probably opened up the pores and allowed the oils to get deep in the skin because the soap you used didn't cut it.. Do this, buy some tide powder and put a cup in a empty shampoo bottle fill, 3/4ths with water and shake well. Let is sit till the next time and scrub ever inch with it. If this photo is from today you still need to wash because from the looks of your blister you still have the oil on you. Tide will burn like the dickens on an open blister, but it will stop the itching once the oils are off you. I have been doing the tide thing since 1982 and it was common for my arms to look like yours. Haven't had a breakout like that in 35 years my friend.

The Boy Scout Manual 50 yrs ago recommended a paste of Tide to be put on the rash.

Thanks for the suggestion ... Those pics were from 2005.

I'm highly allergic and always end up with a shot, but I also wash with Dawn soap that has bleach in it if I even suspect I've been around it. By the way don't burn it and breathe or hang around any fire that has it, trust me.... a paste of Comet helps as well

I thought that I had a bad reaction, but some of you guys have me beat, hands down. Some of those rashes are just brutal.

I know a lady that like to have died from being around someone burning some. It doesn't sound like it would be bad for you, if the oils are what causes problems. But she was adamant that it was the poison ivy smoke. And this was years ago, by the way.