poison ivy

[ilovedoxies]

There is a plant that grows wild that treats poison ivy. I don't know what it is called but it grows wild near my house. It has a little bitty orange flower on it and after the flower dies a pod forms with seeds in it.

My grandpa said to boil the leaves in water, let it cool and rub it on the afflicated area.

I was wondering if I can use that for my liquid in a bar of soap. Would the saponification process cancel out the active ingredients in the plant?

 

[WilsonFamilyPicnic]

i'll take 3 pounds of that right now...i've got it on my arm and a smidge on my chin!

i've seen recipes around here with that in it to make soap for poison ivy...which the name escapes me at this time. try the search button and see what folks have said.

 

[earthmother99]

for some reason jewel weed sticks in my head will have to look it up thou been a while

 

[SoapMedic]

jewelweed sounds right!! The flowers are orange or yellow. You can break the stem and apply the juice directly to the poison ivy rash. For soap, you need to make an infusion of the jewelweed by bruising the fresh-picked plants and steeping them in oil (olive or whatever), (use a crockpot to warm the oil, then put it in a glass jar and let it steep). Re-infuse the same oil with fresh plants as desired---be aware that fresh herbs can get moldy in oil so steeping for a few days, then changing out the plants to new ones can help prevent that. Then make your soap. You should leave it unscented or only use skin-friendly EOs since it will be applied to poison-ivy areas of skin.

The saponification process is pretty rough on soap ingredients, but I know folks that swear by jewel-weed soap. So, I dunno . Also you can make a calamine soap by adding calamine lotion to your soap batter, it turns the soap kind of pinkish.

 

[Lindy]

What about making HP and then adding this herb just as you're ready to pour? The soap is no longer zappy and it is easier on whatever additives you want at that point? You could probably even add calamine lotion at that point too?

Just thinking out loud here.....

 

[Deda]

Calamine lotions active ingreds are zinc oxide with a touch of iron oxide.
Probably easier and more effective to just add those to the oils.

 

[Lindy]

Thanks Deda! I didn't know that and I have the Zinc Oxide - what would be the effect in a soap with just that in it? I know it's used for diaper rash cream but hadn't thought of it for soap....

 

[KE6WNH]

The active ingredient in poison ivy is a carbolic acid-like substance called urushiol... zinc oxide is an alkali and therefore neutralizes it. You'd have to do some research and find out the name of the active ingredient in jewel weed, and what kind of chemical it is. For example the THC in marijuana is sort of like a steroid, but the ricin in a castor bean is a toxic protein... I'm guessing you jewel weed contains some kind of complex alcohol-like chemical.