How to Shave With Poison Ivy?

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how to shave with poison ivy

You know I was stuck out in the woods not too long ago. I had decided to go hiking. Then my companions and I decided to set up camp near one river. The Scenery was amazing. Just the fact of being out in nature. Sleeping far away from city lights, people, and pollution. But then I decided I wanted to shave. I mean even though I was out in the woods it didn’t mean a lady could get her shave going.

One of the campers came with me nearby the river. I began shaving my leg and she was washing her hands and filling up her water cup. I asked her why wasn’t she shaving, I mean, wasn’t that the reason why she came by the river. She stated she had poison ivy and wasn’t too sure how to go about it. I then asked myself this question “how to shave with poison ivy?”

What if I were to catch it? And I had to shave. But didn’t want to shave. What would I do?

So, I did some research….

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What if I need to shave the area that has poison ivy?

Suck it up and forget about it. I would say suck it up and bear through the pain, the chances of you cutting yourself if you already haven’t from scratching, and bear through the chances of you spreading the poison ivy. Then you go ahead. What you can do is treat the poison ivy as soon as you get it. As soon as you feel the urge to start scratching.

Once you treat it. Wait a few hours and start shaving. Instead of using shaving foam or soap. I would use a get, but one that doesn’t foam up. You might need to get a hold of a shaving gel that allows you to see what you’re shaving.

Then shave and go about slowly and carefully. That should help. But with the craving to scratch yourself and break the skin, I wouldn’t recommend it.

Can I shave the surrounding area that has the poison ivy?

Yeah, you can. But it can be tricky because if you are already scratching the poison ivy-infected area you can then spread it to other parts. So here is a method you can use.

When you have poison ivy, you should feel a sensation of craving to scratch, what I do is take some shaving cream or a little marker and make a circle around that area so I can tell which part has the poison ivy.

Then I’ll begin to shave the other areas surrounding it. Then you shouldn’t be going over the poison ivy and taking it to another spot further spreading the problem.

How to shave with poison ivy?

You don’t shave. I know it’s not the answer that you were expecting. But you don’t. There are two things to think about if you’re going to try and shave with poison ivy. Infection and spreading.

Now the infection part is easy to understand. But I can break it down for you even further. When you have poison ivy. It is guaranteed that you’re going to be scratching it within the first few minutes of catching it. I’ve tried and tried. But my willpower wasn’t that great to not avoid scratching it.

So, you will be scratching it. Then when you scratch it. The skin may break a bit. Now you may start to bleed a bit. So now can you imagine you start to shave over this? One, it’ll be painful but now you’re missing part of your dermis and epidermis. The razor blades come into contact with raw skin and cause it to bleed even more. Also, you might have not disinfected your razor blade before you started shaving (why would you?) so the blade is carrying bacteria right in your poison ivy-infected bleeding skin. NO GOOD.

The other issue is spreading the poison ivy around to other body parts. Let’s say you don’t scratch your skin and don’t break it. So, you take your razor and carefully and slowly go over your poison ivy-infected skin.

You do a decent job, but now you take that blade and start shaving your leg, chest, or god forbid your neck and face. Even though you may rinse the blade in between shaves you can still get some of the poison ivies on your hand or arm and you’ll end up shaving another area, pulling your skin back with your HAND, now you got poison ivy on that area.

So yeah that isn’t good. So, stop while you’re ahead

Is there a way to treat poison ivy fast so I can shave?

You can follow these steps to help with treating it as fast as possible….

Your skin, take care of it quickly.

The first step of treating poison ivy is to identify what it is doing to your skin. There should be a red rash or some blisters on your skin. Or there should be some swelling. Look For them.

Remove the clothes you were wearing. Wash them.

Removing clothes is a great option. Because the poison ivy can be on it. Wear gloves if you can and put them in a garbage bag. I would wash them separately from any other dirty clothes. Also, wash them numerous times. At least 3 times.

Rubbing alcohol is your friend

Rubbing alcohol is great for dissolving rash. They are less toxic and relieve you of the itchy sensation. The plants themselves are toxic because their oil is what causes your skin to break out in a rash and causes you to scratch them. Rubbing alcohol is only for temporarily stopping the spread, not relief.

Rinse the infected area with cold water

Using warm water isn’t proactive. It’ll open the pores and all that does is allow more toxins to enter. You want to run cold water under the area for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Now clean the area completely

Don’t worry about the area where the infection is, make sure the area is rinsed properly. Scrub your fingernails thoroughly since you may have touched the infection with your hands and now your hands are affected. Take a brush underneath your fingernails and scrub, this will clean the area to make sure you don’t spread it anywhere else.

You can use an oil obliterating dish soap to rinse off and clean the infected area. The toxins from the plant are now on your skin because of the oils. Any brand of dish soap can work as long as it’s an oil-fighting soap or can break up the oil.

I wouldn’t recommend you dry off after washing your affected area. Wash and clean the towel once you’re done. You may even have to trash the towel.

It’s going to be hard, but whatever you don’t scratch

The rash may be contagious but you can create little tears in your skin and then bacteria will go into the rash. Do not go popping any blisters either. You might want to shorten the length of your nails or cover the rash to help prevent you from touching it and scratching it more.

Cooldown the area that is exposed

Applying a cold compress or putting on an ice pack on the area can work wonders. Apply the cold stuff there for about 10 -15 minutes. You can do it for longer than you can do it.

The steps up above should take no longer than 30 minutes. Depending on how close you are to some of the products needed to handle this.

You can try any of the methods to treat it down below

Applying some topical creams and lotions

A few lotions and creams you can use or ones that have calamine lotion, capsaicin cream, or have the main ingredient of hydrocortisone. All can provide a good amount of relief from the need to scratch it. When the itchiness starts to happen that is when you want to use the lotions.

Using antihistamines

These are medications for allergies. Minor relief is possible when using antihistamines. Since poison ivy might bring about allergic reactions. They provide minor comfort from poison ivy, but the trick is taking them through oral medication right before you sleep at night.

Odd method, but taking an oatmeal bath can help

I can’t verify if the oatmeal bath can work. I prefer not to waste my time on it and eat oatmeal. But you can blend one cup of oatmeal into a blender, then throw it in your bathwater. Doing so can open up your pores allowing more of the toxins to seep through your skin.

Acorn broth

Crack a few acorns then boil them. You want to strain the nuts, then cool it off. Now put it on your rash using a cotton ball or pad. Now don’t get your hopes up. This method has not been researched or studied. But it may be an effective form of reducing the itchy feeling according to plant forums on the internet.

Using aloe vera

Aloe vera can work wonders. If you have access to a plant, just snap off the leaves. Apply the gel right on your rash. Don’t have access to the leaves, then use the processed bottled version. If you choose the store-bought version, make sure it has about 95% aloe vera in it.

Apple cider vinegar

It’s a remedy for a multiple numbers of things. But one of them is for healing the skin from poison ivy. Put some of the vinegar on a cotton ball and apply it to the infected area.

Baking soda

Take some baking soda along with some water and turn it into a paste. Mix the baking soda and water till you get a paste consistency. Put the paste on your rash. Now you should be able to extract any water or puss from the blisters.

Nasty!! I would leave the paste on till it dries off. Now you can allow it to break apart and fall off since it is dried out. You want to put the paste on every couple of hours for some good outcomes.


Using dairy for poison ivy: take some buttermilk or some yogurt and now rub it on your skin. If you have an allergic reaction to anything dairy, then don’t use it. Try another remedy. The buttermilk and yogurt on your rash should be able to draw out the fluid from the blisters. The yogurt should be plain yogurt with not many additives.

Use tea to help with a rash: Take water and fill your tub. Add at least 12 tea bags to it. I suggest you fill it with chamomile tea (it has certain anti-inflammatory ingredients). Soak in the tea bath. Soak in it for 10-20 minutes. Doing so can help to bring down the itchy feeling and bring you some comfort. Don’t like the bath idea, then use a cotton ball, dip in the tea, and rub it on the rash every couple of hours.

  • Cold fruit rinds: take a cold watermelon rind or banana peel and rub it on your rash. The rind will act similar to an ice pack and the liquid from the fruit can dry out the blisters. Now the banana peel cools down the area soothes it. Bringing you some comfort.
  • Use some cold coffee: now you may have a bit of leftover dark brewed coffee in your pantry. You can use it by taking a cotton pad and gently rubbing it on the infected area. Why not use a fresh cup of coffee? You can. But make the coffee to cool down off your fridge. It can be a good remedy since coffee has chlorogenic acid that acts as an anti-inflammatory agent.