Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am a geologist who (unfortunately) has to work on landslides that are covered with poison oak. Tecnu is splendid and effective. It has a special patent..... so there are no competitors (until the patent runs out, many years from now). Do not even attempt the old useless remedies (= calamine lotion). Tecnu actually dissolves the complex organic molecules within poison-oak juice. This is a large, economical package. I transfer it to small thumb-sized plastic bottles that I can carry with me in my jeans pockets. I put it on my wrists, forearms, and in between my fingers whenever I suddenly encounter poison oak while in the field. If you can, wash in water immediately after exposure (in a nearby creek or use a hose). This mechanically removes *some* of the poison oak juice. Then pat your skin dry, and apply Tecnu. Let it dry. Later, in the evening, take a shower, and gently wash your skin where it was exposed to the poison oak. Do not scrub with a brush in the shower, since this can create micro-lacerations wherein the poison oak will spread. Exit the shower, gently dry off with a towel, then reapply a new coating of Tecnu. File your fingernails smooth, so that you cannot scratch yourself while sleeping in the night. Use Tecnu immediately. Never (naively) wait three days and then you will have an awful full-blown case of poison oak..... with perhaps a visit to the hospital or emergency room. Use Tecnu often....even if you cannot feel any itching or see anything. Repetitively apply it where there might be tiny invisible scratches on your skin where it is the thinnest (often the inside of the wrist). Thick skin (like the palm of your hand) will generally not get poison oak. Look for the places where your skin is the thinnest, and apply Tecnu there. (=the voice of experience from a geologist who has had poison oak hundreds of times .... but is now fully prepared with Tecnu) Yes, you will still get a (mild) case of poison oak, but Tecnu beats it down and within a week, you are back to normal.