Itching and burning! FOR SCIENCE!

[Pip Boy]

Weeeell, after watching Mythbusters for ideas on a science project I've got due in a short time, I saw their experiment on home remedies for skunk spray and decided to try something more locally useful: An experiment on home remedies for poison oak/poison ivy. A lot of different people have told me various things that should help such as pouring vodka on the affected area area, using rubbing alcohol, simply dipping the affected area in water, or using dish soap to clean the affected area. Do any of you know any other home remedies to this (or even similar common ailments) that I could test? I'm going to give my self one hell of a rash! FOR SCIENCE!

[Nique]

Peanut Butter + Windex on a Duct Tape Bandage.

Post pictures.

[Grimpond]

Different grades of vodka maybe?

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Well a quick look on wiki tells me that the chemical that causes these irritations, urushiol, is imiscible with water, so I'm guessing unless you are quick at washing it off the skin, it will probably soak into your pores very quickly and be unnafected by the water. However alcohol apparantly mixes with the urushiol quite well, which likely breaks it down/turns it into some other solution, which would be better at preventing irritation.

So really your best bet is alcohol, of any kind. Maybe you can try various brands in an attempt to find out which works best and which is best from an economical standpoint.

No point using the families best brandy if budwieser works just as well eh?

[Azisien]

I second and third the motion to wrap yourself haphazardly in peanut butter and duct tape, soak yourself in vodka, and then crash through the woods. (Video > Picture)

[Krylo]

Fire.

You can't itch if all your nerve endings are burnt off.

[Wigmund]

Here's a Ozark folk remedy (http://www.anthroblogs.org/the_nature_of_healing/2007/12/home_remedies_of_the_ozarks.html) for Poison Ivy:
The Bud of a Sumac Tree if taken while it is still green can be boiled into a tea, but you have to remove the white broth that forms on top because that part is still poisonous. This will keep you from being allergic to poison ivy, but it needs to be repeated annually when the sumac bud is green.
And then there's whiskey.
You can cure anything in the Ozarks with whiskey, but of course, as with all medicines there are side effects.

So this means that Irish Tea (http://coffeetea.about.com/od/hotteaalc/r/irishtea.htm) made with Sumac will make you immortal.

[Nikose Tyris]

Mythbusters already did this one, man. Vodka works.

[Pip Boy]

They beat me to this one? Damn. I'll have to try something else. Solar powered hot dog cooker is back on the table?

[CABAL49]

That doesn't get you out of doing this:
I second and third the motion to wrap yourself haphazardly in peanut butter and duct tape, soak yourself in vodka, and then crash through the woods. (Video > Picture)

[Pip Boy]

I think that going into the woods while coated in peanut butter may be more hazardous to my health than any rash.

[ziratha]

That's why they suggested it. Remember video, and bonus points if you live in bear country. Remember, if a bear attacks you, you should make unsolicited sexual advances towards it so that it will sue you for sexual harassment, and not eat you.

[Bob The Mercenary]

I thought it was common knowledge that drying out the rash helps most. It's why they have products like IvyDry. It could also explain why alcohol and vodka work.

[bluestarultor]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned good old oatmeal. That's the only one I've ever heard of, honestly, but I don't know if it actually works.

Or, apparently, you could just be born immune. One of my old roommates was allergic to just about everything, but if what he claimed was true, poison ivy causes an allergic reaction and by some genetic quirk, it was the one thing he wasn't allergic to.

[Nique]

Or, apparently, you could just be born immune. One of my old roommates was allergic to just about everything, but if what he claimed was true, poison ivy causes an allergic reaction and by some genetic quirk, it was the one thing he wasn't allergic to.

I bet we could combine him Weapon XI style with a bunch of other people who have exceptionally specific immune systems.

[Pip Boy]

Well, I don't have the mean to isolate a poison ivy immunity gene and reproduce it in fetuses, so I'll have to do something else. I was thinking solar powered hot-dog cooker but thats just a ton of work. I don't want to work. I wan't to sit on my ass and play video games. Which brings me to my FINALLY DECIDED ACTUAL SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT.

I'm just shocked I got my teacher to approve this. I'm taking a simple reflex test (light comes on, press the button, automatically timed) and a homemade concentration test (Doing 12 simple math problems randomly generated by an excell spreadsheet and measuring completion time/accuracy) then playing World of Warcraft nonstop for 8 hours. Then taking those tests again afterwards to see if there is any difference. But remember! Repeated trials are a total necessity for science, so I'll be doing this not once but four times!

[Nique]

Well, I don't have the mean to isolate a poison ivy immunity gene and reproduce it in fetuses

Well then effffffffff yoooooooouuu.