On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 08:12:19 -0500, Stormin Mormon wrote:

I also am not all that impressed with "in the box" thinkers.

Yup. I agree.

With poison oak, everyone says hire someone else to get the rash, or to
spray it. That's thinking INSIDE the box.

Thinking OUTSIDE the box is figuring out a way to remove it mechanically,
but efficiently (I agree, the chainsaw is a lousy idea, so that's why I
had asked).

Most of the out-of-the-box answers that came back were GREAT, albeit a
bit on the expensive side for something I don't have to do (like hiring
out trucks with mechanical arms and rotary blades on the end).

I did like the idea of the salt (although it had some big drawbacks), and
the evil-looking $80 pruner that was suggested seemed within my budget.

I immediately discounted the out-of-the-box idea of burning it or hand
pruning it, the former due to the danger of smoke inhalation, and the
latter to the sheer number of manyears it would require to methodically
cut each vine individually.

As for cleanup after the inevitable exposure, I certainly appreciated all
the in-the-box suggestions of using Technu & Zanfel. For removal, I
prefer my out-of-the-box in-the-box duplication of those EXPENSIVE
solutions using simple dish detergent (surfactant), bleach (oxidizer),
alcohol (wetting agent), toothpaste (silicon dioxide abrasive), and
spermicide (non-ionic surfactant).

I'm not exactly sure WHY the spermicide works though, but that too much
out-of-the-box thinking for the pharmacist that I had asked.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonoxyn...son_ivy_creams
"Nonoxynol-9 is also found in Zanfel poison ivy cream.
It effectively helps to break up the oil urushiol that causes the rash."

According to that page, they also use the spermicide in shaving cream for
the same reason. This page says the nonoxyl9 is a biocide:
hanskellner.com/2003/04/25/poison-oak-treatment-zanfel-ingredients/

Surprisingly, this Amazon review of Zanfel contains very useful
information as to HOW the nonoxyl9 actually works:
http://www.amazon.com/Zanfel-Poison-...oduct-reviews/
B000GCPWUU?pageNumber=2
But the key takeaway is that it is a fundamental ingredient that we need
to reproduce in our own home remedies.