HERB - Re: jewelweed

[Gaylin Walli]

Melandra asked:

>I've been told that washing with lye soap will get rid of itching from
>poison ivy and chigger and tick bites.  Is it true?

Just to clear up a bit of confusion, nearly all soap is lye soap, even
most of the bar soap you buy in the store today.

Soap forms from a reaction between fat and lye (sodium hydroxide) or
fat and potassium hydroxide. The former will give you standard bar
soap, the later will give you a very squishy bar soap or liquid soap.
(Actually, that's a vast simplicfication of the reaction, but you
get the general idea.)

As to the idea of soap getting rid of the itching, I couldn't tell you.
I would suspect it would be the water pounding on the skin that would
be the best feeling. That's what I do when I have a rash.

Jasmine
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