Can I wash off poison oak?
There's no outright cure for poison oak rash, and as a result, it's a much-hated plant by anyone who's ever been in contact with it and suffered the itchy, burning rash that follows. Prevention is the advised course of action, which is not a nice thing to hear if you've already been exposed to it!
Thankfully, there are at least some steps you can take after exposure to poison oak that can prevent a rash from occurring – or to minimize the severity of any reaction that does occur. It's important to understand how poison oak works so that you know how to deal with it. Unlike stinging nettles, for example, the bumps on the skin following contact with poison oak are not caused by the plant itself, but rather by an oil found in the leaves, stems, and roots. Touching a stinging nettle would bring about an immediate reaction. Touching poison oak does not, because the body is not allergic to the plant itself, only to the oil. What happens when you touch poison oak is that the toxic oil (urushiol) is transferred to your skin. It won't harm you until it is absorbed by your skin, which can take a few hours – in fact, most rashes don't appear until about 36 to 48 hours after exposure.
This means that if you react quickly enough, you can stop the rash from appearing. Make sure that you're familiar with what poison oak ooks like, so that you can easily spot it and realize what's happened if you do accidentally come into contact with it. If you don't see it, then the first you'll know of your exposure to it is when that rash appears, and it will be too late then! Basically, you need to remove the urushiol from your skin before it has time to soak in – and you need to refrain from touching the area until you've done so. Touching will not only help to rub the oil into your skin, but it will also transfer it to your hands, meaning that anything you touch will also end up covered in urushiol.
So, resisting the urge to touch or scratch or rub your skin, go immediately to somewhere you can wash. If you have any rubbing alcohol, apply that first, and then rinse with cold water. After you've done that, you need to wash thoroughly with soap and water. Make sure that you scrub under your fingernails, to make sure that no traces of urushiol remain on your hands for you to spread to other parts of your body. Also, wearing gloves, wash your clothes and footwear. Wash any other objects that may have come into contact with the poison oak. This includes pets! You need to wash the urushiol off any potential carriers, so that you won't be re-exposed.
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