A Soothing Bath
Sometimes when you’re out walking on a trail or on a hike, you don’t always pay attention to the plants around you. Maybe you walked through a patch of poison oak or poison ivy, and you get back home and are breaking out with an annoying and itchy rash? Don’t bother with those expensive and smelly anti-itch creams when you can reach into your pantry and break out everyone’s favorite hot cereal— oatmeal!
While a bath in oatmeal may not sound appealing, it’s a much better experience than scratching at a rash for a few days. Take some unflavored oatmeal and grind it into a fine powder— or just buy pre-ground oats called colloidal oatmeal. Then, add several cups of the ground oats into warm bathwater. To improve the effectiveness of the oatmeal bath, you can add in some Epsom salt or baking soda.
Soak in the bathtub between 15 to 30 minutes. Make sure the areas of your body that have been exposed to the poison oak are submerged the entire time you’re in the bath. When you get out of the bath, be sure to pat yourself dry instead of scrubbing your skin since rubbing can further irritate your skin. You should take an oatmeal bath a few times a day to best treat your rash!
If your rash doesn’t seem to improve after a couple of days, make sure to pay a visit to HealthCARE Express! Stay tuned for more helpful health tips, guys!
