# Poison Ivy and Jewelweed



## Lauralynn

Hello everyone,

I havn't been on here very much, I'm learning soap!! I am selling it at a farmers market and it's amazing how people like it. My son keeps asking me to make a soap to help stop poison ivy and I've been reading about how jewelweed is supposed to help. Has anyone made a poison ivy bar with jewelweed in it? Did you dry the weed and infuse it it your oils? Or do you infuse it green? How much should I use? I hope you don't mind answering those questions. ONe my my sons has bad scars on the palm of his hand from a poison ivy incident that got infected when he was young. So they get it really bad. Too bad they didn't take after their mother who isn't allergic to it :O


----------



## Guest

Hello Laura... I make the soap, salve and a spray from jewelweed and actually I cannot keep it long,,, it sells well and my customers tell me it works.. I pick my jewelweed in the fall when it is flowering.... 
To make the soap, I infuse the oils... to make the salve I infuse the oils, to make the spray I infuse distilled water.... chop entire plant up in little pieces... and infuse... then make your products
Also another thing to teach them.. Jewelweed grows almost everywhere that Poison ivy grows.. teach them what the plant looks like and to be able to positively identify it... If they break the stem of the plant and rub juices where exposed it will stop the pi from spreading or getting bad.. it has a very watery juicy stem and leaves...Or make the spray in small bottles and give to them to carry in shirt pocket when they are likely to be where pi grows
Barb


----------



## buckrun

I can do an endless testimonial for Barb's products with jewelweed. Squidge is seriously affected by just walking near poison ivy  and blisters for weeks if he gets any on him. Life is all new this summer with her soap and other products to keep him from outbreaks! Thank you Barb! 
Lee


----------



## tlt0000

Do you need to preserve it with something in the spray? Also I have always been leary of making it into a salve because it doesn't seem like you should put an oil product on PI. Since you are trying to get rid of the pi oils it seems like the oil of the salve would hold it to your skin. I assume your salve works because it sells  can you explain why it works in a salve form? Thanks, my son is currently covered with poison ivy and I finally found some jewelweed to put on it. I need to get it cleared up soon.


----------



## SherrieC

I second what Barb says! I too make the stuff. I dry it first then Infuse it for the products that I make. The salve, well I make a jewelweed stick, works great as does the soap. There is a chemical reation with the PI and the componds in the jewelweed. It is an overall Anti Itching, and skin healing herb. Working on itchy skeeter bites, nettle sting, and itchy mystery rashes.


----------



## Guest

I thought I had posted.... didn' t post... here goes again... I do not add preservative to my sprays.. I do boil the water and aloe in it, to pasturize and store in a cool dark place until I sell it... 
The salve..the reason i think it works.. with most commerical salves.. they use petroleum and it sits on the surface of your skin, clogs pores and seals the rash in... with the oils we use to make salves.. they soak into your skin thru all three layers and with that soak in goes the active ingred ( in this case jewelweed)... doesn't sit on the surface and seal heat, rash, or dry skin in .. This is why I believe it works so well.. As Sherrie says, it does a chemical reaction with the PI... it can't do this by sitting on the surface.... Good skin loving oils are called transdermal oils.. meaning they will go thru all three layers of your skin.. I hate hate hate petroleum products.. I also don't use beeswax in my salves, I think it is a great product with some body care items but not salves... it does not soak into your skin... it is a skin protectant by sitting on the surface.. of your skin... 

Barb


----------



## tlt0000

Barb, what do you use to harden the salve if you don't use beeswax? I have so much to learn.  Thanks


----------



## SherrieC

Cocoa Butter the hard stuff not the lotion.


----------



## Guest

Yes. Cocoa and Mango Butters.... Cocoa butter is very hard... so mixing the right amt of soft oils with the cocoa creates a nice soft spreadable salve... I do not use e-wax or stearic in my PI salve either..
Barb


----------



## tlt0000

So for salve would I use the same ratio of oils to cocoa butter that I do oil to beeswax? I'm trying to figure out how much cocoa butter I would use to make a spreadable salve.


----------



## Guest

I use 60/40 if using only cocoa butter... that 60 soft oils and 40 cocoa butter... Warning tho, don't carry this in your purse in real warm weather.. it will melt and make a mess...
I like a very soft salve that spreads over rashes easily without tearing open blister etc... 
Barb


----------



## Anita Martin

I would like to make a jewelweed soap, but cannot seem to find a good source online. I get everything at herbalcom and they don't have it that I could see. I could gather it, but I don't know that we even have it around here (Va). I don't know how to identify it and I'd hate to accidentally make a "poison ivy" soap that actually contained poison ivy!

Does anyone know of a good source? Also, how long should I infuse before making soap or salve?


----------



## Kalne

Same here, Anita. Unfortunately, I think you have to use it shortly after harvesting making it hard to get if you can't find it.


----------



## hsmomof4

Anita,
here's a link so that you can see what it looks like http://www.sierrapotomac.org/W_Needham/Spotted_Jewelweed_09_21_03.htm It's also known as touch-me-not because when you touch the seed pods, they explode, shooting seeds in all directions. That's what I knew them as before the discussions on here. I had my MIL send me some seeds (they have them all over the place by their house) that I need to get planted this week. I haven't seen any around here, though they are native to KS, so I think that they will grow ok.


----------



## Anita Martin

Thanks Stacey that's a great picture. I printed it up and will look out in my woods for it later. It does look strangely familiar.

I wonder if running the plants, leaves, stems and flowers through a juicer and then using the juice in the soap would work as well as infusion? My juicer does wheat grass and would probably do the jewelweed too I guess. If I ordered a new auger for for it. I broke my last one by accidentally poking a wooden spoon down into it (it came with a special tool designed for the job but of course I wasn't using it). Or pureeing the stuff in a blender...using milk of course and then freezing the stuff before using? Maybe straining the big stuff out? 

Guess I better try it on myself first.


----------



## buckrun

That IS a great photo! Beautiful plant. I just used some of Barb's soap this morning after pulling weeds. Always manage to have a few PI sprouts in the mix since we live under trees and the birds plant them regularly for us. It has made such a difference for us to have this product around! THANK YOU BARB!

Can you simulate what the plant wants well enough to grow it yourself or does it have to be wild collected?
Lee


----------



## SherrieC

It's hard to grow, it must have good Moist soil. Like in a woodlot or creek side

Jewelweed contains 2-methoxy-1-(4-naphtho)quinine, an anti-inflammatory and fungicide that is the active ingredient of Preparation H 

All Impatiens taste bitter and seem to be slightly toxic upon ingestion, causing intestinal ailments like vomiting and diarrhea. The toxic compounds have not been identified but are probably the same as those responsible for the bitter taste; they might be glycosides or alkaloids.

They are called jewelweed because of the way that the water jewel's up on their leaves. and because of the beading factor, they are very COOL when you hold them under the water! That's what I tell everyone for certain that it's jewelweed. hold them under the water and watch for a tin foil like effect. 

You would use a juicer for glycerin type soaps. OR if you are using the jewelweed blend as part of the liquid in your soap. I have no hands on experience with this though, so I stick with Infused oils. They keep dry a long time, they are very effective even as much as two years later, and I don't know how long. I'm saying I personally in a pinch have used some I had in the back of my herb cupboard when I ran out of what I had harvested the previous fall and they were potent at 2 1/2 years past harvest and dry time- Sherrie


----------



## hsmomof4

I have a good place to grow it...wooded, and pretty much always wet. (We have a lot of wet weather creeks and springs, and a few ponds on our property.) I am hoping it will work!


----------



## Guest

Yes, it really needs damp wet to grow... it grows profusely here in Michigan.. and I mean profusely... its everywhere.. but I did try to grow some in my garden.. its not damp... it did not grow.. so this year it looks like I will collect tons of it and dry it... I have also dried it and used it.. and it continues to work... 
I will try again this at least to collect plants, dry them and send out dried plants.. they don't weigh much when dried.. So when i get around to it, and am going collecting.. I will post for list of folks that want some dried jewelweed... 
Barb


----------



## DostThouHaveMilk

We have a lot of jewelweed as well. OUt behind the house and down by the various creeks and streams on the property.
How do you dry it? Just hang it up?


----------



## Guest

Yes, just hang upside down like you do herbs..
Barb


----------



## Kalne

So Barb....do you think using dried to infuse your oils is as effective as fresh? There's so much contradictory info out there. Some say only use dried, some say only use fresh.


----------



## Guest

I think both work equally... I use the entire plant... stems, leaves, flowers etc... I sit and chop it up with scissors into small pieces and then start my steeping routine.. with oil and steep some with distilled water... I make a spray, a salve and soap... 
the spray is water based and easy to carry with you should you get exposed... some people are so severely allergic, they need immediate attention...
My grandson is one of them..
Barb


----------



## hsmomof4

Do you put a preservative in the spray?


----------



## Guest

No, I don't, still have one bottle left from last year and its good yet... But I do boil the water... 
Barb


----------



## Lauralynn

Anita Martin said:


> I would like to make a jewelweed soap, but cannot seem to find a good source online. I get everything at herbalcom and they don't have it that I could see. I could gather it, but I don't know that we even have it around here (Va). I don't know how to identify it and I'd hate to accidentally make a "poison ivy" soap that actually contained poison ivy!
> 
> Does anyone know of a good source? Also, how long should I infuse before making soap or salve?


I am on the Northern VA border and it grows well here. I am on the mountain in the woods above the Potomac River. It grows in Tennesse also so it should grow where you are


----------



## Anita Martin

Thanks Laura,
I've looked all over my property but cannot find it...wrong time of year maybe? I travel all over the place, not the northern border though, and would love to stop and gather some. I got the auger for my juicer that will juice wheatgrass and I'm hoping I can juice the jewel weed...maybe not the stems, maybe I'll need to infuse them. People ask me for this kind of thing all the time.


----------



## Guest

Anita, it is the wrong time of year, unless you can find and identify small small plants... Try looking late July, early August... then get enough to dry.. I have people begging for the salve right now and I don't have any.. I did not anticipate the sales of this product,,, I sure will next year.. the salve and spray works with any kind of rash or bug bite or any skin irritant..
Barb


----------



## Lauralynn

Barb, I can see the plant growing right now along the road in the ditches but of course it isn't as tall yet as it's gonna get. But is it alright to collect some now? Can I just chop it up without the flowers since they wont' bloom until later and then add it to my olive oil? Should I heat the olive oil first and then add it or add it to the oil and then heat it? Is there a measurement amount? My sons pester me all of the time but they just have to wait.


----------



## Guest

Yes, you can harvest now... and chop it up.... I do heat the oil but only slightly or sit in the sun like tea, doesn't matter if you add the plant to the oil now or after heating..No measurement, I fill a glass gallon jug, one I can get my hands in with chopped up plants. almost full, fill with oil.. this turns a nasty color green and doesn't smell so good.. I let it steep for a good week.. this year I am going to try steeping some for year, by sitting in a cool dark place, make sure all plant material is completely covered with oil. after steeping, strain and make your salve, or soap. I even finely grind up the steeped plant material, which is very ucky by now and add to my soap as part of the liquid.. For some reason no matter what amt of liquid i use, my jewelweed soap stays a little on the soft side... that does not bother me as long as it works.
Barb


----------



## Kalne

If anyone is interested and too impatient to wait for someone to harvest seeds this fall....I recently purchased seeds from a seller on etsy and she has more listed.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/milkweedchicago


----------



## Lauralynn

I went for my walk down the mountain today and yanked up some jewelweed. Now, do I have to steep it in olive oil? Can I make a tea out of it and freeze the tea and use it as my water. The thing is, I've been adding the lye to my water and then adding my cow milk at emulsion. Will it be alright to add the lye to water/jewel weed tea? I don't think I am gonna add milk to this soap. 
Another question, is there any other oil that can replace olive oil? Like exactly replace olive oil?


----------



## Guest

Laura, you can steep it in oil or water and use it... yes you can freeze.. I actually froze some of the plant pulp last year.. I add plant pulp to the soap also... take the pulp out of the oil or water and put into blender and turn it into mush.. add as some of your liquid to your soap recipe.. If you change any oils, put thru calculator..


----------



## Kalne

You can add the lye to your tea instead of water. I do that with some herbal soaps. Then add you milk as usual.


----------

