I'd Never Thought of Using It There

by Faith Britton
(Blackfork, Lawrence Co., OH)

Our family just moved from Belmont county to Lawrence county in November 2007 and have been busy ever since clearing forest and undergrowth.

I ended up with a case of poison ivy that just would not go away. I had tried the usual bathing good, calamine, benadryl, oatmeal baths, tea tree oil, tucnu....You name it, I had tried it. The rash kept coming back and spreading to every inch of my body. I had even consulted my doctor and his suggestions had already been tried.

Finally, while shopping at a local store, I met an Amish lady who suggested I try zinc oxide ointment. That's what she uses on her children when they get poison ivy.

Being at wits end, I bought a tube just to try but was still skeptical.

My goodness! It worked!! Took care of the spreading, oozing and weeping within an hour. The "inactive" ingredients (mineral oil, petrolium jelly) took care of most of the itching too and has helped with recontamination of poison ivy during two weeks of picking raspberries in our dense thickets (in shorts and short sleeves).

Guess if zinc oxide takes care of diaper rash, it makes sense it would work on rashes of other types.