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Cleaning Poison Ivy Urushiol off Gear

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Posted by Alicia on July 24, 2007 at 10:36:09 pm EDT

About four weeks ago I developed a fairly severe poison ivy reaction for the first time in my life. Up until then I had hoped that I was one of the lucky few who are truly immune. No such luck. I’m just now getting over it.

I have religiously washed every article of clothing, boots, and so on that may have remotely touched me or poison ivy oil, but I’m only now getting ready to wash my gear that quite likely got contaminated during a backpacking trip. This includes my down sleeping bag, pack, sleeping pad, probably even our tarp tent, and whatever else I come across that might have been contaminated.

Said gear has been sitting untouched in our gear room (aka attic) up until now since I’ve been living in fear of going anywhere near it and having another outbreak. But I need my stuff, so it’s time to deal with it.

I know that washing items with water and a mild detergent should remove any oils. I considered cleaning everything outside with the hose and some environmentally-friendly soap, but that just seems like the oils could then be left on the ground. So, I’m thinking about cleaning the gear, especially my pack and sleeping bag, in the bathtub and then fully rinsing the bathtub to further remove any oils.

I was wondering if anyone else has had to deal with this on this scale and had any suggestions. Dry cleaning is supposed to work too, but it’s not an option for these items.

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