Stuff That Works: Tecnu Oak and Ivy Skin Cleanser

I took my first Tecnu bath of the season last night. Yup, you heard me right – a Tecnu bath.

As we all know – fishing at times forces you to come in contact with poison oak and ivy. If you’re like me, wet-wading small streams in the heat of summer is a must. With this wonderful right of summer comes some unpleasantries. Namely an itchy, oozing rash that lasts for weeks. I am almost guaranteed to get a nasty case of ivy at least once a summer simply by wet wading a few select streams near my house.

The past couple years I’ve been proactive though. I come home and immediately scrub down with a product called Tecnu and have had very little problems. I simply cannot survive the summer without this stuff now.

Tecnu skin cleanser from [Tec Labs]( http://www.teclabsinc.com/medical.cfm/ — tech labs home url) works by removing urshiol (oo-roo-she-all), the oil from oak and ivy that creates that nasty itchy rash before it starts. You must use the Tecnu 2-8 hours after contact and be very thorough in your application. You can use on tools, pets, clothing, fishing gear, etc… It works wonders though and if you’ve never used this stuff and have oak and ivy issues I highly recommend it. Keep a bottle in your boat, backpack or fishing vest and you’ll be a lot happier after that 2-hour bushwhack to get to your favorite fishing hole. –TR