Zanfel is very expensive, it's true ($38/oz). But it's worth every penny to anyone suffering with a poison ivy (or oak) rash. Within 30 seconds of treatment, the itching stops. Really. It's the only product I know of that chemically binds the urishol which is causing the problem. Doesn't have to be used as soon after exposure as Tecnu (recommended earlier in Cool Tools).

-- Jimmie Whipple

Zanfel
$40 for 1 oz.
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Zanfel

Rite-Aid drugstores sell their generic house-brand version of Zanfel for about $27 per 1 ounce tube. Curiously, it is not clear what the name of the product actually is. It is either the unimaginatively named Quick Itch Relief, or else it is Rite Aid Poison Ivy-Oak Wash. Both appear on the carton, and neither shows up on the web. There are a zillion "itch relief" products for poison oak and ivy and they are all named something similar, but most of them are merely coritsone derivatives. What you want is Zanfel, or a knock off, which will say "Compare to Zanfel", which this product is, whatever its real name.

-- KK