1. Don't Scratch
Poison oak contains urushiol oil, which is what irritates your skin so much. When you scratch, it doesn't get rid of the oil. On the contrary, it just spreads it further and further across your skin, irritating more areas and increasing your suffering. No matter how tempting it may be, do not scratch an area infected with poison oak.
2. Thoroughly Clean Everything That Touched the Poison Oak
The urishiol oil may have gotten on your clothes or work tools as well as you. Even if you treat the poison oak infection, you can become infected again the minute you put your clothes back on. Soak your clothes in Tecnu or similar poison oak treatment, then wash them thoroughly. Avoid using bleach, which doesn't alleviate the problem, and wash the clothes in hot water. Tools and other equipment should be treated with Tecnu as well, and then set aside.
3. Apply Urushiol-Removing Medication
A large number of poison oak medications exist on the market. You need to apply those that will remove the urushoil oil, not simply treat the symptoms of poison oak. Products from Oak N Ivy, such as Tecnu, CalaGel and CortiCool are all designed to treat urishiol oil specifically. You might also try calamine lotion, which alleviates the symptoms of poison oak, though it doesn't remove the oil itself. Oral antihistamines used to treat allergies may prove effective on poison oak as well (though stay away from topical antihistamines), and doctors can prescribe oral steroids or cortizone for you to take in extreme cases. When applying creams or lotions, you should treat every patch of exposed skin, not just the area that is itching. Urishiol oil sometimes takes several hours before it starts to itch and may be on parts of the skin you aren't yet aware of.
4. Apply Cold Compresses to the Affected Area
If you can't get to medication easily--you're camping in the wilderness or have run out of supplies--then you can treat poison oak by using cold compresses. Soak a washcloth in the coldest water you can find and wrap it around some ice if you have any. Then apply it to the affected area and hold it there firmly for at least 10 minutes. Refresh the cloth with more ice or cold water whenever it warms up to the same temperature as your skin and reapply it for as long it takes for the rash to subside.
5. Take a Bath With Colloidal Oatmeal
Colloidal oatmeal (not to be confused with the edible oatmeal you have for breakfast) is used to treat skin rashes and cure excessive itching. Draw a warm bath and make sure it's not too hot (hot water dries out the skin). Add two or three cups of colloidal oatmeal under a running tap and allow it to spread throughout the bath. Soak yourself in it for 15 minutes and then pat yourself dry with a towel. Don't rub yourself with the towel--it may rub the poison oak's urishiol oil in further--but rather blot your skin until the excess water is gone.
