Jewelweed: Nature’s Answer to Poison Ivy

Jewelweed is a wild-growing plant native to North America that helps with poison ivy and poison oak.

If you spend much time outdoors, chances are you’ve had an unfortunate encounter with poison ivy. Around here at Cullowheegee Farms, we have our fair share of poison ivy. Thankfully, there’s a humble little plant that has been used for generations to help prevent and soothe the misery that comes with poison ivy: jewelweed.

What Is Jewelweed?

Jewelweed is a wild-growing plant native to much of North America and is especially common in damp, shady areas along streams, trails, and woodland edges. There are several species, but the two most common in North America are orange-flowered spotted jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) and yellow-flowered pale jewelweed (Impatiens pallida).

The name “jewelweed” comes from the way water beads up on its leaves, creating shimmering, jewel-like droplets. It’s also sometimes called touch-me-not because its ripe seed pods spring open when touched, scattering seeds in every direction.

Native peoples have used jewelweed for centuries as a traditional topical plant for skin irritation, including rashes and itching caused by contact with plants like poison ivy. European settlers later adopted many of these traditional uses, and jewelweed became a familiar folk remedy throughout North America.

How Does Jewelweed Help With Poison Ivy?

Poison ivy and poison oak cause their characteristic rash because of an oily compound called urushiol. When urushiol comes into contact with your skin, it can trigger an itchy, sometimes blistering allergic reaction.

Jewelweed has a long history of traditional use for helping with the effects of poison ivy and poison oak. It is particularly useful as part of an outdoor skin-care routine because it can be used both shortly after exposure and on skin that is already irritated.

For prevention, the idea is simple: if you’ve been exposed to poison ivy, using jewelweed promptly may help soothe the skin and remove or reduce irritating plant residue before a reaction develops. Once a rash has appeared, jewelweed preparations can provide cooling and soothing topical relief.

Of course, jewelweed isn't a guarantee against developing a rash, and washing exposed skin thoroughly with soap and cool water as soon as possible remains one of the most important things you can do after contact with poison ivy.

Finding Jewelweed on the Trail

One of the best things about jewelweed is that it often grows right where you need it.

If you’re hiking, gardening, or working outside and realize you’ve brushed up against poison ivy, look around for jewelweed. If you find some, you can break the stem and use the fresh, watery juice from inside the plant as a traditional topical application.

Simply rub the fresh plant juice over the exposed skin.

It’s one of those old-fashioned remedies that makes you appreciate just how much useful medicine can be growing right alongside the trail.

There Are Lots of Ways to Use Jewelweed

Fresh jewelweed is only one option. You can prepare it in several different ways depending on what you have available.

Jewelweed Tea

You can make a concentrated tea from fresh jewelweed, strain out the plant material, and allow the liquid to cool. The resulting tea can be applied topically to areas that have been exposed to poison ivy or are already irritated.

Jewelweed Ice Cubes

Want an extra dose of cooling relief? Freeze your strained jewelweed tea into ice cubes. Wrapped in a clean cloth and applied to irritated skin, a jewelweed ice cube can provide cooling relief while the plant preparation works topically.

Jewelweed Salve

Jewelweed can also be incorporated into an herbal salve. Infusing the plant into an oil and combining it with beeswax creates a convenient preparation that can be kept on hand throughout poison ivy season.

Jewelweed Soap

And then there’s one of our favorite ways to use it: soap.

At Cullowheegee Farms, we take our Jewelweed Soap seriously.

Jewelweed Soap handmade by Cullowheegee Farms using foraged jewelweed.

Why We Go the Extra Mile With Our Jewelweed Soap

We have A LOT of poison ivy here on the farm.

So when we decided to make a Jewelweed Soap, we didn't want to simply add a little jewelweed to a recipe and call it good. We wanted to make the most concentrated, thoughtful jewelweed soap we could.

Our process involves a double infusion of locally foraged jewelweed.

First, we make an extremely concentrated jewelweed tea. We strain the plant material out and use that concentrated tea as the water base for our soap.

Then we take it another step further.

Coconut oil is one of the oils we use in our soap because of its excellent skin-conditioning properties, and we infuse our organic coconut oil with jewelweed as well. This gives us jewelweed in both the water phase and the oil phase of our soap.

But we didn't stop there.

We add activated charcoal, traditionally used in skincare for its ability to adsorb oils and impurities from the skin, and colloidal oats to help calm and comfort irritated skin.

Every ingredient has a purpose. Every step of the process was intentional.

This isn't a soap we make simply because jewelweed sounds interesting. It's a soap we make because we use it ourselves—and because we know what it's like to have poison ivy all over the farm.

Why We Make It Once a Year

There's another reason our Jewelweed Soap is a limited seasonal product.

Here in Southern Appalachia, jewelweed typically flowers around the end of July. This is when we harvest our locally growing jewelweed and make our annual batch.

Once we've made it, our soap needs time to cure for approximately four weeks before it's ready to use.

That means our Jewelweed Soap usually becomes available around the end of August.

And once that batch is gone, it's gone until the following year.

A Little Plant With a Big Appalachian Tradition

There’s something special about using a plant that grows wild around us and has such a long history of traditional use.

Jewelweed grows along our mountain trails, beside creeks, around the edges of fields, and right here on our farm. It has been part of Appalachian folk traditions for generations, and we love finding ways to incorporate these locally rooted plants into the products we make.

While modern medicine has many options for treating poison ivy, sometimes there’s something wonderfully simple about knowing which plants are growing around you—and how people have traditionally used them.

Just remember: if you’ve been exposed to poison ivy, wash your skin thoroughly as soon as possible. Jewelweed can be a wonderful addition to your outdoor skin-care routine, but it shouldn't replace proper cleansing or medical care when a reaction is severe.

If you’re someone who battles poison ivy every year, now is the time to stock up.

Our annual batch of Jewelweed Soap is ready —and because we only make it once a year, it won't be around forever.

If poison ivy is a part of your summer, don't wait until you're covered in it. Grab a bar while this year's batch is available!