I was interested to read your post, because coincidentally, I have had the same symptoms over the past couple of days. I just purchased Charlies Soap maybe about a week ago - I just got a new HE front loader, and I've been washing away. Thus far, I've had nothing against Charlies soap, but now you got me thinking and I'll have to pay closer attention to my symptoms to see if they are possibly related to the soap. I have to make a few comments before I digress back to the main subject. First, I don't see the logic behind "washing your clothes a few times in Charlies Soap" in order to remedy a problem that didn't exist BEFORE you used Charlies Soap. There is NOTHING logical about that. Outside vs. inside fibers?? Um, not buying that either. In that respect, it would be like saying that Charlies Soap is causing us to be allergic to our old detergent, though we never had problems with those detergents before. Hmmmm...then maybe we shouldn't be using Charlies! I don't mean that literally, but come on...that sounds ridiculous. The fact is the FDA can't prevent a company from claiming that their product does something like get your clothes rid of residue by washing it three times, else they'd have pulled the Herbal Essences commercial years back when those girls seemed to have an ******** experience while washing their hair. By washing your clothes three times, it is just making you use more of their soap so then you have to buy more. Hmm..isn't that a convenient concept for CS? And now you are afraid to go back to your old detergent, because the residue is now on the "outside" and not the "inside" of the fibers. I can't keep myself from laughing at this, and I (so far) have nothing against Charlies Soap, but these claims seem a little silly to me and far-fetched. Now, this isn't to say that Charlies isn't removing residue, because I'm sure the more we wash our clothes without fabric softener, the less residue there will be on our clothes in the long run anyway, regardless of ANY detergent we use. The fact is, most manufacturers are moving towards the "ultra" concentrated products, claiming that they are "saving the environment" by using less plastic and smaller bottles, so now the average laundry detergent formula is 3X more concentrated, but have you noticed (at least the bottles I've seen) that while the bottles get smaller, the measuring caps don't? Sure, maybe those faint little measures on the inside of the clear cap that you can hardly see to begin with are labeled differently in accordance with the new formula, but my guess is that the larger portion of the population isn't going to notice or even care. This results in an increase in profits for the manufacturer. In other words, the average consumer is probably using the same amount of soap with a higher concentration, so it's no wonder people feel the difference when they switch to 1 measly tablespoon of Charlies Soap. And it's not exactly a perfect science when you are tipping a heavy bottle of liquid detergent to get just a small portion of a capful - most the time there is excess, and guess what, it goes in my washing machine, where else? My husband also made a good point that some people may look at a concentrated bottle that reads in big bold letters, "3x ultra" (it stands out from the rest of the label), and perceive that to mean that it's three times as good...not realizing they are using a concentrated product. It's good marketing in my opinion, especially that they are now competing with those who are selling detergents for HE washing machines. It's also comparable to using conditioner on my hair every day, and then switching to shampoo without a conditioner - of course my hair is going to feel different, but that doesn't mean the conditioner was ever a problem for my hair, or that I should have a reaction if all residue is not removed. So if the residue didn't bother us before, then what is the purpose of washing it three times before we wear something (other than to troubleshoot the residue on the outside vs. the inside of the fibers...LOL)?..... that's the point I'm getting at. Is Charlies a good soap? Yes, so far I like it. Does it clean my clothes, and leave them soft without perfumy scents and use of fabric softener? Absolutely, from what I've observed thus far. I digress... Like you, I have skin allergies, but I have controlled them by using only ALL free & clear detergent and Downy Free products - I've been doing this for years without any problems. I only switched recently due to my new HE front loader, otherwise, I was 110% happy with those products. For the past two days, I've been walking around and I'd swear that I got bit on my leg due to small welts. I'd itch, it would be a small welt, like you said, the size of a pea. Then today another part of my leg started itching again, and I had a small pea sized welt. Not ruling out other possibilities, but I will say that I'm going to pay closer attention after reading your post. Hmmm...could it be the in-laws? LOL I know you said you are now rash free - if your symptoms persist, please let us know. I'll give Charlies the benefit of the doubt for the interim (but I still reserve the right to laugh at some of their claims!). I suppose you can't blame them for using sales tactics.

While cats don't normally eat tomato plants, they are in the nightshade family and are poisonous, so if they merely licked themselves after brushing up against them that could upset their tummy. You know how tomato sap gets on your arms after working with them, so the spot could be contact dermatitis from the sticky sap that the plants have. Or, it could be completely unrelated and be something like ringworm. The only way to know is for your vet to do scrapings and look at them.

Patti, your DGD had a staph infection and has been staying w/ you? hmmmmmm. Share any linens? Just FYI a brown recluse probably would not be in your garden/yard and if it was it would leave a crater in the middle of the swelling area. Black widows also prefer darkness. grandaddy long legs can't bite our tough skin, thank God. Any other varmit bite might cause that kind of reaction, but please do watch it and follow-up with the dr. Take care & heal quickly. Jan

I use a gel called Arnicare by a company called Boiron. You should be able to find it at any drug store -- even our local Walmart carries it. They keep it by the Ben Gay and other pain type creams. I can vouch for its effectiveness....several years ago, I was breaking apart some large branches (1"+ in diameter) by smashing them down onto the driveway. It was workign really well - each smash would break a few pieces off the end of the branch and eventually the whole thing was small enough to throw away. Alas, after about an hour of problem-free smashing, one of the broken ends somehow ended up flying up and hitting me square in the chin. I went inside and iced it immediately, but within a few hours, I had a giant purple bruise that was swollen up the size of half a golf ball. Did I mention that this was about a week before Thanksgiving and we were going to have a ton of visitors? After a few days went by and it looked even worse, I'm pretty sure I posted here to vent about it and got the recommendation for arnica gel. Within the first few applications it started looking better and in a day or two (in time for Thanksgiving) it was barely noticeable. There is no way it would have healed that fast on its own -- a few years prior to that, I had a deep bruise on my shin that took over a year to fully fade and this bruise was even worse than that. So I have to attribute the rapid improvement to the arnicare. Since then I have used it on a few other bad bruises on myself and my family and it always seems to work great. I highly recommend it.