Prickly Heat

[Dennis McGuckin]

How many of us suffered from Prickly Heat?I did. Especially when home on leave and all dressed up in my best go ashores.
Used to drive me nuts. Also could be quite embarrassing when you had to have a good scratch.
Never did find a cure, but rubbing alcohol helped.
And no John. I rubbed it on didn't drink it.
Once I was back at sea and got my shirt off, the sun helped.
Anyone know what caused it?

[cappy]

[FONT=arial]How many of us suffered from Prickly Heat?[/FONT
Anyone know what caused it?

had a bad case of prickly heat on the british defender 11 months on the indian coast ......i believe mine and others aboard was caused by swimming down the tanks when she was in ballast ....came out with a shining body of the parafins or oils from the trips .....have asked on the site before if anyone else swamdown the tanks.......any thing to cool down ....didnt know about oils and cancer then ......found the best help was to get in the freezer or cooler room when the cook went for his meat and veg ......soon as we got in cool weather it went .....the chief steward got calomile lotion aboard ...gallons of it but it was only good for an hour or so .....no air conditioning on her......slept onthe boat deck like many others ......so hot .......remember getting panicky went she was rolling and the water ran hard from side to side and an r sole thought it funny to drop the tank lid .....a shields lad of african descent couldnt swim and used to come down with his life jacket on ....he really flipped when the lid was dropped pitch black and water motion heavy ............ .....i was crapping myself..... as we didnt know if they knew we were down there .....but at least it was cooling for a while####bloody awful scratching till you bleed......happy days ....sometimes......regards cappy

[Jim Brady]

I remember joining a ship and it was one long walk to the west wall in Liverpool.Wearing suit and overcoat and carrying a case and a grip both hands full,the prickly heat was driving me mad,did'nt have a spare hand to scratch so had to keep stopping for a good scratch.I always thought it was through swimming in salt water and letting it dry on our skin instead of showering it off.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Stan Carter]

dennis, when I saw the thread, I thought you were in the middle of a heat wave out there. But it certainly brings back unpleasant memories of the unwanted condition. have a good one.
regards, Stan

[j.sabourn]

Dennis looked particular bad if you started scratching in the wrong areas, would make others think you had agitated dandruff. Maybe that's why all these flashers in dirty macs did what they did, and in court could have pleaded such to the judge that they were only trying to get fresh air for same. Cheers JS

[happy daze john in oz]

I do recall the terror of that one, but unlike Den I did not waste good Scotch on it. There was available a powder for the problem, much like talcum powder and it did work. No Den you put it on your body not in the drink. Pricly Heat Powder made by Johnson and johnson I beleive

[Dennis McGuckin]

dennis, when I saw the thread, I thought you were in the middle of a heat wave out there. But it certainly brings back unpleasant memories of the unwanted condition. have a good one.
regards, Stan

No quite a heat wave Stan.
Just around 20c so far.
Just right.
Den.

- - - Updated - - -

Heard once that it was caused by dust/dirt getting under your skin while in the tropics.

- - - Updated - - -

I remember joining a ship and it was one long walk to the west wall in Liverpool.Wearing suit and overcoat and carrying a case and a grip both hands full,the prickly heat was driving me mad,did'nt have a spare hand to scratch so had to keep stopping for a good scratch.I
Jim. One of my memories exactly.

[Frederick Lacey]

A lot of the itching as I remember was caused by crew members not rinsing their clothes out properly after washing them with soap powder,
such as Rinso, Persil and Lux Flakes etc, if any was left in the material, especially in the tropics the sweat drew it out and it made the skin
quite sore and itchy...Fred.

We called it Dhobi Rash or Dhobi Itch.

[John Blaney]

We sometimes dhobied using that hard block soap they used in the galley, great for scrubbing jeans, but murder on the skin
if you didn't rinse t-shirts properly, we used to peel the soap into a can with holes in it and string it over the hot tap to make
a big soapy sink.
Yes dhobi rash was common, no wonder.

[Frederick Lacey]

Remember that John, had to make a sink full to do all the washing up when I was Pantry Boy, nearly took the skin off at times.....F