scratch that

thanks to friend and loyal reader maria for her ingenius suggestion of benadryl itch stopping cream. as literal as that product name sounds, that's all there is to it. and maria's suggestion did not fall on deaf ears, as i spent most last weekend outside and have legs covered in mosquito bites and a neck strangely adorned by a breakout most likely caused by a necklace i wore on saturday. basically, i was a walking itch and as of a couple nights ago, if i continued scratching the way i had been, i'd be in serious trouble. like the kind that involved blood and tears. now that i've used it for two days, the sources of the itches themselves are fading and i don't even need to "stop the itch" anymore.

so here's the deal - this is a small white tube that's easily transportable, and you just rub it into the itchy areas. within a couple minutes, all signs of itchiness are gone, and a couple hours later if it returns, you just reapply. i actually got the target brand because i compared the ingredients and they were exactly the same (usually the case with these products), right to the methylparaben and propylene glycol. so for a few dollars less, even better.

thanks maria...lifesaver.