I have used the product Zanfel once before for a bad case of poison oak. You can read my previous article. But what is in Zanfel that makes it work?

You can find the list of ingredients on the product packaging and also by searching the web. But, the specific active ingredient that does all the magic appears missing. The website notes that “U.S. and Foreign Patents Pending” so they probably don’t need to give away the secret just yet.

So, I decided to look into the known ingredients to see what I could find.

Western Poison Oak Photo Gallery (click to view)

Listed below are the ingredients as found on the Zanfel packaging.

Looking at this list leads me to believe that Zanfel is simply a cleanser. Similar to Tecnu. Of specific interest are the ingredients Quaternium-15 and Triethanolamine. These are both known irritants and may cause allergic reactions!
So, before using this product, be sure to follow any precautions and also to read through the ingredients. Note, the descriptions below are from my own quick sleuthing. They may or may not be correct. Let me know if you have corrections.

Cheers!

Zanfel Ingredients

• Polyethylene Granules – Used to help active ingredients penetrate better when applied.
• Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate – A weak anionic detergent (foaming/wetting agent).
• Nonoxynol-9 – Commonly used as a spermicide. But, also widely used as a biocide (disinfectant) in cosmetics, baby wipes, detergents and other products.
• C12-15 Pareth-9 – Typically used as sole detergent in highly alkaline laundry liquids and cleaning formulations.
• Disodium EDTA – (Disodium Ethylene–Diamine–Tetra–Acetate) Anionic Surfactant. A sodium salt of a mild organic acid and helps the system resist bacterial spoilage.
• Quaternium-15 – From http://www.dermnetnz.org/dna.acd/q-15.html Quaternium-15 is a formaldehyde-releasing preservative used in many cosmetics and pharmaceutical preparations. NOTE: Quaternium-15 may cause an allergic reaction with people that are either sensitive to formaldehyde or have a specific sensitivity. The reaction is normally a contact dermatitis.
• Carbomer 2% – Found in many hair and lotion products. Possibly a polymer and used as a thickening ingredient.
• Triethanolamine -
  From http://ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/htdocs/IT-studies/imm90005.html Triethanolamine, produced along with mono- and diethanolamine by ammonolysis of ethylene oxide, is used in many cosmetics, fatty acid soaps, household detergents and emulsions, wood scouring, and as a water repellent in textiles. U. S. production and sales for 1989 was estimated to be 72 x 108 lb. Although triethanolamine is a skin, eye, and mucous membrane irritant, no information could be found on its sensitizing potential.
  From http://physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/TR/triethanolamine.html May be harmful by inhalation, ingestion or through skin absorption. Chronic exposure may lead to liver and kidney damage. Skin irritant – may cause dermatitis.
  From http://umbbd.ahc.umn.edu/tea/tea_map.html Over 1.2 billion pounds of triethanolamine are produced annually in the United States. Triethanolamine is widely used as an ingredient in emulsifiers, thickeners, wetting agents, detergents, and alkalinizing agents in cosmetic products; as a chemical intermediate for anionic and nonionic surfactants and surface active agents in household cleaning agents, textiles, herbicides, pharmaceutical ointments, and other products; as a vulcanization accelerator in the manufacture of rubber; and in many other industrial applications.

  The National Cancer Institute nominated triethanolamine for study because of its widespread use in cosmetics and other consumer products, its high potential for worker exposure due to its many industrial uses, and its potential for conversion to the carcinogen N-nitrosodiethanolamine.

• Water – Our friend H2O!

That’s all folks!

I have been browsing through Alan Fletcher’s book The Art of Looking Sideways. It’s a wonderful book for distracting your mind and generating the creative juices. From the simple to the complex, the contents of each page inspire, amuse, or force you to ponder.

I highly recommend this book.

Quick search: Amazon.com

Oh the evils of mother nature. I was once again touched by one of her servants, the infamous Poison Oak. There isn’t an off-season for this nasty beast. It can strike at any time. It has many forms, a shape shifter of demon plants. Here’s a link to a gallery I put together: Western Poison Oak Photo Gallery. I have also tracked down the following Poison Oak photos. Note the variety of forms.

Though familiar with the monster, I foolishly ignored the signs of its presence on a recent day down near Monterey. I even arrived fully prepared in case of attack. I had brought my bottle of Tecnu. This amazing product has saved me in the past. Even after the mark of the beast has begun to appear (the rash), I have washed with Tecnu and reduced or removed the rash.

But, alas, I became foolish. I had traversed in an area I knew was the lair of the beast. I had brushed near, stepped past, and hopped over all manner of plants. Upon returning, without spotting the beast, I ignored my own advice and left my salvation, my Tecnu, tucked in my bag to use for another time.

Within a day I began to itch. And itch, and Itch, and ITCH! Argh!!!

I now knew my fate and by the signs appearing, I was doomed. It was too late to Tecnu. The poisons had settled in. Still, out of blind faith, I washed with the Tecnu. With a glimmer of hope I wished for the magic fluid to wash away my torment. But, it was of no use. The poison was embedded deep within my skin and my body had swung into full attack. On both my legs the rash appeared. A long stripe first appearing behind my right knee and then down the shin. Then another on my left shin. Soon, the blisters appeared. These little nasty bumps swarm the rash sites. They begin to “weep”, discharging fluid. It’s getting ugly.

I made a dash to the drug store and bought some calamine lotion and another Tecnu product called CalaGel which I didn’t know about. Also large bandages, tape, all the stuff I could find to deal with the situation. The CalaGel turns out to be a replacement for calamine lotion. I decide to give it a try and smeared it over the rashes. It did help reduce the itching but wasn’t stopping the rash.

I am now on my way back to a normal life. I think I have learned my lesson, knock on wood. But, if I once again act foolishly and encounter that demon plant, I will now know how to fight back.

Cheers!

p.s. In my search for cures I found this helpful site describing Poison Oak and Ivy and various home remedies.

I now have a new replacement hard drive and my system is up and running. While my computer was down I started looking around for a drive. Because of the time it was taking I considered buying one so I could use my computer. I would then add the warranty replacement as a secondary drive.

I found a Western Digital 160 GB drive on sale “after rebate” for under $200. Great drive and a smoking price. The size is perfect for the video editing I am doing. So I bought the drive.

Then Dell support came through and finally replaced my dead drive (see the previous entries about what a pain that was). The WD 160 drive came with a newer Ultra ATA controller that supports > 137GB drives. I replaced my older card with this one then installed the drive. Powered on the system and laughed when both drives were recognized and worked. That was too easy. Then I partitioned and formatted the 160 drive into two 80 GB drives.

Finally, the pain of re-installing my applications and data. That was a whole day of work. But now I am finished and I have, what feels like, a new computer.

Let’s hope it lasts.

As I mentioned previously, my hard drive decided to die on me. Still in the warranty time frame, Dell support came to replace it but brought the wrong size drive. Rescheduled for installation the following day.

So, the following day I get a message from a tech support person. I call back and he starts verifying my address and phone number. Well, for some reason he has my work address and an old phone number. He was able to get my work number since he recognized the company name.

I explain that the computer is in San Francisco. ‘Oh, I’m the north bay support person so we need to reschedule for a San Francisco person’ he says. Crap! I ask if there is any way for him to get the drive to me. Nope. Ok, another reschedule and another day with a dead machine.

Today, I get a call from the SF support person and he schedules a time from noon to 3pm to show up. Fine. A short time later a call from the support person. I’m sorry but Dell has sent the wrong size drive again. We will have to reschedule for Monday.

Argh!!!

This is complete bull shit. I had hoped to be able to praise Dell and their technical support. That is not going to happen.

Now how much does all of this cost? If this is how technical support is handled, no wonder it is so expensive for companies. This is a complete joke.

My hard drive started letting out death squeaks the other night while I was working on one of my videos. Everything froze up while the drive let out its death song. I had to cold boot to stop the system.

Luckily the system booted back up and I was able to test the drive. It only ate the temp file that was being written at the time. Also found some unused sectors that were bad.

Made an entire backup before doing anything else. Then I proceeded to do some further tests and also check with Dell support. My research and e-mails to support have resulted in Dell sending out a new drive. The hard drive I have is an IBM 75GXP 75GB. I found many discussions about these IBM drives and their high failure rates! Argh.

   PCWorld : Users Complain About IBM’s Crashing Drives

When I first got this computer the original hard drive died in 3 months. Dell was good about quickly replacing it and also upgrading me free of charge from a 45GB to a 75GB. Sadly, the replacement turns out to be another problem drive. At least it has given me over 2 years of work.

The support rep showed up today to replace the drive. Oops, it’s a 45GB and not a 75GB. Well, after a quick phone call to support the tech guy says they will send out the 75 and I should have someone here tomorrow to replace it.

What do I do if it’s another one of these IBM high death rate drives?

If you search on google for “photos of snow”:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=photos+of+snow

My website has a hit on the first page. But, google indicates that the “of” is a common word and is not included in the search. But, if you then search for “photos snow”:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=photos+snow

The results are different and my site doesn’t show up in the top results.

Therefore, contrary to what Google says, these “common” words are significant in searches.