…and I don’t mean jonesin’ for some spliff.
I’d forgotten about ‘Grass Itch’ until it struck today.
I was on a neighbor’s front lawn with my daughter earlier today (she seems more manageable when we’re outside) and in the course of playing with her and the dog and the neighbor kids I found myself lying down with my arm outstretched laying my cheek on my forearm. This exposed my sensitive under-forearm to the neighbor’s grass.
It is now a few hours later and my forearm itches.
Anyone know why?
Are there any tiny red welts or reddish marks on that part of your skin? If so, I would suspect chiggers.
Nope, just that old familiar ‘Grass Itch’. It has gone away by now, but it brought back the memory of childhood encounters.
Am I alone in experiencing this?
I feel itchy after I do some gardening… I think it has gotten worse over the years… at least I do not remember it happeneing at all before… My made up explanation is that it is mild case of allergy. not only grass but other plants do it too.
When I was little my mom told me it was from little tiny cuts that the grass gave you. I don’t know if this is true or if she was just trying to get me to shut up. I have noticed though that it seems like the more friction between you and the grass, the worse the “grass itch” is so this might have some factual basis. Regardless I’m sure it won’t be long before someone comes along with a definate answer so I guess we will see soon. I asked alot of questions when I was a kid…
When I was little we called it “chiggers”.
I always thought it was some little parasite that lived in the grass. Maybe its just an allergic reaction…
Mr. Gadgetgirl is looking at me like I’m crazy…
I get grass itch too. If you just lay down in the grass without a shirt on, it just ITCHES. It’s annoying. I don’t know what it is, but I would have to discount the chiggers theory and the allergy. If it were an allergy, there should be something other than just ITCH that occurs. No rash, no swelling, NOTHING but the itch. Also, it doesn’t happen when you casually brush the grass…you need to lay in it with some pressure (at least for me to itch, I do). I don’t think it’s bugs, because you’d get them all over your legs just by walking through the grass if they lived in that abundance in the grass. That also does not happen…even if you walk through it barefoot. I’m very curious for the answer!
Jman
Golly, the amazing stuff that’s out there on the Internet. Did you know there’s evidently a branch of medical science called “botanical dermatology”? I’ll let you wade through this link and see what you think. Basically, grass can make you itch because of (a) allergies, (b) teeny bugs smaller than chiggers, © mechanical abrasion and injury, (d) fungi, (e) other irritating plants that are mixed in with the grass that you don’t realize are there, (f) pollen, (g) agricultural chemicals in the grass.
http://bodd.cf.ac.uk/BotDermFolder/BotDermG/GRAM.html
Pick one.
OK, all I’m gonna say here is
EEEEEWWWW!
You wanna see grass itch?? Stop by my house today, my son- whose desire to be accepted apparently outstrips his GOOD SENSE right now, did as some *&%(^&%) kid told him to yesterday. He took a blade of grass, and rubbed it on his upper lip.
GUESS WHAT HE HAD LAST NIGHT???. Dammit. He’s in pain, it looks like he got lashed across the lip, and I gave him what for, because he lost his mind and was made the fool. Poor kid. He’s 11, and just wants to fit in. This ain’t the way. It’s an angry red swollen stripe.
Aloe vera with lidacaine seems to have helped over night. Still… :mad: :mad:
Cartooniverse
Hey, Ducky? Did you know that there’s a branch of science called Dermatological Botany? It’s the rigorous study of flower petals and leaves.
Cartooniverse
No, plain ole grass itch ain’t chiggers.
Chiggers burrow under the skin and each bug makes a single spot itch, sometimes a series of spots in a line. They prefer areas that are warm, humid, and dark… but fortunatley they aren’t that particular, and will burrow in at the first spot that looks good, usually at the cuffs of sleeves or legs, or under the elastic of socks. (Lesson learned: don’t wear boxers under hiking shorts if you’re going into chigger territory!)
If you had chiggers, you’d know it. You’d be going absolutely batty from the itching and pain.
Grass itch is just a histamine response to chemicals on the grass, some of them are natural grass-made chemicals, and others are man-made chemicals. And then there’s god knows what else that other plants and critters have left behind.
When you lay on the grass in your bare skin, all of that stuff gets pressed into your skin, and, kinda like hay fever, the body reacts by releasing chemicals called histamines at the site of the chemical invasion.
I imagine, that just like respiratory allergies, some people are more susceptible to grass itch than others.