Bathing could be fun for some people. But if you have Aquagenic Urticaria or Idiopathic Aquagenic Pruritus, bathing or having contact with water is far from fun.

There are many reasons why you may experience itching after bath or after getting wet but these two conditions are the most common natural reasons why bathing is always a nightmare.

The two are similar but different. What I have is Idiopathic Aquagenic Pruritus (IAP). But briefly, if ur condition is Aquagenic Urticaria here's how u will know through a quick test....just place a drop of room temperature water onto the skin, if hive is formed within minutes..then diagnostic is confirmed. If not then your condition might be IAP if its natural (not caused by disease).

Both AU and IAP are due to natural causes. They are inherited from parents and do not have cure, only remedy to minimize thier effects. They are caused by dry skin.

I've been suffering from IAP for as long as I can remember. It has been nightmare since during Sunday school periods.

If I bath, or got beaten by rain, or swim or even sweat, it all results in itchy skin for the next 10-25 minutes. This could be embarrassing especially if u have people over in ur place. Scratching ur skin ain't cool at all

Boarding school was hell as the itching increases with irritating environment. Once the environment is not clean enough the intensity of itching increases.

So I decided to do a research on my own before reading anything online. My research for 10 years and what I read online about causes and management are 90% match.

Though not all baths results in itch

Here's what you need to know about what triggers the itch

1. Dry skin: The drier your skin is the more the itch. That's why some seasons you experience itching more than some seasons.
Remedy: After bath, don't drag the towel on ur body, pat or damp instead and don't completely dry the water on your skin.
Add Sodium bicarbonate to your bath water (baking soda) before bath.

2. Temperature: this is tricky. The reason why u get itch when u sweat is because the temperature of the sweat is less, causing evaporation and cooling your body as result the temperature of your body becomes less than the temp of the environment. In summary, ensure that the temp of liquid touching ur body is greater than that of the environment. When you sweat, don't remove your shirt..allow to dry slowly as any sudden change in temperature will result to itching

3. Soap used: don't use harsh or antiseptic soaps. They take away the oil in the skin and increases dryness. Use mild soaps without fragrance, soaps babies can use.

4. Psychology: I've seen some researches that suggest that IAP can be triggered from the nervous system based on the psychological condition of the victim. That's why somtines when you have visitors the itch is not noticed because you know you are in the midst of people.

The drug used by most people include
Triamcinolone
Non sedating antihistamines
Alpha interferons.
(Make sure you consult your doctor before taking any of the drugs, it could be dangerous to your health).

One advantage of having IAP is that you never get to catch any skin disease because your skin is dry and don't allow bacteria or virus to breed... So your skin is always smooth and fresh to the lookers... So there's still advantage.

Pls note if you have skin condition after the itch its not IAP. IAP has no visible skin alteration