Herbs for itchy skin, with no rash?

My friend has recently become afflicted with insanely itchy calves - sort of where the top of his socks are, and slightly higher. There is no rash, it's not hives, and it's driving him crazy.
We haven't change laundry soaps, or any thing like that. It seems to me that if there is no rash, it must be a nerve thing? I really don't know.

Does anyone know of anything that I might try to help him out? He's threatening to go to the doctor, and I just know they'll give him something nasty to put on it. I'd really like to try some other options before he decides to slather cortisone or something on it.

Any ideas?

Is this occurring with all socks or just one pair of them?  I am wondering if they might be too tight at the top of the socks...?

I sometimes get tingly calves and find that massaging them firmly in an upward direction (towards the heart) helps i.e. that it could be poor circulation and/or poor lymph drainage since the lymph nodes are in this area.  Also I wriggle the foot around in circles (both directions) to encourage blood flow.

For general skin itchiness, try rubbing with cydar vinegar (it relieves itchiness from fleas, gnats and bee stings).

I don't know if beautyberry grows in your area but the Native Americans here in the south used it to treat what they called 'snakeskin' which is itchy skin with no obvious cause. A decoction of the leaves is rubbed into the skin. It's also a marvelous mosquito repellent!

both my daughters used to get crazy itchy allergic reactions, sometimes we were able to figure out why and other times not, with my one daughter there were already so many meds on board that adding something major was not an option. Many, many times we went with oatmeal baths/packs, which can be done with a washcloth and restrained to certain areas.
Maybe suggest he switch out socks and do some detective work.... see if it is the sock (like perhaps elastic) or if it is the pants (or something else entirely). Having been there and done that with a kid with a major latex allergy, if he is allergic to latex it is nice to know that now and not at some other time when more important things are happening. (once we knew what it was, we were able to avoid it pretty easily).
(I know I am biased from that experience. If you're like everyone else I know in the northern hem right now it is cold as pluto and it is probably just dry skin itchies)

I find the best plant for itchy skin is aloe vera.

If you want to increase mosture, you can first rub in some coconut oil (I think olive oil will work too, but I would not use any other veg oil full of omega 6), and then you add aloe. It will create a sort of "milk" that will be sucked by the skin better than any of the 2 alone! It seems to form an emulsion. I discovered this just by chance...

It is incredible on dry skin, even after lime use, I had my hands repaired overnight (I put gloves to keep it all on the skin)
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Then the cause?

Just on the calves might mean blood glucose issue, or varicose veins and lymphatic issues. Behind this, there might be a vitamin Bs issue, like B1 (related to blood sugars), and B1 can be low because of B2, and also B6 can be involved, that is better to take as p5p. Bs are quite related among them. I would ask for testing them.

If he feels that it is related to nerves, like feeling the sciatica nerve a bit more, or if also some muscle weakness, or leg cramps, then look at potassium issues. I did have it and my father too. I had just drier skin on my legs and he was feeling some itching, maybe because he also has a worse blood circulation than mine (genetic issue needing anti vitamine K for him)

Itching of the skin that turn into rashes after, can be related to oxalate dumping. The precise location just seem to make it more unlikely... My bf has some itchy skin from oxalate, and with no rash because it is very thin, but he says that it feels like having some fine sand on the skin.

in the summer, when I come back from the garden. I get this intensely itchy skin, don't know what causes it- maybe chiggers(can't see any bugs), but usually around skin folds. The only things that relieves it best is using wet clay. I already had kaolin clay, I just wet it with water to make a paste and apply on afflicted areas. Immediate blessed relief.
I used it on the outside cat, he had a skin reaction to fleas or I am not sure what. He would scratch his skin, till it would bleed. I simply made a watery paste and applied all over his sores. No more scratching and all his sores healed fast. Cat had tufts of fur gone, it started growing back in a few weeks.  

Lisa Suvarna wrote:in the summer, when I come back from the garden. I get this intensely itchy skin, don't know what causes it- maybe chiggers(can't see any bugs), but usually around skin folds.  

Near skin folds most often signals microscopical bugs. Probably acarus.

Thanks for the replies, gang. I'll try our your ideas.

The socks and pants he wears, he has owned for a while, so it's not that. And there just isn't anything else new that could be causing an allergic reaction.

Perhaps it is a circulation thing, so I'll try some massage too. Hopefully I can give him some relief.