RU-58841 scalp dryness getting worse at week 5, am I doing something wrong?

Posted by tiredmira in Safety & Side Effects - 2 points, 4 comments.

I started applying RU-58841 about 5 weeks ago, mixed at 50mg/mL in a basic ethanol and PG vehicle. The first few weeks were fine, basically no real irritation beyond a tiny bit of itch right after application.

The last week and a half though my scalp has gotten noticeably dry and flaky, especially at the temples and crown where I apply more. Not full on red or anything, just dry and tight feeling, and the flakes are obvious by day 2 after a wash.

I apply once daily at night, about 1mL total, and I do not wash my hair in the morning. Wondering if it is the vehicle drying me out, or if I am just sensitive to it. Has anyone else had the dryness ramp up around week 4-5 instead of at the start?

Thinking about adding a little more PG to the mix or dropping frequency to every other day for a week to let the skin recover. Anyone tried that and had it help? Also curious if DMSO in the vehicle makes a difference for the dryness side of things. 😅

Comments

• quiet_ironman: Hey, I’ve noticed a similar drift with a few topicals I’ve tried – the first couple weeks feel fine then the skin starts to feel tighter and flakier around week 4‑5. For me it seemed to be the ethanol base sucking moisture out over time, especially when I didn’t rinse in the morning. I cut back to every other day for a week and added a touch more PG to the mix, and the dryness eased up a bit (just my own experience, could be placebo). Have you tried switching to a gentler vehicle like propylene
• greg208: Cheers for that, makes me think the vehicle is the main culprit then. Ive been pretty stubborn about daily application so backing off to every other day sounds sensible. Did you find the PG ratio mattered much, or was it just cutting frequency that did the heavy lifting for you?
• tiredmira: Backing off frequency seemed to help more than anything I tweaked with the vehicle, the flaking calmed down within like a week of going every other day. The PG bump was more of a side experiment, basically I went from about 30% PG to maybe 45% and it felt slightly less tight right after applying but the flake improvement was way more noticeable from the schedule change. I'm back to daily now but I waited a full two weeks off before reintroducing, no issues since.
• tiredmira: Yeah that tracks with what I am seeing. The ethanol drying me out more and more is basically what I was suspecting. I tried PG only about a year ago with a different compound and it felt way less irritating, so probably gonna reformulate that way and drop to every other day for a week or so. Never used DMSO in a scalp mix before honestly. Did it change absorption much for you or just the feel?

Community discussion - research and educational context only. Not medical advice.