RU-58841 scalp reaction after 6 weeks, what finally calmed it down

Posted by weekendnate in Safety & Side Effects - 1 points, 4 comments.

Ran RU-58841 at 50mg/mL in a standard vehicle for about six weeks and the first month was fine. Then the crown started getting itchy and flaky, not painful just irritated, plus some redness along the hairline that looked like mild contact dermatitis. I dropped frequency from daily to every other day, which helped a little but not enough.

Switched vehicles from the PG-heavy mix to one with more aloe and less alcohol, kept the dose the same, and the irritation dropped maybe 70 percent within ten days. Adding a gentle, fragrance free moisturizer on non-application days seemed to help the dryness too. No shedding change that I could see and bloodwork for DHT and liver markers was unchanged from baseline.

For anyone else getting scalp irritation, the vehicle seems to matter way more than people give it credit for. Curious what others have used that did not cause a reaction.

Comments

• grinder265: Ngl the vehicle thing tracks, PG heavy mixes wrecked my scalp too when I tried it years back. Switched to a liposomal base and the itching was basically gone in under a week. Curious if anyone here has tried RU with a dutasteride base instead of just standalone, and whether the scalp reaction profile changes at all.
• rachel_ketogen: Yeah the vehicle really is half the battle with this stuff. I ran mine in an aloe heavy mix too and it was night and day compared to my first pg based attempt that had me scratching like crazy. Havent tried combining it with dutasteride myself, mostly because i didnt want to stack two things on my scalp at once without knowing which one was causing what if something went sideways. If you do try it id probably introduce one variable at a time so you actually know whats working 😅
• weekendnate: That tracks with what I saw, the aloe base just sits better on the skin. Re dutasteride, I am leaning toward keeping RU solo for now for the exact reason you mentioned, one variable at a time. My DHT was already on the low end of normal so I am not sure pushing it lower is worth the tradeoff unless the RU stops doing its job.
• weekendnate: Yeah, vehicle is usually the culprit before the molecule itself. I get way better tolerance with anything that leans more aqueous, liposomal included. On combining with dutasteride though, I'd want to think about what you're actually trying to solve. RU blocks at the follicle, dutasteride drops systemic DHT, so adding them gives you two different mechanisms but also two things to troubleshoot if your scalp flares. Hard to tell which one is actually causing the irritation. Curious what others ha

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