ResearchSafe

RU-58841 + a strong blow-dry routine, am I making the scalp irritation worse?

Posted by retired_coldplunge in Safety & Side Effects - 1 points, 3 comments.

Hey folks, following up on the scalp dryness thread I posted a while back because I think I narrowed down at least one trigger for myself (fwiw). Background for anyone new to my situation: I have been applying RU-58841 daily to my hairline and crown, mixed at 50 mg/mL in a standard vehicle, and a few weeks in I started getting noticeable flaking and a tight, almost sunburned feeling along the frontal scalp. At first I blamed the solution itself, but the peeling got worse whenever I used a hot blow dryer right after applying.

I have since moved application to nighttime only, let it dry fully before bed, and stopped blasting heat on the area in the morning. Flaking dropped by maybe 80 percent within a week. So my question for the room: has anyone else noticed that heat or aggressive towel-drying seems to aggravate the irritation?

And for the ladies especially, are you finding that styling products layered on top make it worse, or is it pretty neutral? Just trying to figure out if the vehicle is the actual problem or if my routine was poking the bear.

Comments

  • aaron_j: Honestly the heat thing tracks, to be fair i always thought people underestimate how much a hot dryer can wreck an already irritated scalp, especially right after you just put something on it. Moving it to nighttime is a smart call, and the fact that you saw flaking drop that fast kinda points to the routine, not the vehicle itself being the culprit. I had a similar thing with a different topical where anything abrasive or warming right after application made it ten times angrier. For the styli
  • retired_coldplunge: Yeah the timing thing seems to matter way more than I expected, I almost didn't catch it because the flaking would show up hours later. And good call on the occlusive layer, that actually hadn't occurred to me since I usually just use a light leave-in on the ends. If anything is sitting on my scalp it's probably just the residual solution plus whatever my pillowcase is doing. I might try a pure silk pillow for a bit honestly, just to rule out the friction angle too.
  • weekendnate: Yeah the heat piece is so easy to miss. I did the same kind of experiment a while back, tracking scalp redness with photos every couple days, and the correlation with the blow dryer was embarrassingly obvious once I actually looked. Occlusive layering on top is where I'd be careful too, since you're basically sealing in whatever is still active on the skin. Did you notice the flaking pattern shift at all once you cut the styling products out?
  • retired_coldplunge: Honestly the styling products were a smaller piece for me than the dryer itself, but I had been using a light styling cream near the hairline on gym mornings, and cutting that out was probably the last 10 or 20 percent on top of the dryer fix. I am also curious about your occlusive point, are you thinking heavy leave-ins or just anything that sits on the skin? Because right now I rinse in the morning and use nothing, but I wonder if a plain non-fragranced moisturiser an hour after application wo

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