RU-58841 scalp irritation, is propylene glycol the usual culprit?

Posted by tracker_jade in Safety & Side Effects - 1 points, 2 comments.

Anecdotally RU has worked really well for me for keeping density on my hairline, but around week 3 I started getting noticeable itching and some flaking right where I apply it. It was bad enough that I almost stopped.

I switched the vehicle from straight PG to a PG free mix with ethoxydiglycol and the irritation dropped a lot within a week. Could just be that my scalp is sensitive to PG, or could be a mild contact dermatitis from the compound itself, hard to say.

A couple questions for anyone who has been on it longer term. How long did you give it before deciding it was a real reaction vs just adjustment? And has anyone seen the irritation come back after switching vehicles, or does it usually stay gone once you find a tolerable base? Also curious if bloodwork ever showed anything weird systemically, since the whole appeal is supposed to be local action only.

Comments

• patient_protocol: Congrats on getting your irritation sorted out, and yeah PG is a really common culprit for the scalp stuff people run into with RU. It can be sneaky though because the concentration and the percent in the mix both matter a lot, and some folks tolerate a low percent but not a high one... For the timeline question, I would say give any switch at least 2 to 3 weeks before calling it, since the skin barrier needs some time to calm down and some of what looks like irritation early on is just adjustm
• skeptical_cooks: Yeah the 2 to 3 week window sounds about right. To be fair i think i gave my pg free switch maybe 10 days and called it good since the itching was mostly gone, but the flaking hung around a bit longer than i expected. Coulda just been my skin barrier still catching up. How long did yours actually take to fully settle out?

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