Help needed: the making of a generic topical

[eidos]

I'd like to give it a try with a good natural mix, but nobody is selling what i want to buy, at best curretn topicals have one ingredient i want. Anyway, perhaps you guys can help me devise something to my liking, since i have no idea how much of what should be used. I'l like to make topical mix of

Equol
Green Tea extract
L-Arginine

What is the best (gentlest) alcohol that can act as a carrier?
Any and all sugetsions are welcome.

cheers

 

[Trent]

making your own stuff? that's brave, with hair loss i don't screw around, but i admire your ambition. Is it that much of a pain in the *** to just take separately?

 

[Matgallis]

why L-Arginine as a topcial?

 

[eidos]

L-Arginine boosts nitric oxide levels, promotes circulation and aids in the release of human growth hormone, though i guess the latter doesn't count for much withought digestion. Still, it seems to me it would be usefull topicaly as well. Some products have started including it in their their topicals.

Taking all separate would still leave the dosage problem, and why apply something three times a day if you can do it at once, plus i don't feel like putting on alcohol 3 times a day.

 

[BadHairDecade]

can any of these be effectively absorbed through the skin once disolved?
I remember that being an issue with some home made topicals. Something about the molecule or something being too large to penetrate the skin. Maybe add PPG to the mix as it also acts as a vehicle and will allow the topical to stay on the scalp long enough to be absorbed. If you just mix it with alcohol it may just dry up before it penetrates, if it penetrates at all.

 

[eidos]

What is PPG?

 

[BadHairDecade]

Propylene Glycol......It's one of the ingredients in minoxidil solutions to give an example.

Bryan Shelton would be a good person to ask about mixing sollutions. He has a lot of knowledge of the finer details that need to be addressed.

 

[eidos]

Propylene Glycol is one of the products i've been trying to aviod...


Propylene Glycol â€â€￾More Health Concerns

Another common ingredient in many beauty creams, cleansers, makeup, and other cosmetics is propylene glycol. This chemical is used in industry as anti-freeze, airplane de-icer, and brake fluid. It is also used in thousands of cosmetic preparations as a delivery vehicle and solvent.

When you purchase a drum of propylene glycol from a supplier, that supplier is required to furnish an MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet). The MSDS for propylene glycol says “Avoid Skin Contact.â€

 

[BadHairDecade]

Propylene Glycol is one of the products i've been trying to aviod...

How could you be trying to aviod it if you didn't even know what it was?

What is PPG

Propylene Glycol is a humectant or humidifying agent, solvent and delivery ingredient used in cosmetics.

Since Propylene Glycol can penetrate the outermost layer of the skin and carry the active ingredients into deeper layers of the epidermis it is an extremely common ingredient in cosmetics and is found in a variety of products.
Propylene Glycol is on the US Food and Drug Administration's list of ingredients which are Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) and is recognized by the World Health Organization as safe for use.

According to the ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry), Propylene Glycol has not been classified as a carcinogen and has not resulted in any carcinogenic effects. It is safe for consumption and breaks down in the body very quickly.


Bottom line is it's safe...However I wouldn't suggest dunking your head in a bucket of it as with anything else. You can go online and find out horrible things about any product.
Look up Aspirin and you'll see that it causes hundreds of deaths each year along with a page worth of some serious side effects. That doesn't mean it's not safe.

 

[eidos]

I didn't know the shortcut name.

Well, if the FDA approves it, then it must be safe, right? Of course not, that buch of money grabbing thieves will aprove just about anything they can for as long as they can get away with it. Just like for a long time it was "proven" that smoking isn't really unhealty or addictive. F**k the FDA.

It's appaling what kind of crap they're putting on us just because it's cheap. I've read a study in wich it was proven that Methylisothiazolionone, used in most of the shampoos, kills brain cells in mice...true, no corelation has been made that it has same effect to humans, or even that it's dangerous, but hey. Not that anybody cares...but as long as i'm choosing, i'd rather go with something that's not proven to be harmful.

There must be some carrier that's not questionable.

 

[BadHairDecade]

The amount of product they use in 1 of these "studies" you speak of, you wouldn't use in 10 lifetimes. Look at coal tar. It's a carcenogen in massive quantities yet you can use it as an effective anti-dandruff treatment topically. Too much of anything is bad for you. Too much vitamin A is toxic and can cause liver damage and cancer. I'm not trying to start an argument, beleive what you beleive just know why you you beleive it.

Sorry I don't know of any other carriers you would consider safe.

Maybe glycerin. Dr Lee uses it in his more potent minoxidil solutions.
First things first. Find out if your ingredients can even be abosrbed through the skin then worry about the carrier. Otherwise you might end up with a goop that will end up doing more harm than good.

 

[eidos]

The quantities don't absolutely matter, it all adds up. You can be slowly poisoned ove a long period of time, and due to that something else goes seriuosly wrong with you. I'm not sure since a that time i didn't care about such things, but wasn't the same said about dioxin that was used in a lot of food? You can't be really sure who is more sensitive to such things, or where everything is pilling up. Besides, with out follicles messed up as they are, even the small things can make a difference.

That's the biggest problem of course, making sure everything goes past the scalp. DMSO would take care of it, but probably a little too well. I've given the whole thing over to my friend who mayored in pharmaceutical, so we'll see what he can come up with.

 

[Christoph]

As for a carrier you can use DMSO which can be bought over the web .Its alot more gentle on the scalp than pp and is better at carrying chemicals with it into the skin .The only reason its not used extensively is because the fda just hasn't cared to study it and thus it can't be commercialized toward human consumption but vets can use it on animals .Many people have used it since the 50's .Its perfectly safe and is actually a strong antioxidant as well .
I use L-arginine as well as a dozen other amino acids in my own hair topical .

 

[nobold]

That's the biggest problem of course, making sure everything goes past the scalp. DMSO would take care of it, but probably a little too well. I've given the whole thing over to my friend who mayored in pharmaceutical, so we'll see what he can come up with.

Any news from your friend?