I did try it DIM as a topical on my whole scalp for several weeks.
I am sure to be the first and only known human to have done such an experiment so far.
I bought 99% pure, pharma/research grade DIM. DIM is not very expensive.
I used pharma grade pure DMSO as vehicle since DIM is very hard to dissolve. I tryied to dissolve DIM in various liquids: ethanol, PG, water etc.. but as written in the MDS it only dissolves in DMSO.
I just used the minimum of DMSO to dissolve the DIM and the rest was Ethanol, PG and D-Panthenol. I think that 1g dissolves into 3ml of DMSO so I ended up with about 5 or 10% DMSO, 10% D-Panthenol, 50% ETOH and the rest was PG.
DIM is a powerful skin irritant, it does burn the scalp in a lotion withtout a humectant.THe humectant will remove the irritation.
Glycerine works ok as humectant but is bad for absorption and leaves a greasy residue. I used USP D-Panthenol at about 10% in the mix.
I found out that DIM dissolves in ethanol in small quantities up to 0.4% if you want to avoid using DMSO.
But 0.4% is a bit weak by anti-androgen standards if we compare it to RU or flutamide.
DMSO is still very controversial in human use and has recently been found to hinder youg brain developpements in rats.
My trials involved using 0.5 %, 1 %, 1.5% and 2% once and even twice a day on my whole scalp as I am diffuse thinner. I was only using dutasteride as an internal during that time.
The first week on 1.5%, it seemed that my hair were getting thicker and shedding stopped.
After 2 weeks I started to shed a lot, and hair were looking thinner in diameter. I was shedding a lot of healthy thick hair and never had sheds before on any drugs. Not a good sign.
I stopped DIM and the shedding stopped the next day.
Conclusion: DIM might be a good anti-androgen but it does also 2 other things that are bad for hair.
DIM is a powerful anti-angiogenic, meaning that it will prevent new, small blood vessels from forming. This feature is good to fight or prevent cancer but very bad for hair growth.
DIM is also a powerful aromatase inhibitor, meaning that it will prevent testosterone from converting into estrogen in the scalp. this is also very bad for hair- more Test will trigger shedding. I think that this is was what caused my shedding.
While on DIM my libido was very, very high and acne was high, both signs pointing to a sharp increase in testosterone.
Final note: I switched to using RU. this is a powerful anti-androgen that works well and has no other adverse effects on hair. No shedding. No need to use DMSO.
Only drawback: RU is 10 times more expensive than pure DIM..
