Topical curcumin

[jakeb]

Been applying topically for 2 days, no staining. Too early to say much else yet, really.

 

[blaze]

jakeb,

where are you getting your curcumin from?

And what percentage have you made with your minoxidil and folligen?

Also have you figured out what topical curcumin actually does yet? anti-andgrogen or anti-inflammatory?

 

[jakeb]

I actually had mixed some curcumin in with my minoxidil before I had read CCS's suggestion not to. I put in .5 gram in to the 4oz container, which should be a 5% solution.

In addition, I tried making a 10% solution using the curcumin and vodka (the only ethanol I had lying around). That mixed up really nicely.

I got the Curcumin from Ancientway.com. I think that may be one of the few places around to buy it in small quantities. Pretty cheap -- $7 for 10 grams, I think.

It's definitely an anti-inflammatory. Most of what I've read is about curcumin interrupting the cytokine cascade... which apparently is how inflammation kills cells. The antiandrogen stuff I'm still waiting to hear about. I heard some mentions of it in another thread but I still haven't seen any studies or references to it online except one that found that a really weird analog of curcumin was a ridiculous anti-androgen, possibly stronger than flutamide. But what that means for regular ol curcumin, I don't know.

 

[CCS]

http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussions ... light=egcg

 

[CCS]

I'm a strong believer that a topical 5ar blocker is good in combo with an internal 5ar blocker, and a topical AR blocker. Nothing wrong with stopping DHT production in the sebum glands too. Maybe some will leak into the follicles. After all, dutasteride 2.5mg works better than 0.5mg.

 

[CCS]

and I'm so cheap, that if the EGCG does good 5ar blocking, I will not buy the curcumin, since I already have the EGCG.

 

[CCS]

In the presence of 1mg of testosterone, 1mg EGCG inhibited growth 64% (castrated hampsters) compared to the same dose without EGCG, and 1mg curcumin inhibited it 87%. This could be 5ar inhibition or AR inhibition.

DHT grew 50% more than testosterone. Probably some testosterone is converted to DHT.

1mg EGCG applied with 1mg DHT inhibited growth 97%. EGCG was more effective against DHT than against testosterone. That makes me question the validity of the results.

EGCG stops as much sebum productionas GLA, and inhibits both types of 5ar, though preferentially 5ar1, so should compliment finasteride.

All 4 green tea compounds inhibited flank organ growth, but through different mechanisms.

EGCG bonded to GLA was no more potent than them individually. Also none of these have systemic effects. Only local.

 

[CCS]

so topical curcumin is better for guys who are not taking finasteride, and EGCG is more synergistic with people on finasteride.

 

[CCS]

there were studies where spironolactone inhibited growth 30-50%, but who knows how much DHT and how much spironolactone was used, or the vehicle.

 

[jakeb]

I like the part about "Also none of these have systemic effects". I was hoping to get away from anti-androgens entirely because I've proven to be ridiculously sensitive to them. So far, so good... though it's only been 2 days.

I will say though, I got knocked silly from using EGCG dissolved in baby shampoo. Maybe I left it on my head for an unreasonable amount of time, but it was like finasteride all over again x2.

 

[riptiduh]

Would a mix of curcumin and green tea be valuable, or would one cancel the other?

If so, an ethanol carrier?

 

[CCS]

yes, a mix would be good. but curcumin is already in green tea. I don't know the percentages of most of these things, but if money were no object, and I was too lazy to do the research, I'm mix white curcumin with 95% GTE.

 

[CCS]

http://www.ancientway.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1078&osCsid=4a8430e1d391f295489f31142ebfcb7d


Fairly reasonable too.

I did a google search. It seems like curcumin is not one of the main parts of GTE like I thought. I thought from the study old baldy dug up that curcumin is one of the main parts of GTE. So, I think I'll buy some of that powder. I think AR blocking is very important, but can't hurt to inhibit some 5ar topically. Won't need as much propecia then.