Reasonable DIY Transdermal Testosterone

[Pete Rey]

What dose are you taking and how? In what?

See post #83, 25ish mgs.

 

[maillol]

Im just gonna probably drop the test again. Its the slow thinking and sluggishness which is making me crazy. Like you start to stutter when talking etc. May reconsider the DHEA but the test is not worth imo.

I have no evidence for this other than my experience but I suspect test depletes thiamine.

 

[Ras]

Hey all,

I've been using some transdermal menthol solutions recently, mostly lotions, but some ethanol based ones as well. I found that 70mg of T in menthol lotion was roughly 2x stronger than 150mg, and lasted about 2x as long. Research does support this, although my experience is subjective.

I compared the effects of the menthol lotion against a basic ethanol mixture, and I'm pretty sure that ethanol+menthol is not as powerful as menthol lotion. So in terms of potency, it would go as follows, Ethanol < Ethanol+menthol < Menthol lotion.

The lotion has lauric acid, which has decent penetration enhancement, but also the surfactants can boost penetration as well. Replacing MCT with Lauric acid might be something to try. In the mixture MCT is there to add some moisturization, so replacing it is OK.

I do have to say, that the ethanol one is quite underdosed in terms of T %age. The caveat is that the mole ratio of M:T should stay at 4:1 , or by weight - 13mg:6mg. Increasing the dose of T means increasing the quantity of M, and there is only so much ethanol can hold. The menthol technically holds the T without any solvent, and the solvent is only necessary to dissolve the menthol initially. You can see this if you make the solution below, but add menthol to ethanol, wait for that to dissolve, and only then add the T. The T will dissolve very quickly compared to just basic T+EtOH. This is basically the action of the menthol, and the reason why it's going to push the hormone across the skin much better.

Regardless, the recipe below (ethanol one) is still 100-110mg/ml (roughly), so it's not actually low dose. The lotions should be roughly 50mg/ml at 5%, and 75mg/ml at 7.5%. I have yet to try making a 10% or higher one, mostly because I don't feel a need for that.

Anyways, here are the recipes:

View attachment 52651
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Have you tried limonene? Many people at the Estrogel subreddit make a DIY version with hand sanitizer and limonene from orange essential oil, and find that it works alright.

 

[Jremy25]

Interesting read here, would love to give it a try but unfortunately had raws seized in the past and haven’t been brave enough to give it another go.

I’ve been using ready formulas of transdermal 10% DHT & transdermal 20% T from Alphagels Compounding which has put my blood levels into the supraphysiological range.

They state that the carrier they use contains DMSO & essential oils.

 

[JCub369]

Interesting read here, would love to give it a try but unfortunately had raws seized in the past and haven’t been brave enough to give it another go.

I’ve been using ready formulas of transdermal 10% DHT & transdermal 20% T from Alphagels Compounding which has put my blood levels into the supraphysiological range.

They state that the carrier they use contains DMSO & essential oils.

What dose are you using here? How many mg of dht and t?

 

[Jremy25]

What dose are you using here? How many mg of dht and t?

For the most part I’ve used 1ml of transdermal DHT (100mg/ml) and 1ml of transdermal T (200mg/ml).

 

[brightside]

Have you tried limonene? Many people at the Estrogel subreddit make a DIY version with hand sanitizer and limonene from orange essential oil, and find that it works alright.

Yeah, that was in my original make in the OP.

I'm pretty sure that they get their info from this study. It does say that limonene is a good PE, but they never tested it on T, just estradiol. Actually, they even say, "Between main terpenes components of niaouli (1,8 cineole, α-pinene, α-terpineol, d-limonene), 1,8-cineole was the best skin permeation promoter for estradiol." That's eucalyptol, and that's estradiol, so exactly comparable to T products.

I can't say how T and E2 differ in their structure to determine what would work as a better PE( limonene, eucalyptol, or menthol), but I do have that study above that showed excellent results with menthol and T. Actually, both menthol and eucalyptol are more polar and have an oxygen atom, while limonene is less polar, and lacks any oxygen. Menthol actually has a hydroxyl group, and it does resemble benzyl alcohol the most, which is best. (Interestingly, the eutectic mixture with the T/Menthol puts the mole ratio between 1:4 which is just about the same as the ratio of T/Benzyl alcohol.)

Both limonene and menthol are used in cosmetic products, and both are considered sensitizers. Menthol use is pretty acceptable, especially because of things like pain creams which use menthol, aspirin, and camphor. I don't think limonene is used in 10-15% ranges, so there is more real world data because of the IcyHot creams.

Either way, both are not bad, and I like how both smell. Using hand sanitizer is a shortcut and I wouldn't recommend it for long-term use, since they add other junk there that you don't need.

 

[brightside]

I have no evidence for this other than my experience but I suspect test depletes thiamine.

I've never had the slowness problem, and also take megadoses of thiamine daily. Hmm

 

[brightside]

Interesting read here, would love to give it a try but unfortunately had raws seized in the past and haven’t been brave enough to give it another go.

I’ve been using ready formulas of transdermal 10% DHT & transdermal 20% T from Alphagels Compounding which has put my blood levels into the supraphysiological range.

They state that the carrier they use contains DMSO & essential oils.

Lol at the 15x DHT levels. How many hours post application did you get the blood draw?

Also, you can buy raws domestically (assuming you're in the US), but I think that's limited to just T.

Pretty sure you can't go past 5% with the DHT, and 15% with the T. I'm not too sure about the T number, so don't quote me on that. The most I've seen with the DHT, was around 55mg/ml, and that seems to be true from my experience as well.

 

[Ras]

Yeah, that was in my original make in the OP.

I'm pretty sure that they get their info from this study. It does say that limonene is a good PE, but they never tested it on T, just estradiol. Actually, they even say, "Between main terpenes components of niaouli (1,8 cineole, α-pinene, α-terpineol, d-limonene), 1,8-cineole was the best skin permeation promoter for estradiol." That's eucalyptol, and that's estradiol, so exactly comparable to T products.

I can't say how T and E2 differ in their structure to determine what would work as a better PE( limonene, eucalyptol, or menthol), but I do have that study above that showed excellent results with menthol and T. Actually, both menthol and eucalyptol are more polar and have an oxygen atom, while limonene is less polar, and lacks any oxygen. Menthol actually has a hydroxyl group, and it does resemble benzyl alcohol the most, which is best. (Interestingly, the eutectic mixture with the T/Menthol puts the mole ratio between 1:4 which is just about the same as the ratio of T/Benzyl alcohol.)

Both limonene and menthol are used in cosmetic products, and both are considered sensitizers. Menthol use is pretty acceptable, especially because of things like pain creams which use menthol, aspirin, and camphor. I don't think limonene is used in 10-15% ranges, so there is more real world data because of the IcyHot creams.

Either way, both are not bad, and I like how both smell. Using hand sanitizer is a shortcut and I wouldn't recommend it for long-term use, since they add other junk there that you don't need.

Thanks for the comprehensive response.

 

[Jremy25]

Lol at the 15x DHT levels. How many hours post application did you get the blood draw?

Also, you can buy raws domestically (assuming you're in the US), but I think that's limited to just T.

Pretty sure you can't go past 5% with the DHT, and 15% with the T. I'm not too sure about the T number, so don't quote me on that. The most I've seen with the DHT, was around 55mg/ml, and that seems to be true from my experience as well.

The blood draw was 14 hours post application. I was shocked to see my levels this high, I was aiming for above the reference range but definitely not 15x.

Based on how insane my DHT levels are I’d say there had to be close to 100mg/ml of DHT in there. There was a slight crystallisation in the formula which I was instructed to place the bottle in a cup of warm water to melt the crystals back into the solution prior to use.

 

[Peatfan69]

Hey all,

I've been using some transdermal menthol solutions recently, mostly lotions, but some ethanol based ones as well. I found that 70mg of T in menthol lotion was roughly 2x stronger than 150mg, and lasted about 2x as long. Research does support this, although my experience is subjective.

I compared the effects of the menthol lotion against a basic ethanol mixture, and I'm pretty sure that ethanol+menthol is not as powerful as menthol lotion. So in terms of potency, it would go as follows, Ethanol < Ethanol+menthol < Menthol lotion.

The lotion has lauric acid, which has decent penetration enhancement, but also the surfactants can boost penetration as well. Replacing MCT with Lauric acid might be something to try. In the mixture MCT is there to add some moisturization, so replacing it is OK.

I do have to say, that the ethanol one is quite underdosed in terms of T %age. The caveat is that the mole ratio of M:T should stay at 4:1 , or by weight - 13mg:6mg. Increasing the dose of T means increasing the quantity of M, and there is only so much ethanol can hold. The menthol technically holds the T without any solvent, and the solvent is only necessary to dissolve the menthol initially. You can see this if you make the solution below, but add menthol to ethanol, wait for that to dissolve, and only then add the T. The T will dissolve very quickly compared to just basic T+EtOH. This is basically the action of the menthol, and the reason why it's going to push the hormone across the skin much better.

Regardless, the recipe below (ethanol one) is still 100-110mg/ml (roughly), so it's not actually low dose. The lotions should be roughly 50mg/ml at 5%, and 75mg/ml at 7.5%. I have yet to try making a 10% or higher one, mostly because I don't feel a need for that.

Anyways, here are the recipes:

View attachment 52651
View attachment 52652
View attachment 52653

which menthol are you using and where did you get it from? Trying to look into DMSO alternatives

 

[brightside]

@Jremy25

???

 

[brightside]

which menthol are you using and where did you get it from? Trying to look into DMSO alternatives

Any ol' menthol should work, but I got basically the first thing on amazon. This

What's your reason for avoiding DMSO?

 

[Santosh]

What's your reason for avoiding DMSO?

Burns like hell
You smell like shrimp no matter how pure the DMSO is
Have to clean skin prior to every application

 

[ecstatichamster]

Consistent excellent experience with T base in vitamin E.

 

[Nebula]

Consistent excellent experience with T base in vitamin E.

No added ethanol to increase solubility?

 

[ecstatichamster]

No added ethanol to increase solubility?

I use 20mL E and 100mg T base. Dissolves perfectly.

 

[brightside]

I use 20mL E and 100mg T base. Dissolves perfectly.

How much drops do you use and where?

 

[Peatfan69]

I use 20mL E and 100mg T base. Dissolves perfectly.

which vitamin E are you using?