S5 spironolactone skin stains, questions for Admin and members

[rcom440]

A few months ago I read about some members having problems with s5 cream. I keep my S5 in the fridge just to be safe and 2 days ago I started using a new jar. After only 1 day of applying it I noticed bad brown/orange discoloration on my hairline. It looked if someone took brown magic marker and draw lines across my hairline. The brown sports are unacceptable and I will be throwing that basically full jar of s5 to the trash.
Yesterday I ordered new s5 day cream and I hope I wont have that problem again.

Questions for Admin,

1) Did you find out what is causing discoloration on the skin? Is it safe?
2) which batch of s5 jars had that problem.
3) I'm quieting refund in out of question.

thank you.

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Just took 2nd shower and I noticed the discoloration is slowly going away. It looks like after absorption S5 is leaving brown buildup on the skin that is very hard to wash off so it's not a side effect. There is just something wrong with this jar of spironolactone.
I still have yellowish hairline but at least I can go to work tomorrow.

I've been using S5 for many years and I never had that problem before.
It's the jar I bought 5/19/14 has that problem and I won't be using it.

 

[abovedagame]

I've used spironolactone cream for several years starting with Dr. Lee's up until he was shut down. I also used Dr. Kleins pricey version ($70+ a bottle) and wholesalehairproducts version. At one point i was also making my own using instructions provided by Bryan.


I have some serious doubts about s5 cream and I've tried it with at least 3 different jars. First, when they began selling it they claimed it had retin-a in it which was false. After they were questioned about that, they changed their label to read retinol.


Second, I've never gotten the particular skunk or "mercaptan" odor when applying it with minoxidil. Even Dr. Lee says this is normal (note: every other spironolactone cream I've used including my homemade version has this odor when applied with minoxidil). I even performed an experiment where I mixed the s5 cream with minoxidil in one sealed jar and used some crushed spironolactone with minoxidil in another. I left them to interact over several days- the spironolactone powder and minoxidil had that mercaptan odor and...you guessed it he s5 cream had no odor at all after several days. It's a known fact spironolactone and minoxidil degrade each other when stored together. This to me proves that thrre is no spironolactone in this cream or it is wayyyy below the claimed 5% concentration.


Third, the company that manufactures it, Gen-hair, does not have the best reputation. Do a search online within various hair loss forums and you will see that they have shady customer service practices and do not respond to emails. There was also some various posts online claiming particulates floating in some of their minoxidil formulations. I vaguely remember a post online that sent a sample of one of their minoxidil formulas to a lab and found only FRACTIONS of the active ingredient(s) or none at all.


With all that said I've given up my search to find a reputable source for spironolactone cream as recently Dr. Klein passed away.


I feel as if it is my obligation to write about my personal experience and findings with s5 cream. Personally I would not use s5 cream especially given the latest issue of discoloration of people's scalps. I've learned my lesson and will only purchase products from a "brick and mortar" business, not one that is hidden in Hungar y....buyer beware


EDIT: why is "gen-hair" and Hungar-y censored on this forum?....shady

 

[rcom440]

Which spironolactone cream or liquid would you recommend and can you post webpage.

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What do you think about wholesalehairproducts spironolactone?

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I mixed minoxidil with s5 and it doesn't smell at all. Maybe s5 doesn't have any spironolactone in it. I'm wondering how we can be sure.

 

[Donny J]

I recently purchased an order of a 3-pack of s5. how can i tell if i'm affected? my skintone is fairly tanned at the moment, so i'm not visually seeing anything yet, but how can i tell if it's actually efficient & with a 5% concentration?

 

[rcom440]

I think you would notice blown or orange discoloration after 1st or 2nd application. I noticed horrible brown lined on my hairline after 1st application. In the morning I took shower which washed off brown spots then I applied s5 around 3pm today and now again I noticed brown spots. It's really bad and I won't be using it - it looks horrible.
I think your jars of s5 are fine. I got that s5 in May. During that time I remember other members complaining about that too.
If you don't see any discoloration then it seems your stuff is fine.

When it comes to how many % of spironolactone if any s5 has it's hard to say. I remember long time ago s5 cream used to smell like spironolactone when mined with minoxidil which I'm 100% it contained spironolactone. Then the company what makes s5 started altering the formula and now I'm not sure if it has any spironolactone as it doesn't have specific smell when mixed with minoxidil. spironolactone mixed with minoxidil have to smell there is no other way no matter what other ingredients they add, they won't mask it.
What do you guys think?

 

[abovedagame]

Which spironolactone cream or liquid would you recommend and can you post webpage.

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What do you think about wholesalehairproducts spironolactone?

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I mixed minoxidil with s5 and it doesn't smell at all. Maybe s5 doesn't have any spironolactone in it. I'm wondering how we can be sure.

I bought spironolactone from wholesalehairproducts only once. When I received it, the spironolactone had a hardened layer on top but below that it had a thin consistency lotion. I contacted them and sent pictures but they would not refund my money, only offered to replace my spironolactone if I sent it back to them (shipping on me). I did not return to them and tossed the product as I knew I wouldn't be buying long term from them. The best replacement I had found for Dr. Lee was Dr. Klein (all his formulations are made by a compounding pharmacy) but his company is no longer in business after his passing.


As I said, I only recommend buying from a brick and mortar establishment meaning purchasing from a doctor and/or a compounding pharmacy.

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I think you would notice blown or orange discoloration after 1st or 2nd application. I noticed horrible brown lined on my hairline after 1st application. In the morning I took shower which washed off brown spots then I applied s5 around 3pm today and now again I noticed brown spots. It's really bad and I won't be using it - it looks horrible.
I think your jars of s5 are fine. I got that s5 in May. During that time I remember other members complaining about that too.
If you don't see any discoloration then it seems your stuff is fine.

When it comes to how many % of spironolactone if any s5 has it's hard to say. I remember long time ago s5 cream used to smell like spironolactone when mined with minoxidil which I'm 100% it contained spironolactone. Then the company what makes s5 started altering the formula and now I'm not sure if it has any spironolactone as it doesn't have specific smell when mixed with minoxidil. spironolactone mixed with minoxidil have to smell there is no other way no matter what other ingredients they add, they won't mask it.
What do you guys think?

From what I remember Dr. Lee said that the spironolactone odor could not be masked. He perfected his product over the years to limit it, but there was still the faint "skunk" odor when mixed with minoxidil.

I've purchased at least 3 or 4 tubs of s5 over the years and have never experienced the smell after minoxidil application.

 

[rcom440]

I compared both dr lee and s5. And s5 long time ago used to smell pretty bad on its own. It did have that spironolactone smell. I know exactly how spironolactone should smell.
Btw. I just checked s5 again and I think it does have a little bit of that smell but when mixed it with minoxidil it smell almost the same as without minoxidil.
I noticed this s5 jar that stains my skin smell worst then previous jar I finished last Monday. I don't know what to think. I ordered another s5 and I hope it won't be staining my hairline. I will compare both how they smell. I'm wondering if I could send it to the lab and test both to see exact ingredients. Do you guys know any easy way to determine if s5 actually contain spironolactone. I would like to be sure.

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Donny J,
Can you describe how your s5 smells like? There should be a tinny hint of weird skunk smell which is how spironolactone should smell like.

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It's possible that discoloration of the skin is done by caffeine content in s5. I'm guessing it's much larger than in previous jar I was using. Maybe they messed up on the ratio between each ingredient. It's just my guess.

I'm almost positive it does have spironolactone. I can smell it when I put my nose close to it.

 

[minoxiDjunkie]

hey guys,
hope thats ok im asking this here -
those of you who use topical spironolactone of any sort ---
-how well does that works for you, and what concentration do you use, also for how long ?

 

[rcom440]

I've been using it for around 4 years. It slows down hairloss but it won't regrow hair like minoxidil. I'm using 5% spironolactone cream.

 

[minoxiDjunkie]

hey guys,
hope thats ok im asking this here -
those of you who use topical spironolactone of any sort ---
-how well does that works for you, and what concentration do you use, also for how long ?

yea i've read a lot of bad stuff about the s5 cream,
alot of people seem to think it might not contain spironolactone at all, and in any way the liquid works better..

but i know there are some people out there that had some experimenting with the stuff, i just hope they're still around theses forums,
and maybe - a homemade spironolactone,
maybe with some specific vehicle,
works better..
and thats what i want to find out - what would be the best topical spironolactone results... ?

 

[rcom440]

I read some time ago that people using spironolactone in the lotion instead of cream get better results but I think it's because they get most of the liquid on the skin and cream may get stuck on the hair. It's hard to say. I also know from people that liquid stink pretty bad.

When it comes to S5 I know it contain spironolactone as I can smell. I remember Dr. Lee cream didn't smell like spironolactone at all.
When I get my new jar of S5 I will check it if it does smell like spironolactone a little bit. They try to mask the odor but it still have that specific smell.
Also, spironolactone isn't expensive on its own especially overseas so it wouldn't make sense for that company to make S5 spironolactone cream without actually spironolactone and claim it does.

 

[Donny J]

Donny J,
Can you describe how your s5 smells like? There should be a tinny hint of weird skunk smell which is how spironolactone should smell like.

just gave it a whiff -- pretty sure i smell what you're describing. it's faint, but it's there.

 

[minoxiDjunkie]

you know..
they probably use spironolactone in the cream, its hard to belive they dont..
but - the problem i see here is - all the fragnance they put in it, and all the other stuff, that might be inactive but still - arent good for your skin, and hair, and maybe even make the spironolactone less effective..

ill give you an example - the other day i was treating my face with the dermaroller,
and i prepared for myself a homemade cream made of pure aloe vera (from the graden), honey and ginger.
so i have used the cream and it was great, and after about 4 hours i thought that maybe i should wash it off,
and i did, and 15 minutes later my face started to burn a lot .
so - i had this bottle of the kind of aloe vera gel that you buy over the counter, it also has alcohol, fragnance and other ****.
and i have used it, and actually - 1 minute later - my face began to burn even more than without it !!!
so i quickly washed it out too and cut me another aloe vera leaf and smeared it on my face.
needless to say it was a huge relief the next minute.

so what iam trying to say here - is that all of these other stuff they put inside the cream might be really bad for your skin and, might even - do more harm than good.

and thats why im looking for guys who made their own topical spironolactone using the pills ...
if you know such guys, id really like to talk to them

 

[rcom440]

They put whole bunch of fragrances and other chemicals to skin products, shampoos, body washes, soaps... list goes on. It's something that it's hard to avoid.

When it comes to S5 spironolactone, they listed only active ingredients. I still have empty jar of Dr. Lee spironolactone cream. He listed all the ingredients and they are nothing that would do any damage to the skin unless you are allergic.

But I'm still trying to figure out what may cause discoloration of the skin. I will be getting another jar of s5 next week so I will try to compare them.

If you want to mix your own spironolactone you can talk with pharmacists that hang out in different forums. I think Bryan posted instructions on this forum but you have to be careful with the proportions or you going to stink your entire house.

 

[Mattew]

Hello rcom440, since ur an expert with spironolactone id like to have ur opinion about a cream that i asked a pharmacy to do for me (since in europe its hard to get it).
Its 5% like s5 but its WHITE not orange or yellow and it smells a little.
Secondly its very thick, so thick that when i apply on the scalp it gets dry almost instantly and its rly hard to apply like that...i dont even know if its gettin properly on my skin.
Do u think they didnt make it in a good way?
Lastly, when i apply it, should i massage it or just spread it over my scalp? i massaged it but rly it was like rubbin some kind of very dry stuff and i didn get the senasation of skin absorption...

 

[rcom440]

S5 cream is also white, it's not yellow. If you asked them to make 5% spironolactone cream I'm positive it's spironolactone and as you mentioned it smells slightly which is probably smell of spironolactone.
When it comes to thickness I remember Dr. Lee spironolactone cream was thicker than S5 but Im guessing your spironolactone cream is much thicker. Did they attached note with list of ingredients they used? If so can you tell us what they used.

When you apply that cream, does it sticks to the skin and after a while it gets absorbed in the skin?
As long as it gets absorbed it should be fine.
You don't need to rub it in just spread it around with your fingers.

 

[abcdefg]

My issue with topical spironolactone would be is it actually absorbed and used through this vehicle they use? I think topical spironolactone not working that well is entirely based on the delivery method.

 

[minoxiDjunkie]

Is the stains coming off with a wash ?


i wouldnt worry if so,
sometimes aloe vera also makes stains in purple colors

besides - it much better to have stains than to have oily/bald head or acne
and - there is nothing wrong with taking care of yourself so if anyone has a problem with thoes stains he can go **** himself

 

[rcom440]

Yeah they slowly come off after the wash. They are just surface stains that are hard to wash off.
But I use spironolactone twice a so it's hard to get rid off them.

Well I don't care what other people say but those stains annoy me but I never has that problem with s5 cream. I can't wait to get a new jar and test it.

 

[rcom440]

Yesterday I received new jar of S5. It doesn't stain skin but it smells exactly the same. It has a little bit of that skunk smell and I'm 100% it contains spironolactone.