don’t know what exactly is NR but applying a solution of urea to skin prior to applying what ever will likely help more.
I am blessed not to have many wrinkles but I do have frown lines on my forehead and I never had Botox and am thinking about it as I am out in the sun a lot hence the squinting. But I don’t want to have to do it over and over again with Botox. Any suggestions or better alternatives?
My sense is that sunscreen rigorously applied is the best thing you can do for your skin.
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I don’t do Botox for any area. My last one was some 15 years ago. I deal with “eleven” (11) wrinkles between my eyebrows by applying meso to that area. It requires only 2 drops, one in each line at a depth of 1 mm (no bleeding). Then, couple hours later, I apply a triangle sticker called “smoothie” to that area for several hours. And the miracle happens - “11” is gone. If your “11” is not very pronounced, wearing just one sticker triangle (smoothie) on that area at night may cure it forever.
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I did botox twice some 10 years ago for crows feet, but really did not like the results. It altered my face expression and I almost did not recognize my smile anymore. And yes I did not have crows feet, but other muscled compensated and had this really strange wrinkles below my cheeks.
Forehead and brow area is really difficult to inject properly for men, as muscles are relatively stronger and/or your brows can get a slight curve which feminizes the face. I would really not recommend botox.
But if you decide, try to get a really knowledgeable injector that injects lot of men and try “baby” botox first, to see if you like the result. You can always add more.
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Some more clarification on what you intend with the “smoothie “ you mention would be so much appreciated 
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Smoothie will take a wrinkle away. It flattens it. It’s similar to ironing your shirt. Try it. Before you buy it, try to apply a piece of scotch on your wrinkle and see what happens in an hour.
This is how “smoothie” looks:
And this is the result of it:
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Smoothie is the trade mark ? Will definitely try; your pictures are incredible and you look so much younger ! 
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You can find all kinds of skin smoothies on Amazon. Different shapes for different areas.
Facial Smoothies LONG Wrinkle Remover Strips, 48 forehead anti wrinkle patches Amazon.com
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has anyone ever heard of using nmn topically - i guess not because of its low solubility at only 1.8mg/ml while NR is 58mg/ml or what about just niacin=nicotinic acid is vitamer of vit B3 soluble 18g/L or niacinamide= nicotinamide soluble at 17g/L . Ofcourse solubility is not the only or likely not the most important consideration. So now of these 4 : NR , NMN , niacinamide , or just niacin is the most suitable and in what conditions with what else and which is the cheapest per unit mass. I seem to recall out of these 4 only niacinamide is commonly listed. So where do u get the advantage or whatever of using NR instead ? What if injected at what concentration would they clog or not clog say a 30awg needle.
how long does the smoother or less wrinkles or whatever one may call it or the noticeable improvement last ?
it is likely better to massage it into your skin rather than only spray it and use a primer such as urea and or dmso and/or possibly alpha terpineol and sufactants, cosurfactoants, isopropanol and combinations etc.of course all diluted to a certain amount before applying the rapa … gel, cream, serum or whatever and/or maybe
do a microneedling prior if u wish. All or some of those to make your skin much more receptive before applying expensive rapa with whatever. Though if one uses something made from crushing tablets it likely doesn’t matter since that is likely not going to work in any case or at most very poorly compared to many other ways starting with rapa powder. Note on not comprimising skin structure as a possible advantage of Transcutol implied in a write up over dmso etc.
compromising the skin structure such as maybe dmso and urea is just what makes them favorable as penetration enhancers and of course it is not a permanent alteration.Temporarily changing skin structure, or however u want to put it , is desirable in this case and gives them advantages or desirable penetration properties over substances that do not …skin structure. Though not necessarily implying in general that they are or are not superior in some sense to Transcutol.
Thanks for this! I have never heard of this extract, but there is quite a bit of data out there. This appears to be the first cited source and I am going to look at the others. This paper reviews 75mg PO once daily in women with success for hyperpigmentation.
Nutritional strategies to benefit skin health are of growing importance. Current approaches mainly involve nutritional supplements containing antioxidants which were initially designed to protect human skin against ultraviolet radiation-induced damage. Within recent years, however, a growing number of studies suggests that the beneficial effects of these products clearly extend beyond photoprotection. In this review we take the nutritional supplement Pycnogenol®, which is based on an extract prepared from French marine pine bark extract, as an example to illustrate this development. Accordingly, the existing data provide compelling evidence that Pycnogenol® intake does not only provide photoprotection, but may be used to (i) reduce hyperpigmentation of human skin and (ii) improve skin barrier function and extracellular matrix homeostasis.
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Here’s a recipe based on FDA approved Hyftor, a 0.2% gel
for 97 g/ 3.2 oz gel and modified from a recipe for eye gel on makingcosmetics.com
phase a
distilled water 46 g or 1.6 oz or about 3/4 cup
carbomer 940 0.15 g or about 1/16 tsp
phase b
triethanolamine (pH adjuster) 0.05 g/ 1-2 drops
phase c:
20 mg rapamycin powder
50 g 91% isopropanol (has density of about .8 g/ml)
phase d:
benzyl alchohol/DHA preservative 0.4g/9 drops
Sprinkle the carbomer into the water and let hydrate
for 5 minutes. mix well with hand mixer until dissolved.
Add phase b. pH should be between 6.5 and 7.
below 5 the gel will lose its viscosity.
Add phase c and mix well.
Add phase d and mix again.
It will be drying but easier to spread than a liquid spray.
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IF U are talking about crushed tablets which u are, transcutol likely does not dissolve rapamycin at all or very very little as that crushed substance is very very little of rapa and even at that does not get to the rapa other than possibly the very small amount which is on or very near the surface of those macroscopic particles. you need to extract the rapa out of that whatever which is not easy to do and u don’t do that with transcutol. Extraction of the rapa is likely beyond the means of layman and also of the compounding pharmacy also and then after extraction u have other processes to do
For my part, I use the contents of capsules prepared by a compounding pharmacy. The transcutol certainly appears to fully dissolve the rapamycin powder and whatever added fillers the powder has.
Would this kind of topical application really need any more?
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@Jonas or @Alpha “…all u need” What are u nuts ? So that means it is good penetration or any significant at all penetration of rapa into the skin ?will say for sure u need a lot different than that. You have not done any analysis nor tests nor microscopic analyses. Do u even know what micelle , micellar , surfactant, cosurfactant and emulsions means ? By ‘happenstance’ or
pot luck you may get some penetration but not nearly as good as starting with rapa powder and doing it other ways of which there are many on the internet -yea many are too difficult for the layman but many are not and most are like 1/100 the price. To be more to the point that “…all you need…” statement is ridiculous in general. The literature is full of such that there was no detectable measured penetration or significantly too little of the active or desired component into the skin of which some were even commercially sold products. And note especially just because it is a commercially sold product does NOT mean it is formulated in the best or anywhere near the best way. For example EMLA cream which as most anyone has tried is about totally useless !
100 mg rapamycin powder? that’s a lot and very expensive
I fixed some typos. This reply will not be saved unless it has 20 characters.
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