A couple of years ago someone in the comments mentioned how Ray's before and after images showing pregnenolone's face-lifting action wasn’t real, or rather that it was an uncontrolled experiment with the camera angles being largely responsible for the perceived effects; he didn't understand why people took Ray's word for it. I think it's asinine trying to convince people of things, and at the time I decided to see if I could find more examples since the idea aroused my curiosity quite a bit.
Many of the thyroid therapy examples I've posted over the years (here) demonstrate something very similar to that of isolated pregnenolone supplementation since the latter is the first hormone synthesized when there is an adequate concentration of T3 in an organism. Some of these examples, better than others, demonstrate the transformation of sagging, loose skin into looking and functioning “tighter” and healthier.
More specifically, pregnenolone was shown to act as a “hydrating agent”, causing a plumping of the skin and smoothing out of “crow’s feet” wrinkles (Sternberg et al., 1961). A solution of 0.5% pregnenolone, in combination with 1% progesterone and 1% testosterone was demonstrated to be more effective at reducing wrinkles than estrogen, increasing the fullness of the skin, and decreasing the laxity of the tissue (Strauss 1963).
“Many people have noticed that pregnenolone has a "face-lifting" action. This effect seems to be produced by improved circulation to the skin, and by an actual contraction of some muscle-like cells in the skin.“ - Ray
It is important to note here that estrogen also works to smooth out wrinkles and is commonly used as a topical cream for this purpose, however, it does this by drawing water into the local tissues (edema) and waterlogging them, which stretches and fills out the wrinkles.
Research on this topic is scarce, I suppose for obvious reasons, but below is one recent example of progesterone's topical effect on wrinkles after 16 weeks of use (Holzer et al., 2005).
The first time I took a little pregnenolone (~20mgs), I felt the skin around my temples noticeably tighten, despite the absence of sagging skin or wrinkles. I think both oral and topical routes are viable options, however, keep in mind that the skin absorbs around 10-15% of the progesterone or pregnenolone that is dissolved in oil, so much bigger doses may need to be used. I don’t mean to shill, but idealabs products work great for topical use as the SFA esters are quite effective at penetrating the skin and the absorption rate is between 90-100%. A side note I’d like to mention here is that taking progesterone after being hypothyroid for a prolonged amount of time can cause the thyroid gland to release its stored “colloid,” which releases large amounts of T4 into the bloodstream causing temporary hyperthyroidism. Ray said that “this is a corrective process, and in itself isn’t harmful” but if there is hesitancy I think a trial of taking pregnenolone first to bypass this could be an option for some.
I hope you found this article somewhat helpful and informative.
References
Holzer, G., Riegler, E., Hönigsmann, H., Farokhnia, S., & Schmidt, B. (2005). Effects and side-effects of 2% progesterone cream on the skin of peri- and postmenopausal women: results from a double-blind, vehicle-controlled, randomized study. British Journal of Dermatology, 153(3), 626–634. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2133.2005.06685.x
Sternberg TH, Levan P, Wright ET. The hydrating effects of pregnenolone acetate on the human skin. Curr Ther Res Clin Exp. 1961 Nov;3:469-71. PMID: 13917009.
Strauss, J. S. (1963). Hormones in Cosmetics. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 186(8), 759. doi:10.1001/jama.1963.03710080
Thanks for the article! When I first started with Stressnon Pregnenalone I didn’t really know what to do with it. But I knew Ray had said something like, it would be in his deserted island dap kit. So anyway I tried it here I tried it there then got bored with it. But being a frugal Nebraskan I was determined to use it up. So I started using 8 drops maybe 16mg idk, on my scalp. Just where my hair parts. Didn’t notice anything immediately but after a week I started to notice I didn’t have any dandruff. I did not believe it and just ignored it. But I have had brutal dandruff my whole adult life. I have insanely thick hair and my scalp just can’t breathe. I’ll leave it at that. After a couple weeks with the 6-8 drops of Pregnenalone daily, very very little dandruff. Remarkable! My wife is blown away cuz she’s always noticed my insane dandruff with love of coarse. She is impressed and now uses Pregnenalone dhea on her face every night before bed. I have to check all the time that she’s not going crazy with it because she isn’t familiar with dhea overdosing issues. More has got to be better is her approach! Ha!
Thanks again for the great work!
> It is important to note here that estrogen also works to smooth out wrinkles and is commonly used >as a topical cream for this purpose, however, it does this by drawing water into the local tissues >(edema) and waterlogging them, which stretches and fills out the wrinkles.
"In addition, sex hormones influence haemodynamics. Oestradiol leads to systemic arterial vasodilata-
tion with reduced peripheric resistance and raises capillary permeability. Progesterone induces venous dilatation and reduces blood flow velocity. 14,15 High oestradiol levels in the mid-cycle and the luteal phase, which accompany high progesterone levels, are able to induce a watershift from the intravasal to the extravasal compartment."
[The influence of female sex hormones on skin thickness: evaluation using 20 MHz sonography]
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9767291/)