STUDresearch · Non-peptide
Clascoterone
Also known as
Winlevi · Breezula · CB-03-01 · cortexolone 17α-propionate · clascoterone 1% · clascoterone 5%
Community talk. May be wrong. Not medical advice. Not a protocol. Not for human or animal use.
Non-peptide
Some talk
Local
Topical
Skin, hair & tissue remodeling
Topical androgen-receptor antagonist.
What people say
Clascoterone is a topical androgen-receptor antagonist. Winlevi is labeled as 1% acne cream; the hair program studies a different 5% scalp solution.
Doses people talk about
These are labeled, trial and first-person contexts—not a progression or a reason to compound a stronger product.
How it may feel
Local dryness or redness is the clearest expected experience. Hair self-reports conflict: one 1% user noticed no difference, while one unverified 15% user reported early hair change plus disabling sleep and energy problems.
Community hairline experiment1% cream; one report nightly
People repurpose acne cream for hair; one commenter used it with morning minoxidil and noticed no difference. This is not the 5% scalp-study vehicle.
Labeled acne cream1% topical BID
Thin layer to affected acne skin under the FDA label.
Hair-study solution5% solution, 1.5 mL BID; earlier 2.5% / 7.5%
SCALP2 six-month controlled-phase condition, followed by a separate extension; earlier strengths belong to other dose work, not the 1% acne vehicle.
One unverified self-report~15% liquid topical
Whole-scalp gray-market report with early claimed benefit, major sleep/energy effects and concurrent treatments; not a study dose. Application frequency unspecified.
Half-life & effect duration
- Half-life in the body
- Topical productNo settled estimate
- Felt duration people report
- 1% account · with minoxidilNo difference over months
- Higher-strength accountEarly hair changes, followed by sleep or energy disruption
Cycles people discuss
Acne labeling uses ongoing twice-daily application; hair discussions use multi-month photo windows. Neither is an evidence-based on/off cycle.
Timing
Twice-daily use comes from the acne and hair study designs, not a proven 17-hour half-life. Strength, vehicle, surface area and skin condition change exposure.
Stacks
Minoxidil and oral or topical 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors commonly confound hair reports; piling several topical AR blockers together obscures attribution.
Watch for
HPA-axis / adolescent endocrine caution: The earlier EMA refusal raised hormonal-suppression and growth concerns. Winlevi subsequently received EU authorization on 17 October 2025, with adolescent use restricted to facial acne and dose limits, monitoring and educational precautions. Large-area or high-strength use remains a watch-for; the US maximal-use label also reports HPA-axis suppression.
Tap a line to jump into the full notes. Research only — may be wrong.
Timing context & sources
Half-life in the body
A dependable human terminal half-life is not established by the checked label or trial record.
The label reports low systemic levels and Day-5 steady state under maximal use; SCALP2 specifies 5% solution twice daily. Neither observation is an elimination half-life.
Cream versus solution, concentration, vehicle, treated area and skin barrier differ; study frequency cannot be reverse-engineered into clearance.
- WINLEVI (clascoterone) cream — FDA label (opens in a new tab)Description and clinical pharmacology: 1% cream (10 mg/g), steady state by Day 5 under maximal use, exposure through Day 14 and Day-14 HPA-axis testing; dosage specifies a thin layer twice daily.Acne label, not the 5% scalp solution. Day-5 steady state is not a terminal half-life; excretion and a dependable human elimination estimate are not supplied.
- SCALP2 phase III clascoterone study record (opens in a new tab)Actual API v2 arms/intervention and design: 5% clascoterone solution, 1.5 mL twice daily for the six-month double-blind controlled phase, followed by a separate six-month extension with differing treatment assignments.Trial registry design, not an approved hair label, finished comparative result, or evidence that 1% acne cream and 5% scalp solution are interchangeable.
Felt duration people report
No dependable per-application felt window emerges from the inspected accounts.
One nightly 1% user plus morning minoxidil reported no difference over months. One roughly 15% liquid user claimed early hair change but stopped after sleep and energy disruption and refused a lower-strength retry.
Contradictory anecdotes, product uncertainty, co-treatment and no controlled re-challenge; subjective symptoms do not establish HPA suppression or drug clearance.
- CB-03-01 / Breezula Personal Results (opens in a new tab)throwawayowl03 OP lines 21–27 and replies 64–90, 115–157 and 245–247: unverified 15% liquid, whole-scalp use, early hair/shedding claims, sleep/energy problems, stopping and declining a lower-strength retry. Later replies disclose ongoing topical finasteride 0.25% and minoxidil twice daily; application frequency of clascoterone itself is not established here.Single unverified gray-market product and self-attribution; very high strength, whole-scalp use and co-treatments prevent transfer to labeled 1% cream or trial 5% solution.
- Anyone tried Winlevi for hair loss? (opens in a new tab)clinton94 comments around lines 50–66: nightly 1% Winlevi since September plus morning minoxidil; a later reply again reports no noticed difference. The thread separately confirms the 1% cream; no absolute follow-up month inferred from relative timestamps.One uncontrolled null report with concurrent minoxidil, no standardized photos, adherence verification or vehicle control.
- WINLEVI (clascoterone) cream — FDA label (opens in a new tab)Description and clinical pharmacology: 1% cream (10 mg/g), steady state by Day 5 under maximal use, exposure through Day 14 and Day-14 HPA-axis testing; dosage specifies a thin layer twice daily.Acne label, not the 5% scalp solution. Day-5 steady state is not a terminal half-life; excretion and a dependable human elimination estimate are not supplied.
Other context in this card
- Winlevi — current European Medicines Agency EPAR (opens in a new tab)Overview; Why is Winlevi authorised in the EU?; Other information: adolescent facial-acne restriction, endocrine-risk precautions and EU marketing authorisation on 17 October 2025 (extracted lines 26, 53–69).Current EU acne product status and precautions, not a hair-loss approval or terminal PK study. Absence of observed growth/puberty harm is not absence of biochemical HPA suppression in the US maximal-use label.
What people say
- “Pharmacy AR blocker” pitch: People who will not buy AliExpress RU like that Winlevi is a real tube. Whether 1% does hair work is the open argument. forum
- Clinic compounding: 5% clascoterone scalp solutions show up in 2026 hair-clinic menus to close the 1% vs 5% gap. forum
- Vs minoxidil (hair): Older explainer videos say 7.5% hair-count in the same ballpark as minoxidil in that dataset — still not “better than minox” as a slogan. forum
- Labeled acne: 1% cream twice daily reduced inflammatory lesions vs vehicle in the Winlevi program. That is the approved job. trial
- Hair Phase 2/3 talk: Cassiopea/Cosmo Breezula reads — 5% and 7.5% solutions twice daily raised target hair counts vs vehicle in men; some female-under-30 5% data too. Not a US hair label yet. trial
Doses people talk about
- Compounded 5% scalp: The 2026 workaround between “wait for Breezula” and “buy RU powder.” Separately, one forum poster described an unverified ~15% liquid over the whole scalp, concurrent topical finasteride and minoxidil, early perceived hair change, then sleep/energy problems and stopping. This was not the 5% study preparation; its application frequency was not established in the inspected account. forum
- The 1% on hairline experiment: Copied because the tube is in the cabinet. Hair writers call it a fivefold underdose vs Phase 3. That shorthand compares concentrations, not equivalent doses across vehicles. One commenter described nightly 1% Winlevi with morning minoxidil and no noticed difference over months. forum
- Hair program (Breezula-class): 5% topical solution BID is the number clinic blogs repeat; 2.5% / 7.5% showed up in earlier dose work. The SCALP2 controlled phase specified 1.5 mL of 5% solution twice daily for six months, followed by a separate six-month extension design. trial
- Framing: Labeled acne grams vs hair-trial percents — not a DIY RU mix. forum
- Labeled acne (Winlevi): Thin layer 1% cream BID to affected skin. trial
How it may feel
- Hair experiments: People smearing 1% on a scalp usually report irritation before density. Compounded 5% logs are still thinner than fin/minox albums. forum
- Stop: Local irritation fades. No 5-AR delayed dump. forum
- Days 1–14 (acne cream): Dryness, redness, peeling — retinoid-adjacent irritation without being a retinoid. trial
- Weeks 4–12 acne: Label window for lesion counts. trial
- HPA-axis / kid caution: High-absorption or large-area use is the endocrine watch-for, especially adolescents — the earlier EMA debate. Later EU authorization restricted adolescent use to facial acne with dose limits, monitoring and educational precautions; this is safety context, not a typical felt effect. trial
Cycles people discuss
- Hair tries: 3–6 month photo windows like other topicals. forum
- Stay-on if it holds. Receptor block is not a one-and-done. forum
- Not interchangeable mL-for-mL with RU 5%. Different molecule, different vehicle. forum
- Acne: Ongoing BID while the acne is the job — label reassess, not an 8-week blast. trial
Timing
- Morning + night is the Winlevi ritual. forum
- Occlusion / large area / broken skin is how people think it goes more systemic. forum
- Local prodrug story: Skin esterases → cortexolone, pitched as less systemic anti-androgen than older NSAAs. trial
- BID because the hair and acne programs dosed twice daily, not because a 17-hour half-life demands it. trial
More on what it is
- Why people talk about it: r/tressless 2025–26: “Can I just smear Winlevi on my hairline?” Happy Head / clinic blogs say Phase 3 hair used ~5%, five times the acne cream. forum
- Not RU, not KX-826. RU is gray DIY. Pyrilutamide is a different topical AR blocker with China trial photos. Clascoterone is the one you can get at a US pharmacy — for acne. forum
- What it is: Cortexolone 17α-propionate — a topical AR blocker. Winlevi is the 1% cream labeled for acne. Breezula is the hair-loss program at much higher strength. Same molecule, not the same bottle. trial
- How it works (plain): Blocks androgen receptors in skin so DHT has a harder time driving oil (acne) or follicle miniaturization (hair pitch). Designed to stay local and metabolize to cortexolone. trial
- Acne vs hair math: Winlevi = 1% BID for acne. Hair Phase 3 talk is 5% solution, men sometimes 7.5% BID in older reads. Copying acne cream onto a scalp is the identity fight. trial
- Europe acne wrinkle: The initial 2025 EMA/CHMP refusal raised hormonal-suppression / growth concerns, particularly for minors. Winlevi subsequently received EU authorization on 17 October 2025, with adolescent use restricted to facial acne and risk precautions; the US acne label still exists in these discussions. trial
Stacks
- Acne: Often next to a retinoid / BP — irritation stacks. forum
- Hair: + minoxidil is the copied pair; + fin/dut for people still swallowing a 5-AR. forum
- Vs RU / pyrilutamide: Usually a replacement topical AR blocker, not a triple smear. forum
- Solo 5% compound for the “no oral 5-AR” crowd. forum
Storage notes
- Finished cream or compounded solution. Room-temp pharmacy label. Not a peptide BAC mix. forum
- Keep the 1% tube and a 5% dropper straight — that is the mix-up. forum
Watch for
- 1% ≠ 5%. Smearing acne cream on a scalp is not the hair trial. forum
- Not a proven fin replacement at hairline photos yet. forum
- Compounded 5% identity is closer to a clinic product than AliExpress RU, still not a US hair label. forum
- Local irritation: Redness, dryness, peeling, itch — the acne-label commons. trial
- HPA-axis / adolescent endocrine caution: The earlier EMA refusal raised hormonal-suppression and growth concerns. Winlevi subsequently received EU authorization on 17 October 2025, with adolescent use restricted to facial acne and dose limits, monitoring and educational precautions. Large-area or high-strength use remains a watch-for; the US maximal-use label also reports HPA-axis suppression. trial
- Pregnancy: Anti-androgen topical — hair/acne threads treat it as keep-away, not a “just topical” shrug. trial
Evidence mix
Mixed trial + community tags
Full: every bullet (trial + community). Use Scan for a faster bro-science read.