Darkhorse,
 
Great idea! I am also very interested in the potential of Forskolin as a tanning agent. I first and foremost want to hear in as great a detail as possible, the results of peoples trials with this herb. Can we find a way to deliver it through the skin and will be be effective. This could be a great new tanner and with potentially fewer risks.

My understanding of the workings of FORSKOLIN  is that in the experiments of mice a lotion was made and the entire animal was covered,  not just a patch in one area.  Based on that I doubt the patch you discribed will do much other than maybe causing a tan square on your ankle.

Quote from lotuseater   on 10/04/06 at 19:30:43:

 
 
thats the whole point, it's an experiment

np.
I agree, I want to get a good tan more than anything but I'd rather chose to use this to melanotan as I hate the thought of injecting daily and feel bad constantly the first week.
Also the spots that everyone gets made me wish for a better product and here we go;D

So in summary, this is my experiment:
 
1) 30mg of 20% forskolin extract (PhytoPharmica brand) ordered from vitamin life.com  
2) California tan CTseven accelerator. Stirred in the forskolin extract to about 10ml of cream for about 20min until the cream turned dark green.
3) Appying cream 3-4 times per day to a small patch on my left ankle.  
4) DAY ONE - No results yet. Will update

Some thoughts...
 
I am still experimenting with various carriers.
According to the study you need approximately  
82.1 mg PER ml to duplicate their results.
(I hope my math is wrong on this but I dont think so)
 
-------------------------------------
pure Forskolin is Molecular weight 410.5  
(410.5 grams per mole)
400 micro liters contained 80 micromoles in the study
so
400 ml would contain 80 millimoles and then  
1 liter contains 200 millimoles
 
410.5 * .200 = 82.1 grams / liter forskolin content
or 82.1 mg per ml
--------------------------------------------
 
Thats 82 mg of forskolin, so if you are using a  
20% extract you would need to pull it out of 410mg. Alot more
than people seem to be using.
 
Forskolin is soluble in alcohol and the study used that to
pull the forskolin out of the herb and then filter out the
grit.  It is also soluble in DMSO but using DMSO on
impure ingredients will cause problems as it pulls in everything.
(including anything it is touching like glue from a bandage)
 
If I had a mass spec, and other equipment I could verify how much I am able to pull out with various solvents.  
But I don't so its going to take some time.  BTW despite several posts to the contrary, pure ethanol is NOT  
available here in california. (google everclear and you will see  
the purest form is restricted by state, kind of silly since you  
can buy a one ounce bottle of herb pharm echinacea that contains pur ethanol as a solvent - but whatever)
 
Alcohol and DMSO are not things I want to use long term
on my skin.  Not at these concentrations anyway.
 
So bottom line is this is going to take some time.
(especially when self-funding this effort - sources for
cheap pure forskolin are welcomed as the labs charge
a mint for the stuff)
 
There may be some issues systemically with the  
concentrations needed to achieve the effect.
 
The cAMP stimulation may not be able to be contained
in the skin causing systemic effects -- which at high
doses might be a problem.  Forskolin is well tolerated
and bodybuilders have been using fairly high dosages
for some time now, and skin absorption without DMSO
is probably only going to be 5-10% but I still think  
people should be cautious and watch out for any side effects.
 
When experimenting with any herb or drug, it makes
sense to protect the liver using silymarin and NAC to
help avoid toxicity issues.  People using melanotan II might be
well advised to do this also.
 
 
Above information is not intended to replace the  
advice of a physician or qualified health care professional.
 
 
 
 
 

Hi all, I have been a guest for several months and am now a member.Thanks to all the great contributors on the site. I believe if you go to [url=www. Fermentek.co.il]www. Fermentek.co.il[/url] then click on products, scroll click on forskolin you will see that it is  only solubile in DMSO, Ethanol, Methanol and Dichloromethane. Methanol is a deadly poison and Dichloromethane has Chlorine poison issues. That leaves Dmso and Ethanol 96% usp as the only vehicles that will work. This should put to rest all the speculation about various oils and creams. If you don't get the forskolin into a solubile state, your not going to get it through the skin. I believe this is why the rat experiments used a lotion of 70% Ethanol/30% propylene  glycol. Ethanol[ 96%ethyl alcohol] requires a Rx. all others my be too low a percentage or denatured with a toxic substance to avoid the high tax imposed, so be careful of anything on the "gray" market. I have started my own experiment and will report on it soon - Perhaps in a new thread. LOL

Isopropynol should work ok too I theorize and it's OTC, but I would add some Prop gycol to that at 30 % or so and shake like mo-fo.  But again, getting enough Forskolin into these mixtures is gonna be tricky.  You can request many pharmacies to specialty compound for you and get them to do all the things mentioned in study for you for a small fee to make sure it is properly mixed.  You'll probably have to supply forskolin yourself though as they probably won't have it or even know what you're talking about.

Also,
 
have a look at:
 
http://www.gaiaherbs.com/product.php?id=106
 
for another potential source of forskolin

Hi Zorba,
 
Your mathematical skills are far superior to mine. However, I wonder if there is a mistake regarding the Nature article’s noted strength of the solution (equivalent to 82.1mg of Forskolin per ml). According to Sigma-Aldrich, amongst other sources, the solubility of pure Forskolin is only 5mg per ml in DMSO. See:
 
http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/search/ProductDetail?ProdNo=F6886&Brand= SIGMA.
 
Also, today I tried to create a solution with 20% forskolin extract in 2ml of solution (using 70% ethanol 30% propylene glycol as per the study). I only got to about 150mg of extract before the mixture began to set like a dry, hard paste and this is less than the equivalent of one quarter of the solution suggested in the article:  
 
'400 microliter of P. barbatus root extract (80 micromoles forskolin)’.  
 
Perhaps then, this quote was actually referring to the relative strength of Forskolin within the extract rather than solution strength, particularly as 80 is exactly 20 percent of 400, matching the noted concentration of the extract used in the study. Maybe the 400 microliter is a misprint and should read 400 micromoles.
 
Or maybe I’m just too being wishful and/or too dumb to understand how the solution was put together. What do you think?