I'm using estrogel as a monotherapy, no anti-androgen, and I get good levels no problem. That being said, if you have access to esters for injections (that's not valerate, but rather enanthate or cypionate), then it will probably give you more stable levels, and be less of a pain (you have to wait for estrogel to dry, twice a day).
this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2026
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DIY HRT
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fwiw I have had success with monotherapy with valerate injections, I just had to inject every 3.5 days ...
Yeah, you have to inject more than once a week, which IMO sucks…
it does suck, but more frequent injections also helped reduce my needle phobia, and I had more psychological distress from injecting when I went back to once a week, ironically...
That's… unfortunate, I hope you will solve that phobia (says the girl who turns her head the other way during blood tests lol).
How long does it takes to dry?
It depends on how much gel you need to apply, the brand of estrogel (if any), and how much you spread it.
In the beginning, when I was applying a much bigger quantity of gel, it took forever to dry. Now, I've found my correct dosage (3 mg/day) and it dries much quicker. I use two commercial brands of estrogel, and I'd say the first dries enough to wear pants within maybe 15 minutes, while the second brand takes longer. If you spread the gel more, it will dry quicker. Some people seem to think of that as a bad practice, but I've yet to see any proof, so…
Not me so sorry for answering despite the answer being no. I thought about the various options and injections seemed to be the stand out best to me. Only once a week, more stable levels, bypass the liver and all the associated problems, cheap af compared to the others, the only downside is the needle. It still scares me a little every time, but if I go slow it doesn't even hurt much. Much less than getting blood drawn or something. I do intramuscular in the thigh because when I started that's what I was shown. Lots of people do subcutaneous though and I will probably switch eventually. I'm still a baby though so I'm sticking with that for now since I'm told intramuscular is more consistent.