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GHK-Cu (topical) user reports (50)

Glowing 7Positive 20Mixed 4Nothing 7Negative 4Bad reaction 2

50 reports

  • Got unbelievable results (and I turn 40 in a month) from 2 months of red light therapy + gelatinous broths and glycine + ghk-cu peptide serum

    • 249 likes
    GlowingTopical2 months

    combined with red light, broths and glycine

  • HOLY it is effective at reducing fine lines and pore size. I've been using for two months in the morning and I cannot even believe my skin.

    • 24 points
    GlowingBiossance copper peptide serum, morningsTopical2 months

    self-described skincare junkie; Biossance Squalane + Copper Peptide serum

  • If you’re a woman 35 or over, start using Buffet peptides by The Ordinary. I’m not joking. Life changing in 3 days. Not even kidding, and they’re not paying me.

    • 7 likes
    GlowingTopical3 days

    The Ordinary Buffet + Copper Peptides 1% (multi-peptide), woman 35+

  • Making my own GHK-Cu multi-peptide facial serum from scratch. My skin looks better at age 44 than it did at age 30 after only a few months of use.

    • 4 likes
    GlowingTopicala few months

    age 44, home-made multi-peptide serum

  • I have been using NIOD CAIS3 for a couple of years and it has and continues to be a revelation. For me, it almost instantly heals texture and redness, smooths and softens. For budget reasons, I just tried the TO version and found it useless.

    • 2 points
    GlowingNIOD CAIS3, about 2.5 bottles a yearTopical2+ years

    sensitive, dry skin; found The Ordinary's copper serum useless by comparison

  • I put my Ordinary Peptide on before then use my Omnilux Mens (done this for about 3 months now) and the results are truly insane.

    • 1 point
    GlowingThe Ordinary copper peptide serum before a red-light maskTopical3 months

    33-year-old man combining it with Omnilux red-light therapy, so the effect is confounded

  • I started using the MB with copper peptides from Shwally with the red light and it’s literally changed my skin. It’s amazing!!!

    • 0 likes
    GlowingTopical

    methylene blue + copper peptide serum with red light

  • Topical GHK-Cu is amazing 4% is the sweet spot I’ve been using for the past couple months

    • 140 likes
    Positive4% serumTopicala couple of months
  • Been using a copper peptide serum and snail slime moisturizer recently. My skin looks so clear and smooth now.

    • 98 likes
    PositiveTopical

    with snail mucin moisturizer

  • Compared to all the hype I had seen I was slightly disappointed in the effects, I saw only slight differences instead of big differences.

    • 85 likes
    Positive3 drops twice dailyTopical~1 month

    age 23, Mirror Skin serum

  • I have been using topical GHK-Cu 4% 2ml once a day for 1.5 months by now and I can clearly see below benefits/improvements: 1. Less Hair shedding

    • 35 points
    Positive4% GHK-Cu, 2 ml on the scalp once dailyTopical1.5 months

    androgenetic alopecia; also uses minoxidil at night, previously RU58841

  • That + tretinoin and sunscreen. I also use the TO copper peptides and the neutrogena hydroboost moisturizer. My skin has never looked better.

    • 28 likes
    PositiveTopical

    with tretinoin and sunscreen, The Ordinary copper peptides

  • I've tried so many vit c serums and they never did much for me. Copper peptides have been a game changer to use in place of vit c!

    • 19 points
    PositiveNIOD and Biossance copper serums in place of vitamin CTopical
  • Been trying scalp massaging and copper peptides for 4 months, give me your opinions about the results I would say slightly better than before

    • 10 points
    Positivecopper peptide scalp serum with scalp massageTopical4 months

    hair loss; combined with daily scalp massage

  • Tried this serum and the next day the skin looked tighter, plumped, even pores are smaller

    • 9 points
    PositiveThe Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1%Topicaldays

    had used retinol and isotretinoin without much effect

  • I've gone thru many bottles of biossance copper peptides. I didn't notice the difference until I stopped to try something else so I started again.

    • 9 points
    PositiveBiossance copper serum, some mornings; one bottle lasts six monthsTopicalmany bottles
  • The Guidance to Glow Copper Complex Peptide serum has significantly improved the look and feel of my skin and seems to have reduced the eczema on my face..

    • 9 likes
    PositiveTopical

    Guidance to Glow Copper Complex serum

  • I swear by The Ordinary multi-peptide + copper peptides. It really plumps up my skin nicely and has smoothed out many of my fine lines.

    • 5 points
    PositiveThe Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides alongside tretinoinTopical

    tretinoin user

  • I'm making my way through a bottle of NIOD Copper Amino Isolate serum, alternating it nightly with my retinol. My skin seems to like it - even tone, tight pores and a bit of a glow.

    • 5 points
    PositiveNIOD Copper Amino Isolate, alternate nights with retinolTopical

    45-year-old woman with a medical-grade routine

  • I use it once a day after my shower and I think it's great. I use it in conjunction with rose hip oil and my skin feels hydrated all day.

    • 4 points
    PositiveThe Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper 1%, once dailyTopical

    used with rosehip oil; replying to someone with a bad reaction, suggests overuse

  • my skin is more plump, more smooth and less tired looking and my pores appear smaller. I am not sure if it is the CP or other ingredients that are hydrating though

    • 4 points
    PositiveBiossance copper peptide serumTopical1+ month

    dry skin

  • I love The Ordinary Copper Peptide serum. I noticed a difference in my skin texture right away.

    • 4 points
    PositiveThe Ordinary copper peptide serum, used without other activesTopical
  • topical copper peptides have 100% made a difference in my skin quality they are legit

    • 3 likes
    PositiveTopical
  • Been using this since Feb, and my mustache has grown in full. I had wild spotty growth prior. Facial improvements are noticeable; I'm in my early 40s

    • 3 likes
    PositiveTopical~2 months

    early 40s, replying to a GHK serum post

  • I've noticed a difference with The Ordinary's Multi-Peptide with GHK-CU. Feels like my face looks slimmer, less bloated?

    • 2 likes
    PositiveTopical

    The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides

  • Hair has definitely got thicker and shedding has decreased too. Lets see how many months can it hold onto because in the end my hair is still getting attacked by DHT

    • 1 point
    PositiveGHK peptide serum on the scalpTopicalabout 1 month

    androgenetic alopecia; expects DHT to win out eventually

  • I’ve noticed my fine lines have somewhat decreased. This is not like Botox or anything, more subtle but definitely works. My skin has cleared up also minor breakouts and redness seem to not happen as much

    • 1 like
    PositiveTopical

    GHK-Cu/SNAP-8 serum AM, GHK-Cu/KPV PM; no copper uglies

  • I was using that mirror skin copper peptide stuff but I have no clue who owns that line. It’s a heavy serum and the fumes from it also burned my eyes a bit.

    • 38 likes
    MixedTopical

    Mirror Skin copper serum, switched to another brand

  • It just felt a bit too harsh on my skin, made it kind of irritated.

    • 7 points
    MixedThe Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1%Topical

    skin sensitised by tazarotene; switched back to a gentler peptide serum

  • I noticed a somewhat saggy effect, worsening texture, lines appeared more prominent. I went in with it twice a day at first. It's back in my routine now but I dont use it twice a day, or every day. I use it once every second day and I actually love it now.

    • 3 points
    MixedThe Ordinary copper serum, first twice daily, now every second dayTopical

    stopped for a year after the reaction, then reintroduced at a lower frequency

  • I'm kinda devastated because my skin looks the best it ever has.

    • 1 point
    MixedThe Ordinary Buffet + Copper Peptides 1%Topical
  • I started using copper peptides recently in place of tret as my partner and i are trying to have a kid, and so far I haven't noticed much of a difference

    • 19 points
    NothingThe Ordinary Buffet + Copper Peptides 1%, nightlyTopical

    swapped in for tretinoin while trying to conceive

  • I used it regularly for like, 6+ months. At this point, fair to say it's not doing much for me.

    • 14 points
    NothingThe Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1%Topical6+ months
  • I honestly don't know if it causes any visual improvement in my skin (I don't really look because I don't like seeing my aging skin), but somehow I feel like it helps my skin feel better/calmer.

    • 10 points
    NothingThe Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides, 2-3 dropsTopical
  • I tried it last year and I couldn't notice any difference to warrant me buying another bottle.

    • 6 points
    NothingThe Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1%Topicalone bottle
  • I've used copper peptides and got minimal gains after months, if your hair loss is more aggressive it won't work as well

    • 5 likes
    Nothingmonths

    hair loss

  • I have been using them thrice a week for about 6 months and I do not see much changes. It seems gentle but I do not get whether they are having any positive or negative effect. I even use on hairline but I have continued to bald.

    • 1 point
    NothingThe Ordinary copper serum three times a week, face and hairlineTopical6 months
  • Tried topical GHK-Cu for 3 months. Zero change. Tried GHK-Cu sub-Q injections and noticed a reduction in wrinkles around my eyes after 3 months. No noticeable change in hair.

    • 1 like
    NothingTopical3 months

    later subq GHK-Cu reduced eye wrinkles after 3 months, the topical did nothing

  • At the 4 week mark I started to notice my fine lines looked waaay more prominent and my skin looked so dull.

    • 5 points
    NegativeThe Ordinary copper serum twice dailyTopical4-5 weeks

    finished isotretinoin two months earlier; improving within a week of stopping

  • I tried a full bottle. Didn't notice any improvement, in fact at the end of it my skin looked worse.

    • 4 points
    NegativeThe Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1%Topicalone bottle

    34, few wrinkles; plain multi-peptide and niacinamide worked better for her

  • after four days I broke out and had to quit the TO Copper.

    • 1 point
    NegativeThe Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1%Topical4 days

    tried pairing it with red-light therapy

  • I'm shedding hair and I just started a week ago it's making me want to stop and my scalp is itchy

    • 1 point
    Negativetopical GHK-Cu on the scalpTopical1 week
  • Not my skin feels very fragile, loose, saggy and have so many fine lines I didn't have before as well as orange peel texture on my forehead and sides of my nose. I feel like my skin has aged 10/15years.

    • 18 points
    Bad reactionThe Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1%, generous amount twice dailyTopical6 weeks

    also used mandelic acid, retinol and vitamin C during part of that time; still not back to normal 1.5 months later

  • The same thing happened to me under the eyes. Loose, crepey skin. Did you ever find anything to reverse the damage? It has been years since I used copper peptides and no improvement.

    • 2 points
    Bad reactionTopical

    copper peptides used years ago

  • My face feels as firm as it did 5-10 years ago, and I look noticeably better. Not a day goes by without me being asked for ID when buying Zyns.

    • 2,856 likes
    GlowingTopical1 monthvendor-adjacent

    methylene blue + copper peptide serum with red light; author formulates and later sells her own skincare line

  • After 60 days use of Mirror Skin, I can confidently say GHK-CU copper will be part of my daily routine going onwards.

    • 409 likes
    GlowingTopical60 daysvendor-adjacent

    Mirror Skin copper serum; post reuses the brand's benefit list word for word, as does another account

  • I gave myself a blister with mouth tape above my lip (again) and it’s nearly healing in just a few days using Ghk-Cu

    • 261 likes
    PositiveTopicalvendor-adjacent

    wound healing; layers over tretinoin without issue; skincare-content account

  • I’ve been using topical GHK-Cu. It’s been about 6 months. ... My hair loss has decreased. My hair has noticeably thickened at my temples and along my hairline.

    • 61 likes
    PositiveTopical~6 monthsvendor-adjacent

    peptide-content account that later called topical a waste

  • Zero instant wow effect at first, and I was ready to toss it aside 😮‍💨 Slowly, my skin texture smoothed, red blemishes fade quicker, and that tired saggy look softened

    • 57 likes
    PositiveTopical4 monthsvendor-adjacent

    hashtag-heavy content-style account

  • Topical 3 years with Elevai (but it also has fetal exosomes from ethically donated chord blood), haven’t aged a day.

    • 1 like
    PositiveTopical3 yearsvendor-adjacent

    physician; Elevai serum with exosomes, later added injections

Research notes, not medical advice. Updated .

Sequence

The peptide's chain of amino acids from its start (the N-terminus) to its end, one bead and one letter for each: A alanine, C cysteine, D aspartic acid, E glutamic acid, F phenylalanine, G glycine, H histidine, I isoleucine, K lysine, L leucine, M methionine, N asparagine, P proline, Q glutamine, R arginine, S serine, T threonine, V valine, W tryptophan, Y tyrosine. A modification such as an N-acetyl cap or a C-terminal amide changes how long it lasts in the body. Length tells related peptides apart, from a two-residue dipeptide like carnosine to a 43-residue protein like thymosin beta-4, and predicts neither effect nor safety.

Report grades

Every first-hand Reddit or X report is graded on its own, from glowing through positive, mixed, nothing and negative to bad reaction, and the bar shows how those grades split. Posts that look vendor-adjacent stay on the peptide's page but are left out of the counts.

GlowingPositiveMixedNothingNegativeBad reaction

% positive

The share of a peptide's graded Reddit and X reports that are glowing or positive, vendor-adjacent posts left out. A peptide with few reports is pulled toward the average of all reports, as if it had eight average ones besides its own, so two glowing posts cannot top the list. Peptides rank by this figure, those with no graded report yet after those with one, and Avoid ones after every other entry.

Researcher estimate

No first-hand report of this peptide has been graded yet, so the figure is the researchers' own rating out of 10 from what they read about it. It ranks after every peptide with graded reports until its own arrive.

Safety tier

Each peptide is tiered Clean, Caution or Avoid from its five risk axes under the chosen safety bar. An Avoid peptide carries a real risk of harm, a plausible route to serious harm rather than mere unpleasantness, so it stays listed with the reason but ranks behind every other entry, however good its reviews.

Safety bar

The safety bar sets how much risk it takes to rate a peptide Avoid. Strict: out on any serious mechanism with little human data, or any documented serious harm. Balanced: out on documented serious harm (unless it is obvious, reversible and from a regulated product), or a serious mechanism whose harm would be silent with no human data at all. Evidence only: out only on documented serious harm in humans that is lasting, delayed or from grey-market product.

Seen harm

Documented serious adverse events in humans, from 0 for none despite real exposure to 3 for deaths or several well-documented serious harms. Serious means a hospital or emergency visit or harm lasting weeks, so a headache or a bad night does not count.

Mechanism

A plausible biological route to serious harm at the doses people use, such as growth-factor signalling, hormone-axis suppression, heart or blood-pressure effects or immune activation. It runs from 0 when none is known to 3 when a dangerous pathway has been shown in living animals.

Data gap

How little human safety data exists for the molecule actually sold, from 0 for an approved drug with large trials and years of use to 3 for no human safety data at all. A modified analogue does not inherit its parent's trials.

Silent harm

Whether the feared harm would show quickly or stay hidden, from 0 when it is obvious and goes on stopping to 3 when it is silent and delayed, like tumour promotion or slow organ damage. User reports cannot reveal a harm that takes years to appear, so a high score here limits what good reviews can tell you.

Product

The risk of what people actually buy, from 0 for a regulated pharmacy or supplement product taken by mouth or on the skin to 3 for a grey-market injectable. In one dataset of 6,441 grey-market samples, 42–71% failed basic quality criteria and 15% carried endotoxin; taken by mouth or in the nose, a pack avoids the injection risks.

Evidence

The strongest kind of study behind the peptide's effects, from an approved drug through human controlled trials and small human studies to animal work or nothing of its own. Animal results often fail to carry over to people.

Access

How people get it: as an approved drug, a compounded prescription, an over-the-counter supplement or from the grey market, where nobody checks the vial. The channel decides both the legal position and the risk of a bad batch.

Price per month

Thirty days of the typical dose, from its low end to its high end, priced at the listing a careful buyer would choose: in stock, from a shop scoring 4 of 5 on trust (third-party tested where no score is set), failing that 3, a pure pack before a blend, a European shop first, then the cheapest per mg. The range is the dose's, not the shops'. A per-dose amount counts once a day unless the dose says otherwise. The shop table keeps each listing's price per mg, per gram for bulk supplements. Where no listing can be priced the researchers' own estimate stands in, and says so.

Dose users report

The middle half of the daily doses stated in at least five first-hand reports, vendor posts left out. Where its middle sits more than twice above or below the declared dose, the month is priced at it as well, since what people take is what they pay for.

Shop trust

Each shop's trust on a 1–5 scale, read from its testing and its reputation: 1 for serious red flags (fabricated COAs, scam reports, impersonation, a closed shop), 2 for no public testing, a new shop or active complaints such as seized parcels, 3 for its own COAs or a short track record, 4 for verified third-party testing or a strong reputation, and 5 for third-party batch reports that name the shop, with years of good independent reputation. A shop without a score counts third-party batch testing as 4, its own COAs as 3 and no public tests as 2.

Best value

Within a category or a goal, a peptide that no other beats on both counts: none is rated more positively for the same or a lower monthly price, and none costs less for the same or a higher rating. The chart joins these into the best-value line; the cheapest of them and the best-rated of them both make it, so the line spans the trade-off from cheap to best. Avoid entries never count, and a peptide needs both a % positive and a price to be compared.

Testing

Whether the shop publishes lab results: third-party tested means an independent lab checks each batch, own COA means the shop's own certificate of analysis, and no public tests means neither. A certificate shows purity, not safety.

Added peptide

Some packs sold under one peptide's name hold a second one, such as 5 mg GHK-Cu in a nasal kit, stated only in the description. Sprayed in the nose or injected it reaches the blood like an injection, so it carries the risk of that route and is tiered as the injectable form, whatever its tier on the skin. A pack whose page gives no contents list may hold more than its name.