Copper Tripeptide-1
Copper peptide
No meaningful concern for most people; irritation is possible but rare.
Also written as: GHK-Cu · Copper Peptide · Glycyl-L-Histidyl-L-Lysine Copper
What it is
Copper Tripeptide-1 is the glycine-histidine-lysine peptide bound to a copper ion, a complex that occurs naturally in human plasma and rises at sites of tissue injury. Decades of laboratory and animal research link it to wound repair, collagen synthesis and antioxidant enzyme activity, and gene-expression work suggests it influences a wide range of repair-related genes. Translating that into measurable results from a cosmetic mask is a much bigger step than the marketing usually admits. It gives formulas a distinctive blue tint.
What it does well
Well-documented role in tissue repair signalling
The biology of GHK-Cu in wound healing and matrix remodelling is genuinely well studied, mostly in cell culture, animal models and gene-expression analyses. Controlled human trials of cosmetic copper peptide products for wrinkles or firmness are few and generally small.
Limited evidence
Worth knowing
Formulation incompatibilities
The copper complex can be pulled apart by strong chelating agents and can react with high-dose vitamin C, so pairing a copper peptide product with a strong ascorbic acid serum in the same layer is generally discouraged. Copper contact allergy exists but is rare.
Matters most toPeople layering copper peptides with high-strength vitamin C in the same routine step.
Where the EU stands
No specific restriction
Not listed in Annex II, III or V of the EU Cosmetics Regulation; no concentration limit applies. Note that colloidal copper in nanoparticle form is separately prohibited, but that is a different material from the peptide complex.
Sources (1)
Every link goes to the original: a journal, a PubMed record or an EU document.
- [1]Regenerative and Protective Actions of the GHK-Cu Peptide in the Light of the New Gene Data
International Journal of Molecular Sciences · 2018 · doi:10.3390/ijms19071987
A review summarising gene-expression and laboratory evidence that GHK-Cu influences tissue remodelling and antioxidant pathways; it is not a clinical trial of a cosmetic product.
