Full stated quantity, and nothing overstated — every active's purity and identity are measured, not claimed, and printed on its batch COA with counter-ion and water.
Full stated quantity, purity never overstated — measured on a per-lot COA.
Full quantity, nothing overstated — per-lot COA.
GHK-Cu in 2026 — A Formulator's Field Guide to Copper Tripeptide-1. Read our briefing →
GHK-Cu in 2026 — a formulator's field guide. Read →
On GHK-Cu. Read →
Copper tripeptide-1
Pepoderma cosmetic fit
This Pepoderma page is written for the finished-cosmetic buyer, not the raw-chemistry researcher. It should help skincare brands and cosmetic chemists translate Copper Tripeptide-1 into a serum, eye cream, or post-procedure cosmetic product with the right pH, carrier, INCI documentation, and sample plan.
Overview
On your INCI deck this active reads as Copper Tripeptide-1; on a peptide chemist's bench it is GHK-Cu, the Gly-His-Lys sequence chelating a single Cu(II) (CAS 89030-95-5, MW 401.9 for the copper complex; 340.4 for the free tripeptide; originally identified in human plasma fractions in 1973). What matters at the formulation desk is what those facts mean for a serum, eye cream, or post-procedure ampoule on a launch calendar: a strikingly blue, water-soluble active that signals dermal-repair pathways at use levels measured in tenths of a percent, ships with a finished INCI dossier, and behaves predictably when you treat its copper coordination with respect. Pepoderma writes its GHK-Cu spec for the people doing the formulating. Recommended use level sits in the 0.05–0.5% window for leave-on serums and 0.1–1.0% for richer eye and recovery creams, dose-adjusted around the rest of the active stack. The water phase is the right home; carriers should be chelator-free (no EDTA, no strong AHA loading), kept in the pH 5.5–7.0 working range, and ordered so reductive antioxidants — ascorbate, glutathione, sulfite preservatives — sit on a different polarity layer or are dosed downstream. The active is a clean partner in anionic and non-ionic emulsions and tolerates most lecithin and polyglyceryl emulsifier systems; cationic bases (quat-stabilised conditioners, some scalp serums) sequester the copper and are worth a compatibility screen before commit. Sample sizes are sized for the way indie brands actually develop: 25 g for first-pass benchtop trials, 100 g to lock the carrier, 500 g to bridge into pilot batches, then bulk for production. Each shipment carries the INCI name, CAS, allergen and trace-impurity sheet for CPNP and equivalent cosmetic notifications, plus a formulation-notes card. Our cosmetic chemists' walk-through lives in the [GHK-Cu formulation guide](/journal/ghk-cu-formulators-field-guide).
Who buys this, and why
Anti-aging peptide actives — Copper Tripeptide-1 (GHK-Cu), Acetyl Octapeptide-3 (SNAP-8), Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4 (Matrixyl) — ship primarily to indie beauty brand founders building retail serums, established skincare R&D chemists extending an existing anti-wrinkle line, and med-aesthetic brand OEMs developing back-bar retail products. The defining formulation considerations are use-level optimisation (lower is often better at the working pH), carrier selection (aqueous vs. lipid-encapsulated), and chelator-free preservative systems. The data packet ships with guidance on all three on the lot report.
Primary buyer fit: med-aesthetic brand R&D + back-bar retail OEM, regional cosmetic-active distributors serving brand programmes, and skincare R&D chemists scoping a finished-product line.
Applications & formulation fit
A carrier peptide: Copper Tripeptide-1 holds a copper ion in the peptide's coordination pocket, and the carrier-peptide activity is a property of the intact complex — which is why the formulation work is about keeping the copper on the peptide.
GHK-Cu is one of the curated actives we supply to:
Use levels, pH window, and carrier compatibility are covered in the Journal — verify them against your own base:
Specifications
Documentation available on request
Regulatory note
GHK-Cu is supplied as a cosmetic-grade INCI ingredient (Copper Tripeptide-1) for incorporation into finished cosmetic products by the buyer, in compliance with the destination market's cosmetic-regulation framework. Cosmetic-grade material available for med-aesthetic brand OEMs, beauty OEMs, indie founders, and established skincare R&D worldwide; INCI name supplied on SDS for cosmetic-notification workflows (CPNP in EU, NMPA in mainland China, equivalent registries elsewhere).
Frequently asked questions
For a leave-on serum, most published cosmetic formulations land between 0.05% and 0.5% on a finished-mass basis; a sensible starting point for a hero-claim serum is 0.1% with room to titrate up. Eye and recovery creams that lean on the dermal-repair narrative typically sit between 0.1% and 1.0%, with the upper end reserved for night-only or post-procedure pots where buyers expect a richer feel and a noticeable colour cast. The colour itself is a feature you can lean into editorially or mute with opaque packaging — both choices are valid, but pick one before you finalise the bottle so marketing and formulation are aligned.
Add the active to the water phase late in the cool-down, ideally below 40 °C, using copper-clean process water and a buffer that holds pH between 5.5 and 7.0 (citrate is fine at low loading, phosphate is preferable above pH 6). It performs reliably in anionic and non-ionic emulsions built on polyglyceryl, lecithin, and sucrose-ester emulsifiers, and slots into hydrogels based on hydroxyethylcellulose or sclerotium gum. Cationic systems — quat-stabilised conditioners, some occlusive scalp bases — will pull the copper off the peptide and turn the formula colourless within hours, so route those programmes through an INCI-equivalent peptide instead or run a compatibility screen first. Avoid co-formulating with high-load EDTA, ascorbic acid above 5%, or sulfite preservatives in the same phase.
Sample fills are 25 g for first-pass bench trials (enough to take a base recipe through three or four iterations), 100 g once you are locking the carrier and starting stability, and 500 g for pilot scale-up into pre-production batches. Sample shipments leave within five business days of inquiry approval; bulk fills for confirmed brand programmes run on a 21–45 day cycle depending on packaging spec. Every shipment carries the INCI name, CAS, an allergen and impurity statement for CPNP and equivalent cosmetic-product notifications, and a one-page formulation-notes card so the chemist who opens the box has the answers in front of them, not in a separate PDF.
Related peptides
Acetyl octapeptide-3 · cosmetic peptide
5-mer
Palmitoyl pentapeptide-4
3-mer
Copper peptide AHK
