Copper Peptide Serum, 1%

GHK-Cu, at 1%. A tripeptide that occurs naturally in human plasma, binds copper, and declines with age. In cell culture it raises the production of collagen and other matrix proteins in fibroblasts, which is where the interest in it began. In people, the evidence is a small number of facial studies, several of them run by the companies that developed the ingredient, reporting modest improvements in firmness and fine lines over about twelve weeks. That is cosmetic evidence on facial skin, and it is the strongest thing copper peptides have.

AHK-Cu. A shorter copper tripeptide, and the one usually attached to the hair story. The study behind that story is a 2007 laboratory paper that applied AHK-Cu to isolated human hair follicles in organ culture and to cultured dermal papilla cells, and found more follicle elongation, more cell proliferation and more VEGF. That is a result in a dish rather than on a head. A copper peptide scalp solution was taken into company-run trials for pattern hair loss in the 1990s. It never reached approval, and the full results were never published anywhere you can check them.

So the honest position is this. There is a plausible mechanism, a genuine in vitro result and no controlled human trial showing that a copper peptide grows hair. Nothing in this bottle is comparable to minoxidil, which is the only ingredient in this range with strong regrowth evidence behind it.

The scalp is skin, and the rest of this range is hard on it. Topical minoxidil is carried in alcohol with propylene glycol, the Signature Spray adds tretinoin, and a roller opens the surface deliberately. This serum is for the man who has been treating his scalp for months and can feel that the skin has taken the brunt of it, and who would rather use one bottle across the hairline and the face than two.

Use it alongside a treatment, never instead of one. If you are choosing between this and starting Minoxidil Topical Solution USP, 5%, start with the minoxidil. If you already use a scalp serum such as the Redensyl Complex Serum, pick one and stay with it for a few months rather than layering both onto the same skin. On the face it follows the Face Cleanser and goes under the Face Hydration Cream or the Ceramide Barrier Cream.

Once a day, at night, on clean and properly dry skin.

1. Wash first with the Face Cleanser, then pat dry and give it two or three minutes. Damp skin dilutes the serum and spreads it where you did not put it.
2. For the scalp, draw up about half a pipette, roughly eight to ten drops. Part your hair into rows and put two or three drops along each parting across the area you are treating.
3. For the face, three or four drops is enough for the whole face and the hairline.
4. Work it in with your fingertips for about thirty seconds. Leave it on and do not rinse it off.
5. Wait a minute or two, then follow with your moisturiser on the face. Nothing needs to go on top of it on the scalp.

Two sequencing points worth knowing. Copper complexes are destabilised by strong acids and by direct vitamin C, so keep exfoliating acids and vitamin C to the morning and this to the night rather than layering them in one sitting. And if you apply minoxidil to the same scalp in the evening, put the serum on first and let it absorb completely before the minoxidil goes on. The minoxidil label tells you not to use other products on the scalp at the same time, and tretinoin is documented to increase how much minoxidil gets absorbed, so anything you put on that skin alongside it deserves a proper gap rather than a layer.

On the face, the immediate effect is cosmetic and quite quiet. Skin feels less tight within the first week or two, and any measurable change in firmness or fine lines takes around twelve weeks in the studies that exist, at which point the change is modest.

On the scalp, expect nothing visible. This is a supportive product and its job is the condition of the skin your hair grows from. If your hair looks better in three months, the credit belongs to whatever regrowth treatment you are using, and it is worth being clear-eyed about that rather than attributing it here.

One practical note. The copper complex is blue, so the serum has a faint blue tint and can temporarily tint very light, blond or grey hair if you use a heavy hand. It washes out. Use less if you notice it.

For external use only. Avoid the eye area and rinse with cool water if it gets in. Patch test on the inner forearm and leave it for twenty four hours before you use it on the face, since contact allergy to copper is uncommon but does happen.

Do not apply it into freshly rolled skin. If you use the Dermaroller 0.5 mm, keep this serum well away from it. There are published cases of granulomatous and hypersensitivity reactions caused by cosmetic topicals being driven into the dermis through fresh microchannels. Roll on a day you are not using this, and leave at least twenty four hours for the skin to close before the serum goes back on.

Do not use it on broken, inflamed, infected or painful skin. Stop using it if you develop persistent redness, itching or a rash. Speak to your doctor before using it if you have a disorder of copper metabolism such as Wilson's disease. Keep it out of reach of children.

This is a cosmetic product. It is a serum for the skin, it has no medicinal licence anywhere, and it does not treat, cure or prevent hair loss.

Store below 25 degrees Celsius, tightly closed and out of direct sunlight.