EDITORIAL / WHO WE ARE
About GHK-Cu Legit
An independent editorial project that reads the copper-tripeptide literature with a buyer's skepticism and a citation for every number.
What this site is
GHK-Cu Legit is an independent editorial project that publishes summaries of the peer-reviewed research literature on GHK-Cu, the copper tripeptide also labelled Copper Tripeptide-1. We are not a clinic. We do not employ clinicians and we do not provide medical advice. We do not manufacture, sell, or distribute any product. Our work is editorial commentary on publicly available science.
The name carries the word 'legit' because that is the lens, not a claim about our services. A great deal of what circulates about copper peptides online is marketing copy dressed as evidence. This site does the opposite job: it reads the published record claim by claim and shows the source behind each number, so a reader can tell a sourced statement from a sold one.
How we read the record
Every quantitative statement on this site maps to a numbered citation on the GHK-Cu references and citations page — a real study with a DOI or PubMed identifier. When the evidence is strong, such as the 1988 fibroblast collagen dose-response [1] or the 2016 hair-count trial [4], we say so plainly. When it is thin — validated human pharmacokinetics, controlled scar-fading data — we mark the gap instead of filling it with confident prose.
We also keep one chemical distinction visible throughout: GHK (the free tripeptide) and GHK-Cu (the copper chelate) are not interchangeable, and copper coordination is required for most of the documented matrix activity [1]. Conflating them is one of the most common ways copper-peptide claims drift from their sources.
The 'legit' framing extends to sourcing chemistry itself: an intact GHK-Cu solution is blue-violet, the color of the copper(II) complex, while brown or green indicates oxidation [6]. Research consumers who evaluate copper peptides look for that signal, along with third-party certificates of analysis that resolve to CAS 89030-95-5 — due-diligence habits this site describes without endorsing any specific source.
What we are not
We do not operate a clinic, a pharmacy, or a storefront, and we hold no inventory. The 'doctor,' 'clinic,' and similar framings used elsewhere in this domain neighborhood are editorial positions relative to the literature, not statements that any medical service is offered here. There is no consultation, no prescription, and no treatment available on this site. GHK-Cu has no FDA- or EMA-approved therapeutic indication by any route; topical Copper Tripeptide-1 is a legal cosmetic ingredient, while systemic use is unapproved and research-only. We describe that status; we do not advise on it.