STUDresearch · Peptide
GHK (without copper)
Also known as
GHK free base · Free GHK · GHK peptide (no copper) · glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine · Gly-His-Lys · GHK tripeptide free form · tripeptide-1 (cosmetic INCI free form) · copper-free GHK · GHK basic · GHK alone
Community talk. May be wrong. Not medical advice. Not a protocol. Not for human or animal use.
Peptide
Niche talk
Mixed
Topical / SubQ
Skin, hair & tissue remodeling
Mixed — most free-GHK talk is topical, but sparse systemic injection reports and animal IP studies exist; do not substitute GHK-Cu data.
What people say
Free GHK is Gly-His-Lys without pre-bound copper. It differs from GHK-Cu on the label, yet can bind available copper; forum discussion frequently confuses the two forms.
Doses people talk about
The record preserves borrowed amounts but labels them as substitution lore. Free peptide, copper complex, topical formulas and mouse IP work are not interchangeable.
How it may feel
Free-form-only reports are too sparse for a distinct felt signature. Posts often drift back to GHK-Cu, topical co-use or mixed-form experiments, with subtle benefit, uncertainty or lightheadedness under heavy repeated use.
Mixed-form self-experiment1–2 mg per use, up to 5 uses/day reported
One author discussing both GHK Basic and GHK-Cu reported uncertain topical contribution and feeling light after a fifth use; form-specific exposure was not cleanly isolated.
Borrowed injectable band~0.5–2 mg SC/day
This is GHK-Cu chart language copied into free-GHK discussion, not a free-form human trial or demonstrated dose parity.
Mouse free-GHK research~7.5–10 mg/kg IP
Separate cognition experiments in mice; not a human conversion and not evidence that free and copper-bound forms share exposure.
Topical free tripeptide-1 survey~0.00002–0.001%
Very low leave-on cosmetic use concentrations in the preserved survey context; not comparable with marketed GHK-Cu percentages.
Half-life & effect duration
- Half-life in the body
- Free GHKNo settled estimate
- Felt duration people report
- Mixed GHK / GHK-Cu accountsUncertain benefit or lightheadedness
- Free-GHK-only durationNo consistent window reported
Cycles people discuss
People borrow multi-week GHK-Cu blocks, use continuous cosmetic products or try short mixed-form experiments. None is a validated free-GHK injection cycle, and switching forms obscures attribution.
Timing
No human free-GHK parent-peptide half-life was established. Copper binding may change species present after dosing; cosmetic remodeling claims unfold over weeks and are not elimination measurements.
Stacks
Most discussion compares free GHK with GHK-Cu or proposes mixed-form use. Standard GLOW/KLOW stacks use the copper complex, so their amounts and experiences do not transfer to free GHK.
Watch for
Label confusion (top risk): Buying “GHK” without free-vs-Cu clarity can mean unintended copper exposure or weaker aesthetic effect than expected from copper-peptide marketing.
Tap a line to jump into the full notes. Research only — may be wrong.
Timing context & sources
Half-life in the body
No human free-GHK parent-peptide half-life was established by the checked evidence.
Community posts repeat short GHK-class timing and sometimes dose frequently, but they mix free and copper-bound forms. Formal chemistry shows copper binding/speciation, not a clinical concentration-time curve.
No route-specific human PK; free GHK may bind copper after administration; rodent GHK-Cu figures cannot be assigned to free GHK.
- Pickart et al. — The effect of the human peptide GHK on gene expression relevant to nervous system function and cognitive decline (opens in a new tab)Full text section 3.2.2: GHK and albumin copper transport, reported binding constants, copper transfer in dialysis work and authors' statement that most observed GHK actions required copper.Author review and mechanistic synthesis, not human free-GHK PK, a clinical dosing study or proof that all administered free GHK becomes GHK-Cu.
- Compounded Evidence Institute — GHK-Cu pharmacology (opens in a new tab)Section 2.3 and identifiers: no human GHK-Cu PK characterization identified; page separately identifies CAS 49557-75-7 for free GHK and 89030-95-5 for the copper complex.Secondary assessment focused on GHK-Cu, not a direct free-GHK systematic review or primary free-peptide PK study.
- Bossak-Ahmad et al. — Ternary Cu2+ Complexes of Human Serum Albumin and Glycyl-l-histidyl-l-lysine (opens in a new tab)Abstract: identifies GHK and human serum albumin as physiological Cu2+ binders and reports two ternary Cu(GHK)-albumin complexes with conditional binding constants at pH 7.4.In-vitro coordination chemistry, not in-vivo conversion fraction, safety, efficacy or human free-peptide pharmacokinetics.
Felt duration people report
The reviewed posts do not establish a free-GHK-only felt window.
One question about free GHK received only a GHK-Cu experience. A separate same-author sequence mixed free GHK, GHK-Cu, topical use, repeated dosing and zinc while reporting uncertain benefit and lightheadedness.
Very low report volume, form confusion, commercial context and co-use; no objective free-form-only follow-up.
- Anyone taken GHK without the copper? Does it work? (opens in a new tab)Original question and all visible replies: responders first confused free GHK with GHK-Cu; the only detailed effect report explicitly described GHK-Cu, six weeks on and change fading three weeks into a break.No actual free-GHK outcome report in the visible thread. The GHK-Cu account is useful evidence of form confusion, not free-form efficacy.
- GHK source? (Without copper) (opens in a new tab)Actual post and Any-Study-3723 same-author replies: mixed free GHK/GHK-Cu theory, 1–2 mg repeated-use discussion, up to five daily uses, uncertain topical contribution, feeling light after the fifth and planned break/mixed-form trial.Commercial sourcing context, unclear product identity and route, mixed forms, zinc and topical co-use. Claims about absorption or high-frequency equivalence were unsupported and not adopted.
What people say
- Tissue-repair association: Same firmness, texture, wound-remodel, and hair/matrix aims people assign to GHK-Cu by association; standalone free-GHK photo cohorts are not a major forum genre. forum
- Copper avoidance niche: Minority prefer free form for copper sensitivity concerns, blue staining on clothes/skin, Wilson’s-spectrum fears, or already-high copper from multi-peptide stacks — soft evidence, high anxiety. forum
- Sparse aesthetic logs: Clearer “glow / firmness / even tone” success stories overwhelmingly name GHK-Cu; free-only users more often report subtle or disappointing skin change. anecdote
- What free-GHK rarely claims: Same-day stimulant feel, fat loss, gym pumps — same as copper peptide: slow remodel talk, not a “feel it” peptide. forum
- Gene / repair narrative: Free GHK is not biologically inert — Broad Institute / Connectivity Map work and Pickart reviews attribute large gene-expression shifts (thousands of genes, ~50% up/down bands in widely repeated summaries) to GHK, including cancer-suppression and ECM-related sets. Much of the popular gene lore is discussed for GHK and GHK-Cu together. trial
- Vs copper form (Pickart stance): Author reviews repeatedly state copper²⁺ is necessary for most GHK regenerative effects in their assays; free form can still show activity when copper is available from the system. trial
- Vs copper form (other labs): Seoul-style skin-equivalent work is often cited as finding both free GHK and GHK-Cu (e.g. ~0.1–10 μM) can stimulate keratinocyte proliferation and stemness markers (integrins, p63) with similar direction. lab
- Stem-cell recovering talk: “Copper-free GHK in skin” papers discuss epidermal stemness recovery / basal-cell cuboidal morphology — cited more in research than in forum before/after galleries. lab
- Chelation / conversion story: Free GHK can bind copper 1:1; in vivo it may partly convert to copper-bound form if local Cu is available — so “I took free GHK to avoid copper entirely” is chemically naive. lab
- Cognition / aged-mouse free GHK: Animal work has used copper-free GHK (not only GHK-Cu): e.g. aged-mouse learning blocks at ~10 mg/kg (often 5×/week multi-week); sleep-deprivation learning impairment prevention at ~7.5 mg/kg IP twice daily (~15 mg/kg/day total) for ~5 days. Human cognitive dosing is not established from these. animal
- Lung / inflammation animal talk: Free GHK IP dosing in bleomycin lung-fibrosis models is cited in reviews (µg-range experimental designs) for inflammatory-marker reduction — again not a human protocol. animal
Doses people talk about
- Critical honesty: There is no large, settled free-GHK mg/day injectable culture comparable to GHK-Cu’s ~0.5–2 mg/day SC band. Most free-GHK “dose charts” people share are copied from copper-peptide protocols without proven parity. forum
- Molecular-weight caveat: Free GHK ≈ 340 Da vs Cu complex often ~401 Da — even mg-for-mg is not equimolar, and copper-dependent mechanisms break simple conversion. forum
- Topical frequency (borrowed pattern): Once or twice daily leave-on serum is the usual freestanding cosmetic habit when free GHK appears in a formula. forum
- Price lore: Free GHK research powder is often cheaper than pre-complexed GHK-Cu — community treats that discount as a red flag for “wrong molecule for the job,” not a free upgrade. forum
- What injectors actually discuss for GHK-Cu (borrowed): ~0.5–2 mg SC/day common talk; ~1–2 mg/day most repeated; ~1–2 mg 2–3×/week maintenance; some 5-on/2-off or 8–12 week blocks. Free-GHK users sometimes paste the same numbers when free vials are what they bought — that is substitution lore, not a free-form RCT. forum
- Label / COA risk: Vials labeled only “GHK” may be free base or Cu complex; demand mass/identity language (~340 vs ~401 Da) and copper assay language. Third-party testing is repeatedly urged. forum
- Topical free GHK / tripeptide-1 (cosmetic survey band): CIR-style use concentration surveys report tripeptide-1 at very low leave-on levels (on the order of ~0.00002–0.001% in tabulated cosmetic use data) — far below many consumer “copper peptide 1–2%” marketing numbers. Do not treat free % and copper-complex % as interchangeable. trial
- Topical GHK-Cu contrast (why people mix them up): Copper complex consumer/clinic talk often ~0.1–2% (sometimes study summaries ~0.01–1%); wound-dressing research historically used higher GHK-Cu percentages. Those numbers describe GHK-Cu, not free base. trial
- Pal-GHK (related free-sequence conjugate): Cosmetic Pal-GHK / palmitoyl tripeptide-1 efficacy talk often cites very low ppm actives (e.g. single-digit to low tens of ppm in classic Matrixyl-adjacent marketing/clinical summaries) — again not free lyophilized inject math. trial
- In-vitro µM band (research): Keratinocyte/stemness and fibroblast work commonly cites free GHK or GHK-Cu in roughly 0.1–10 μM culture ranges — useful for lab context, not a syringe protocol. lab
- Framing: Ranges below are research citations, cosmetic-use surveys, and community/marketing talk — not medical advice, prescriptions, or proof of human free-GHK injectable optima. forum
- Animal free-GHK (lab only, not human conversion): Aged-mouse learning: ~10 mg/kg body weight, often 5×/week for ~3 weeks. Sleep-deprivation mouse study: copper-free GHK ~7.5 mg/kg IP twice daily (~15 mg/kg/day) for ~5 days (source: Peptide Sciences free GHK in that paper’s methods). Do not scale these naively to human anti-aging injectables. animal
- Review-side experimental human framing (stem-cell mixture talk): Pickart-linked commentary has mentioned order-of-magnitude ideas such as ~10 mg free GHK in an adult experimental stem-cell mixture context — not a community standard subcutaneous anti-aging chart and not a regulatory protocol. trial
How it may feel
- Days 1–7: Almost no free-specific systemic “feel”; topical users may note mild vehicle sensory change only. Injectable free-GHK diaries are too thin to define a distinct early signature. forum
- Weeks 2–4: “Skin softer / healthier look” notes, when present, are mainly topical and heavily confounded by moisturizer, SPF, and other actives. anecdote
- Weeks 4–8: Firmness/tone checkpoints people use are almost always borrowed from GHK-Cu trial windows; free-only photo sets remain rare. forum
- Weeks 8–12+: Hair/matrix and deeper remodel horizons still framed as multi-month copper-peptide timelines; free GHK alone is seldom the named agent in long hair logs. forum
- Copper-uglies comparison: The community “copper uglies” (temporary dullness/breakouts/dryness often weeks ~2–5) is discussed for GHK-Cu strength/needling — free form is less linked to that phrase, partly because use volume is lower. forum
- No change: Common response is to question product identity (free vs Cu on COA), concentration/vehicle, duration — or switch to GHK-Cu. forum
- Switch narrative: Short free-GHK trial → migrate to GHK-Cu after weak perceived results is a repeated shopping path. forum
- Both forms side-by-side: When users try both, clearer aesthetic signals are more often reported on the copper complex; free form described as subtler or underwhelming. anecdote
Cycles people discuss
- Skin blocks (borrowed): When free GHK is cycled at all, users often copy GHK-Cu horizons — ~4–8+ week skin blocks or multi-month hair windows — because free-specific cycle culture is thin. forum
- GHK-Cu cycle templates people paste: Common talk includes ~8–12 weeks on / ~4–6 weeks off; some clinic-style ~30-day escalations; longevity-style multi-month lower-frequency maintenance. These templates name GHK-Cu in source material far more than free GHK. forum
- Topical continuous use: Cosmetic free-GHK / tripeptide-1 leave-on products are usually used continuously like other serums, not “cycled” like research injectables. forum
- Injectable free-GHK on/off: Formal free-only injection cycles with dose, duration, and washout data are scarce in open community sources. forum
- Switch pattern: Trial free form short → switch to GHK-Cu if aesthetics lag is a common shopping cycle, not a published periodization model. forum
- Stack-driven length: When free GHK appears inside BPC-157 / TB-500 / “glow” adjacent runs, cycle length is usually set by the stack convention, not free GHK alone. forum
- Long-term gap: No large open-ended free-GHK injectable safety databases in community sources; sparse reporting ≠ proven multi-year safety. forum
Timing
- Half-life class: Community sources repeat tens of minutes to a few hours for GHK-class peptides, including ~2–4-hour rodent GHK-Cu summaries. The checked evidence does not establish human free-GHK parent-peptide PK, and the copper-bound complex cannot supply that value by substitution. forum
- Why frequent use: Short systemic duration is the usual justification for daily topical or multi-weekly injectable schedules in copper-peptide culture; free form inherits the same logic when discussed. forum
- Remodeling lag: Collagen/ECM/hair endpoints still framed in weeks to months, not same-day drug levels — gene/matrix effects outlast peak plasma. anecdote
- Layering stability: Community cautions against stacking strong acids (low-pH vitamin C, etc.) or aggressive retinoids in the same routine as peptide serums — irritation and peptide stability concerns, not free-GHK-specific RCTs. forum
- Needling adjacency: Absorption jump after microneedling is discussed heavily for copper peptides (“uglies”); free-GHK needling logs are too rare to claim a separate rule set. forum
- Copper binding kinetics: Free form may complex available copper after dosing; affinity is high enough that “staying copper-free in vivo” is considered unrealistic by Pickart-line commentary. lab
- Exchange lore: GHK can exchange copper with albumin-scale binders more readily than some other copper peptides — relevant to why free GHK can become active copper complex when Cu is present. trial
More on what it is
- Mass / label cue: Free peptide ~340 Da; Cu complex often cited ~401 Da on COAs/mass specs. Blue tint tracks copper complexes — no blue alone does not prove free-GHK identity. forum
- Why people search this slug: Wrong-product buys (“I ordered GHK and got free base”), copper-load / Wilson’s / multi-copper-stack worries, cheaper free-peptide vials, or free-vs-Cu mechanism debates — not a separate mass-market injectable culture. forum
- What it is: Naturally occurring tripeptide Gly-His-Lys (glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine) without pre-bound copper(II). Backbone of the better-known copper complex GHK-Cu. Cosmetic INCI for free form is often tripeptide-1; copper-bound is copper tripeptide-1. trial
- Copper affinity (science talk): Extremely high for Cu²⁺ (binding constant often quoted log₁₀ ≈ 16.4), competitive with albumin’s copper site (log₁₀ ≈ 16.2) — free GHK can scavenge available copper in tissue/media and partly become GHK-Cu in vivo. trial
- Activity debate: Pickart-line reviews: many experiments work with copper-free GHK if media/tissue has available Cu²⁺; the copper chelator bathocuproine abolishes GHK actions; “virtually impossible to stay copper-free in a living system.” trial
- Not: Not the same SKU as GHK-Cu on labels; not a steroid, GH secretagogue, or FDA-approved systemic anti-aging drug; not interchangeable dose-for-dose with copper-peptide charts. trial
- Related cosmetic cousins: Palmitoyl tripeptide-1 (Pal-GHK) is a fatty-acid conjugate of the GHK sequence used for penetration/stability in cosmetics — still not the same as pre-formed GHK-Cu. trial
- Discovery framing: Isolated from human plasma albumin fraction by Loren Pickart (1973) as a youth-associated factor that shifted older liver cells toward younger protein patterns; in blood it usually exists as (or readily forms) the copper complex. trial
- Stem-cell split (cited lore): Peled et al. framing — copper-free GHK may favor stem-cell survival / clonogenicity; GHK-Cu may push differentiation (with large cell-copper uptake claims). Not a settled consumer protocol. lab
Stacks
- Vs GHK-Cu (primary comparison): Most free-GHK talk is “should I upgrade to the copper form?” — many users pick one primary GHK form, not both. forum
- Glow stack reality: Community Glow = BPC-157 + TB-500 + GHK-Cu (often ~5:1:1 lore / ~1.7 mg GHK-Cu when total blend ~2.3 mg/day). Free GHK is not the standard third leg; free only appears if copper form unavailable or user is copper-avoidant. forum
- KLOW adjacency: KLOW talk adds KPV to glow-style copper peptide stacks — again copper form, not free base. forum
- Wolverine contrast: Wolverine = BPC + TB without GHK; free GHK is not a canonical Wolverine component. forum
- Skincare pairings: Moisturizer, sunscreen, non-copper signal peptides (e.g. Matrixyl / palmitoyl peptide class), niacinamide — routine cosmetic stacking. forum
- Avoid same-routine copper overload talk: Users already on multi-copper topicals + GHK-Cu inject sometimes ask about free GHK as a “copper light” substitute — still theoretical. forum
- Zinc folklore (GHK-Cu threads): Some GHK-Cu users recommend zinc co-supplementation when copper anxiety is high; that lore appears even in free-vs-Cu Reddit threads and is not free-GHK-specific evidence. forum
- AHK-Cu: Hair-oriented copper peptide cousin; free GHK is not a drop-in replacement for AHK-Cu scalp %. forum
- Post-procedure: Recovery talk names GHK-Cu far more; free GHK is an occasional secondary mention. forum
Storage notes
- No mix instructions here: STUDresearch does not list reconstitution, diluent volumes, or syringe unit charts. People reconstitute many different ways and vial labels differ — that content creates more confusion than clarity. forum
- Storage (general talk only): Unopened research products are usually kept cool, dry, and away from light per the seller label. Anything after first use is product-specific — follow the label, not a universal forum SOP. forum
Watch for
- Label confusion (top risk): Buying “GHK” without free-vs-Cu clarity can mean unintended copper exposure or weaker aesthetic effect than expected from copper-peptide marketing. forum
- Weak aesthetic results: Users expecting GHK-Cu-level skin/hair changes often report underwhelming free-GHK outcomes and switch forms. anecdote
- Injection sites: Redness, stinging, irritation possible with any subq peptide — free-form specific incidence data are sparse. forum
- Topical irritation: Dryness/sensitivity more often blamed on vehicle, pH, acids, retinoids, or concentration than on free GHK per se. forum
- Copper handling paradox: Free GHK’s high Cu affinity means it may still bind local copper — “copper-free vial” ≠ “zero copper biology after dosing.” Theoretical local copper redistribution talk exists without a quantified human risk table. forum
- Copper-avoidance self-triage: People with Wilson’s disease, copper-metabolism disorders, or multi-copper stacks discuss free form — still research/community speculation; medical conditions need clinicians, not forum substitution. forum
- Source quality: Mislabeling, underdosing, contamination apply to both forms; free identity is hard without mass/Cu assay. forum
- Sparse ≠ safe: Low free-GHK side-effect thread volume mostly reflects low use volume and label confusion, not a large safety database proving free form is cleaner. forum
- Animal ≠ human dose: Free-GHK mg/kg mouse IP work (learning, inflammation) must not be treated as validated human injectable schedules. animal
- Research-only framing: Injectable free GHK is not an approved systemic anti-aging drug protocol. forum
- Pickart toxicity note (context): Reviews state no published LD50 for free GHK (described as very nontoxic in that framing) while citing GHK-Cu mouse LD50 figures — still not a free pass for gray-market self-experimentation. trial
Evidence mix
Mostly community / anecdote tags
Full: every bullet (trial + community). Use Scan for a faster bro-science read.