GHK combinations and hair studies

The combination trial

A 6-month trial in 45 men with androgenetic alopecia tested a complex of 5-aminolevulinic acid and glycyl-histidyl-lysine peptide. Hair counts increased significantly versus placebo. The GHK-containing complex was the intervention studied.

I like the inconvenience of that last sentence. It prevents an appealing human result from being detached from the preparation that produced it. The trial gives a combination a human outcome; deciding how much of the effect came from an individual component would require a different comparison.

The aesthetic interest is clear enough without that extra attribution. A hair count is a measurable feature of an appearance. It still deserves the name of the thing that was actually tested.

The related copper peptide

The laboratory paper on hair follicles and dermal papilla cells tested AHK-Cu, the alanyl analogue of GHK-Cu. It reported elongation of human hair follicles studied outside the body, and increased proliferation of dermal papilla cells in culture. Dermal papilla cells help regulate the hair follicle.

The paper also reported reduced apoptosis, the process of programmed cell death, in those cells. Its experimental subjects were follicles and cells, with AHK-Cu as the compound. The related name makes it easy to place nearby in a collection about GHK-Cu, while the change in compound makes attribution essential.

My admiration here is for the specificity of the finding. “Copper peptides and hair” is an intriguing subject heading; the actual experiments are much more particular.

The appearance question

The combination trial and the analogue experiment give the appearance question different kinds of material. I have more curiosity about that difference than appetite for declaring a winner between them.

A count in men and a follicle studied outside the body each have a useful place in the room. Neither can silently lend its result to another preparation. The skin studies offer a parallel question about which outcome a flattering percentage actually describes.