Women's Wellness Insider
The 1973 molecule that tells skin to produce collagen — and why menopausal women are using it for crepey skin.
Isolated from human blood in 1973, studied for five decades, and still absent from almost every product sold to menopausal women.
In 1973, a researcher analysing human blood serum isolated a molecule made of three amino acids — glycine, histidine and lysine — that binds to copper. He named it GHK-Cu.1
Over the following decades, research tied GHK-Cu to the production of collagen and elastin, the two proteins that give skin its firmness and its spring.2
It does not add collagen to skin. It tells skin to make its own — which matters most where skin has thinned enough to crease at rest, and that is what crepey skin is.2
Why almost nobody has heard of it
GHK-Cu is difficult to work with. It is a fragile, pH-sensitive molecule that breaks down easily in a formula, which rules out combining it with much of what the skincare industry was already selling.3
Retinol had none of those problems. It was stable, cheap to manufacture, and easy to put into anything.4
GHK-Cu stayed in the research literature until a formula was built to keep it stable.
What menopause does to collagen production
Skin is an estrogen-responsive organ. Estrogen regulates how much collagen your skin produces, and when estrogen falls at menopause, collagen production falls with it.5
Around 30% of the collagen in your skin is lost in the first five years after menopause.6That is not the slow decline of ordinary aging. It is a hormonal event with a specific window, which is why the change arrives fast enough to notice — skin that has gone thin and papery, and creases at rest rather than only when it moves.6
Your body also produces less GHK-Cu every year — plasma levels fall by roughly 60% between the ages of 20 and 60. So the instruction to build collagen weakens at the same time the need for it becomes urgent.1
Why nothing you've tried has worked
Almost everything sold for crepey skin treats it as a dryness problem. It is a thinning problem.
Hyaluronic acid and heavy moisturizers
These draw water into the surface, and they do it well. Skin looks fuller and smoother while it is on, which is exactly why they seem to be working — and exactly why the effect is gone by the next morning. Water is not structure. Crepey skin is not skin that is short of moisture; it is skin that has thinned to the point where it creases under its own weight, and no amount of hydration adds thickness back.
Topical collagen
It cannot work, and the reason is physical rather than commercial. Molecules above roughly 500 daltons do not pass through skin. Collagen is around 300,000 daltons — about six hundred times too large. It sits on the surface until it is washed off.7
Body butters, oils and occlusives
They seal moisture in and improve how skin feels immediately. That is a real benefit on skin that is dry as well as thin. But sealing the surface changes nothing underneath it, and crepey skin that feels soft is still crepey skin.
Retinol
It speeds up how fast skin sheds and rebuilds. That is a real effect, and the peeling and redness are what being pushed harder feels like. It is also a poor trade on skin that has gone thin and reactive — which is the definition of the problem being treated.
None of these are bad products. They were built for other problems. What they share is that none of them replace the instruction your skin stopped receiving.
The GHK-Cu serum made for crepey skin after menopause
You can't put collagen into skin. GHK-Cu tells skin to build its own, and Lanarie delivers 50mg of it per bottle.
Copper Tripeptide-1 (GHK-Cu) · 30ml
Lanarie Native Serum
Lanarie is a copper peptide serum built around GHK-Cu, formulated for skin after menopause.
50mg of pure Copper Tripeptide-1 (GHK-Cu) in every 30ml bottle, printed on the label.There is no retinol and there are no exfoliating acids in the formula, because low-pH acids destabilise copper peptides over time in a bottle. Hyaluronic acid and glycerin handle hydration.3
It goes on under everything else. Nothing in your routine has to change.
Check availability →90-day money-back guarantee — even on an empty bottle.
What happens, and when
GHK-Cu produces no stinging, no peeling and no purge. There is nothing to feel, which is the main reason people stop using it before it has done anything.
Skin feels less tight, particularly right after cleansing.
Texture. Usually the first change anyone notices.
Tone and smoothness.
Firmness. Collagen builds slowly, and this is the change worth waiting for.
What women using it say
I'd tried retinol for the crepiness and it just made my skin angrier. This didn't sting at all.
★★★★★ Denise R.
I kept buying heavier and heavier moisturizers thinking it was dryness. Looks smoother in the morning now, not just after I put something on.
★★★★★ Carol B.
The crepiness on my chest isn't gone but it's noticeably better. First thing that's done anything.
★★★★★ Melissa T.
Try it for 90 days. If it isn't for you, you get your money back.
Copper peptides work slowly and quietly, so you should have time to judge it properly. Use it for the full 90 days. If you're not happy, ask for a refund — even if the bottle is empty, and with no return shipping to pay.
Menopause cuts your collagen production by around 30% in five years. Crepey skin is what thinning looks like once enough of it is gone.6
GHK-Cu is the molecule that tells skin to produce it, and your body makes less of it every year.2
50mg of pure Copper Tripeptide-1 per bottle. The number is on the label.
90-day money-back guarantee, even on an empty bottle. No return shipping.
References
- Pickart L. A tripeptide from human serum which enhances the growth of neoplastic hepatocytes and the survival of normal hepatocytes. PhD thesis, University of California, 1973; reviewed in Pickart L, Margolina A. BioMed Research International 2015. Plasma GHK falls from ~200 ng/mL at age 20 to ~80 ng/mL by age 60. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3359723
- Pickart L, Vasquez-Soltero JM, Margolina A. GHK peptide as a natural modulator of multiple cellular pathways in skin regeneration. BioMed Research International 2015;2015:648108. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26236730
- Bos JD, Meinardi MMHM. The 500 Dalton rule for the skin penetration of chemical compounds and drugs. Experimental Dermatology 2000;9(3):165–169. GHK-Cu is a small, pH-sensitive peptide; low-pH actives destabilise copper-peptide complexes in formula. onlinelibrary.wiley.com
- Mukherjee S, Date A, Patravale V, et al. Retinoids in the treatment of skin aging. Clinical Interventions in Aging 2006;1(4):327–348. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2699641
- Brincat MP, Baron YM, Galea R. Estrogens and the skin. Climacteric 2005;8(2):110–123; Wilkinson HN, Hardman MJ. The role of estrogen in cutaneous ageing and repair. Maturitas 2017;103:60–64. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16210209
- Brincat M, Moniz CF, Kabalan S, et al. Decline in skin collagen content and metacarpal index after the menopause and its prevention with sex hormone replacement. Br J Obstet Gynaecol 1987;94(2):126–129; reviewed in Brincat MP, Calleja-Agius J, Baron YM. Climacteric 2007 — up to ~30% of dermal collagen lost in the first 5 years post-menopause, then ~2.1%/year. sciencedirect.com
- Bos JD, Meinardi MMHM. The 500 Dalton rule for the skin penetration of chemical compounds and drugs. Experimental Dermatology 2000;9(3):165–169. Collagen ≈ 300,000 Da, well above the ~500 Da penetration ceiling. onlinelibrary.wiley.com