Women's Wellness Insider
This 1 Ingredient Is Changing Skincare for Women Over 50 (And It's Not Retinol or Collagen)
Scientists found it in 1973. Your body makes less of it every year. And after menopause, that loss starts to show in your face.
If your face seemed to change almost overnight after menopause... if your cheeks went thin and crepey in about a year... if you did everything right and it didn't matter one bit...
You're not imagining it. And it's not your fault.
Studies show women can lose up to 30% of their skin's collagen in the first five years after menopause.
That's why it can feel like your face changed in a single year.
So most women try to add collagen back with powders, creams, or retinol. And for most women, it doesn't work.
There's a reason for that. It has to do with a tiny molecule scientists found back in 1973.
The 1973 Discovery Nobody Told You About
In 1973, a researcher in San Francisco named Loren Pickart ran an experiment.
He took liver tissue from older people and added blood plasma from younger people.
The old tissue started acting young again. It began making proteins you'd normally see in much younger people.
Something in the younger people's blood was causing it.
That something turned out to be a tiny molecule. It's just three amino acids with a bit of copper attached.
Its name is GHK-Cu.
Your body makes it on its own. But it makes less and less as you get older.
At age 20, the GHK level in your blood is about 200 ng/mL. By age 60, it's down to about 80. That's about 60% less.
And that matters for your face, because GHK-Cu is one of the things that tells your skin to make collagen.
Why Your Face Seemed to Change Overnight (And How to Fix It)
You've probably heard that women lose collagen after menopause. So it makes sense to try adding more collagen with a powder or a cream.
But your skin isn't short on collagen's building blocks. It already has plenty.
Think of those building blocks like bricks at a job site. The collagen is what gets built from them. Your skin has all the bricks it needs, but nothing gets built until someone says "start."
Two things used to give your skin that signal.
Estrogen is like a boss calling from an office across town. It sends the signal through your blood to your whole body.
GHK-Cu is like a foreman standing right at the job site. Your body releases it inside your skin, right where collagen gets built.
GHK-Cu drops as you age. You didn't notice, because estrogen was still sending the signal.
Then menopause came, and estrogen dropped fast. Now both signals were low. The bricks were still there, but nobody was saying "start," so your skin built a lot less collagen.
That's why your face seemed to change almost overnight.
And that's why collagen powders and creams didn't help. They just add more bricks, and your skin already had plenty.
You can't put estrogen back with a cream. That's what hormone therapy is for.
But if the foreman is at the job site, you don't need the boss calling from across town.
GHK-Cu gives the signal right inside your skin. So even with low estrogen, your skin can still get told to start building. It's also why some women on HRT see changes everywhere except their face. Hormone therapy brings back estrogen, but not GHK-Cu.
And you can put GHK-Cu right on your skin. It's small enough to get through, and it tells your skin to start building collagen again with the bricks that were there all along.
What the Research Says About the Products in Your Drawer
Collagen powder gets broken down in your stomach, the same way any other protein does. A 2025 review in The American Journal of Medicine looked at 23 clinical studies. When the researchers looked only at the independent, high quality studies, collagen supplements didn't make a real difference to wrinkles, firmness, or moisture.
Collagen creams can't get in at all. Skin researchers use something called the 500 Dalton rule. A molecule usually has to weigh less than 500 Daltons to get through your skin. A collagen molecule weighs about 300,000. That's roughly 600 times too big. It just sits on top of your skin.
Retinol does push your skin to build collagen, but it's rough on skin. Studies on retinoids found about 85% of people get irritated skin, and up to 95% with prescription tretinoin. About 15% stop using it because it hurts too much. And after menopause, your skin is thinner than it used to be.
5 Reasons Women Over 50 Are Switching to GHK-Cu
So does putting GHK-Cu on your skin actually work?
Here's what the research found.
Reason 1
It Tells Your Skin to Build Collagen Again
In 1988, a team at France's national research center (CNRS) tested GHK-Cu on human skin cells.
Collagen production went up. But the number of cells didn't change.
That means the cells that were already there started making more collagen.
In 2016, researchers at the University of Auckland found the same thing. Every amount of GHK-Cu they tested raised both collagen and elastin. Elastin is the protein that helps skin bounce back.
Reason 2
In a Head to Head Study, It Beat Vitamin C and Retinoic Acid
Researchers tested three well known ingredients for 12 weeks.
Retinoic acid improved collagen in 40% of women.
Vitamin C improved it in 50%.
GHK-Cu improved it in 70%.
Reason 3
A Double Blind Study in Women 40 to 65 Found Fewer Wrinkles
Forty women between 40 and 65 used a GHK-Cu serum twice a day for 8 weeks. That's the exact age group hit hardest by menopause. Neither the women nor the researchers knew who got what.
Compared to a plain serum, GHK-Cu cut wrinkle volume by 55.8% and wrinkle depth by 32.8%.
It even beat Matrixyl 3000, one of the most popular peptides in high end skincare, by 31.6% on wrinkle volume.
Reason 4
It's Small Enough to Get Into Your Skin
Collagen is too big to get into your skin.
GHK-Cu is just three amino acids.
Researchers in the dermatology department at the University of California, San Francisco tested it on human skin. They found it gets through the skin barrier and stays in the skin.
Reason 5
It's Gentle on Thin, Sensitive Skin
GHK-Cu isn't a harsh chemical that forces your skin to react.
It's something your body already makes.
It's been used in skincare for decades. Researchers even recommend it after procedures like chemical peels and laser treatments, when skin is at its most tender.
There's no burning and no peeling.
In two more studies, 71 women used a GHK-Cu face cream and 41 women used a GHK-Cu eye cream for 12 weeks. Both groups had thicker, denser skin with fewer lines and wrinkles. The face cream group also had less sagging.
So Why Hasn't Anyone Told You About This?
Scientists have been studying GHK-Cu for more than 50 years. Using a gene map built by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, researchers found it changes the activity of thousands of human genes.
But most of that work stayed in research journals.
And what menopause does to your skin barely gets talked about at all. In a survey of more than 4,300 women, over half said they only found out about menopause skin changes by going through them.
Why Women Are Choosing Lanarie Native Facial Serum
Lanarie Native Facial Serum puts GHK-Cu back on your skin, and it's gentle enough for thin, sensitive skin.
It's built around Copper Tripeptide 1 (GHK-Cu), the same molecule from the studies above.
It also has sodium hyaluronate, a form of hyaluronic acid. It adds moisture right away, so your skin feels comfortable while it builds collagen underneath.
There's no retinol, no acids, and no fragrance. It's just 7 ingredients in a light serum that soaks in within a few seconds.
Lanarie Native Facial Serum
Copper Tripeptide 1 (GHK-Cu) with Hyaluronic Acid · 30ml
- Copper Tripeptide 1 (GHK-Cu) The same molecule from the studies above.
- Sodium hyaluronate Adds moisture right away while your skin builds collagen underneath.
- No retinol, no acids, no fragrance No stinging, no peeling, no purging.
- Just 7 ingredients A light serum that soaks in within a few seconds.
- Made for thin, sensitive skin Gentle enough to use every day.
- 90 day money back guarantee Even if the bottle is empty.
★★★★★ 4.5 stars · 769 reviews
Apply Discount & Check Availability →90 day money back guarantee, even if the bottle is empty.
When Will You See Results?
Here's the honest answer: weeks, not days.
Building collagen takes time.
Here's what women usually notice:
Take a photo on day one, in the same light each time, so you can see the change for yourself.
"The First Thing That Didn't Sting"
Julie is 52, and she'd tried a lot of things.
"I stopped believing any of it," she said. "I had a retinol that burned. I stirred collagen powder into my coffee for five months. I bought a drugstore firming cream that did nothing. My dermatologist handed me a brochure for lasers. We can't afford lasers."
Then a friend who's a wound care nurse told her about copper peptides.
"The first night, I actually braced for it to burn. It just soaked in. That almost worried me, because the stuff that hurt at least felt like it was doing something."
About three weeks in, she noticed something while putting on moisturizer.
"I ran my fingers along my cheek and my hand froze. It didn't feel like tissue paper anymore."
Around week seven, she walked past a mirrored pillar at Target.
"A while back I'd walked past that same pillar and seen this tired, grumpy woman and thought, what's her problem? It was me. This time I knew it was me right away. I didn't look 30. I don't want to look 30."
"I looked like me."
Of course, you might be wondering if it'll work for you.
To be honest, nobody can promise that.
But Julie's story isn't the only one.
What Real Customers Are Saying
Lanarie Native Facial Serum is rated 4.5 stars from 769 reviews.
My neck was the first thing I noticed. It went crepey in about a year and no cream touched it. Twelve weeks in and it doesn't look papery anymore!
★★★★★ Karen Mitchell, Verified Customer
I'm 54 and my skin changed so fast I thought something was wrong with me. Nobody had ever explained why. It hasn't stopped time, but it doesn't feel like tissue paper anymore.
★★★★★ Denise Carter, Verified Customer
I've bought every vitamin c on the shelf. This is the first thing that didn't sting and the first thing that ACTUALLY changed my skin.
★★★★★ Patricia Garcia, Verified Customer
I'm 62 and I've been using retinol for years. YEARS. And yeah it worked but my skin was always red and irritated and I just thought that was the trade off... Its been about 6 weeks now and my skin is calmer than its been in a decade. No redness. No peeling. The fine lines around my eyes are genuinely softer.
★★★★★ Linda Harmon, Verified Customer
I was super skeptical because I've tried literally everything for my skin and nothing sticks... skin feels firmer after about 3 weeks. will update later but so far very impressed
★★★★★ Theresa M., Verified Customer
Where Can I Get It?
You can get Lanarie Native Facial Serum from the Lanarie website.
Right now they're running a 50% Off Summer Sale. The regular price is $99 a bottle. With the bigger bundles, it comes down to as low as $29 a bottle, with free shipping and a free GHK-Cu Whipped Balm.
And every order comes with a 90 day money back guarantee.
Use it for a full 90 days. If it doesn't work for you, send it back and get your money back.
Even if the bottle is empty.
90 day money back guarantee, even if the bottle is empty.
Ready to Help Your Skin Build Collagen Again?
The way we see it, you have two options.
Option #1 is to leave this page and keep doing what you've been doing. More collagen powder. Another firming cream. Maybe another retinol you already know your skin can't handle. Or you can keep saving up for lasers and procedures that wear off and have to be done again.
Option #2 is to try the molecule your skin has been running low on for years, with zero risk for 90 days.
Your skin still has everything it needs to build collagen. GHK-Cu helps tell it to start.
Apply Discount & Check Availability →90 day money back guarantee. Summer Sale pricing while stock lasts.
References
- Brincat M, Kabalan S, Studd JWW, et al. A study of the decrease of skin collagen content, skin thickness, and bone mass in the postmenopausal woman. Obstetrics & Gynecology. 1987;70:840–845.
- Pickart L, Margolina A. Regenerative and Protective Actions of the GHK-Cu Peptide in the Light of the New Gene Data. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2018;19(7):1987.
- Maquart FX, Pickart L, Laurent M, et al. Stimulation of collagen synthesis in fibroblast cultures by the tripeptide-copper complex glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine-Cu2+. FEBS Letters. 1988;238(2):343–346.
- Badenhorst T, Svirskis D, Merrilees M, Bolke L, Wu Z. Effects of GHK-Cu on MMP and TIMP Expression, Collagen and Elastin Production, and Facial Wrinkle Parameters. Journal of Aging Science. 2016;4:166.
- Abdulghani AA, Sherr A, Shirin S, et al. Effects of topical creams containing vitamin C, a copper-binding peptide cream and melatonin compared with tretinoin on the ultrastructure of normal skin. Disease Management and Clinical Outcomes. 1998;1:136–141.
- Leyden J, Stephens T, Finkey M, Appa Y, Barkovic S. Skin care benefits of copper peptide containing facial cream and eye creams. American Academy of Dermatology 60th Annual Meeting. 2002.
- Hostynek JJ, Dreher F, Maibach HI. Human skin retention and penetration of a copper tripeptide in vitro as function of skin layer. Inflammation Research. 2010;59:983–988.
- Bos JD, Meinardi MM. The 500 Dalton rule for the skin penetration of chemical compounds and drugs. Experimental Dermatology. 2000;9(3):165–169.
- Myung SK, Park Y. Effects of Collagen Supplements on Skin Aging: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. The American Journal of Medicine. 2025;138(9):1264–1277.
- Thornton MJ. Estrogens and aging skin. Dermato-Endocrinology. 2013;5(2):264–270.
This page is an advertorial. It is not a news article or independent product review. It was produced and paid for by Lanarie, which sells the product described above.
The studies referenced on this page tested GHK-Cu (copper tripeptide 1) as an ingredient. They were not conducted on Lanarie Native Facial Serum.
Julie's story is a composite based on experiences customers have shared with us. Customer reviews are shown as written.
Lanarie Native Facial Serum is a cosmetic product. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or medical condition. This page is not medical advice. If you have questions about menopause or hormone therapy, talk to your doctor.
Individual results vary.
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