Skin & hair
GLOW
A seller’s name for one blend vial of three peptides: GHK-Cu, BPC-157 and TB-500, usually 70 mg in all. The split between them changes by seller, so your vial’s COA is the list that counts.
At a glance
- What is in it
- Sold as
- One blended vial
- The evidence
- The individual components have been studied. The pre-mixed formulation has not. There is no published study of it, and no stability data for these three peptides sharing a solution. The GHK-Cu component here is injectable, the route with zero human trial data. FDA says it will hold an advisory committee meeting on GHK-Cu before the end of February 2027.Combination-specific research is limited. Treat each compound’s evidence as separate unless a study of the combination itself is named here, and review the complete plan with a qualified clinician.
Running this stack, with the schedule, the vials it takes and a log of what you took, happens in the app: Claritide for iPhone.
Why people explore it
Common reasons for exploring it
- Adults noticing the collagen and elastin side of skin ageing: firmness, texture, crepey skin
- People who want the GHK-Cu argument by injection and understand that the twenty years of trials behind it are topical
- Lifters, runners and anyone carrying a soft tissue niggle, which is what the BPC-157 and TB-500 underneath it are used for
- People who would otherwise buy three vials and want one draw instead of three
- Anyone who already owns a vial with this name on it and wants to know what a draw actually delivers
Where clinician input matters
- Anyone who has not run these compounds individually. A blend removes your ability to attribute either a result or a side effect to a specific compound.
- Anyone with Wilson's disease
- Active or recent cancer, or a significant family cancer history
- Drug-tested athletes
- Pregnant or nursing, under 25
The science
Read the compound mechanisms
GHK-Cu does two jobs at once: it signals, and it carries copper. As a signal, genomic work using the Broad Institute's Connectivity Map found it modulates expression of over 4,000 human genes, activating repair genes and suppressing genes tied to inflammation and tissue breakdown. That is an epigenetic effect rather than a surface one: it shifts the gene expression profile of aged cells toward patterns seen in younger tissue. As a carrier, it delivers copper to the enzyme lysyl oxidase, which cross-links collagen and elastin fibres into their functional, load-bearing form. Without copper, newly made collagen is structurally weak. It also directly stimulates fibroblasts to produce collagen types I and III, elastin and glycosaminoglycans, and coordinates the breakdown of damaged tissue with the deposition of properly organised replacement tissue rather than scar.
BPC-157 appears to work by improving the blood supply to damaged tissue and then telling the repair machinery to switch on. It increases expression of VEGFR2, a receptor that drives angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels, so more oxygen and nutrients reach the injury. It also interacts with the nitric oxide system, which controls how wide blood vessels open and how strongly the inflammatory response fires, counteracting both too little and too much nitric oxide. Separately it raises growth hormone receptor expression in tendon fibroblasts and activates the FAK-paxillin pathway, the signalling route cells use to stick, crawl and divide during wound repair. It is named for a cytoprotective effect: shielding tissue from NSAIDs, alcohol and other stressors. That effect is most pronounced in the gut.
Read the molecule before the mechanism. TB-500 is the acetylated seven-amino-acid fragment Ac-LKKTETQ, residues 17–23 of the 43-amino-acid parent, Thymosin Beta-4. Everything that follows is Thymosin Beta-4's pharmacology, and FDA states that acetylation irreversibly alters charge, hydrophobicity and size, so results for the parent cannot be extrapolated to TB-500. The mechanism below is inherited by argument, not demonstrated for this compound. Thymosin Beta-4 is the main G-actin sequestering peptide in cells. Actin is the scaffolding protein that gives a cell its shape and lets it crawl; by binding free actin monomers, it regulates that scaffolding and therefore controls cell shape, motility and division. The practical result, in lab and animal studies, is that repair cells migrate toward wound sites. It upregulates migration across several cell types at once: keratinocytes, endothelial cells, stem cells. It also reduces inflammatory markers and has shown anti-fibrotic properties, meaning less scar tissue laid down during healing. TB-500 carries the stretch of the parent that binds actin. FDA says it remains to be determined whether that binding explains any healing effect, and in the one cell-culture test of TB-500 itself, it did not close scratch wounds in cultured cells.
No standard dose publishedRead the COA, not the name. This is a name printed on a vial rather than a protocol, and the composition changes by vendor. We publish no dose for it and the builder will not prefill one. Enter your own vial’s composition and derive each figure from it.
Components
| Compound | What it is here for | Reported mg |
|---|---|---|
| GHK-Cu | The skin component: copper carried to the enzyme that cross-links collagen and elastin |
|
| BPC-157 | Local tissue repair, with an angiogenic effect our sources describe as local to the injection |
|
| TB-500 | Described as body-wide tissue repair, rather than acting where it lands |
|
- GHK-Cu: The skin component, and the only letter of the name any source expands: G is GHK-Cu, named after its dominant component. GHK-Cu carries copper to lysyl oxidase, the enzyme that cross-links collagen and elastin into their load-bearing form, and it stimulates fibroblasts to produce collagen types I and III, elastin and glycosaminoglycans. Every trial behind that is topical. Injected, which is the route this vial uses, it has no human trial data at all. Reported at 50 mg of a 70 mg vial by three affiliate sites and at 30 mg of the same 70 mg total by PSPeptides. Copper reference points, so you can check your own vial against something real: the adult RDA is 900 mcg/day and the tolerable upper intake level is 10,000 mcg/day. A blend delivers copper-bound peptide at milligram doses by a route with no human trial data behind it.
- BPC-157: The local repair component. BPC-157 raises expression of VEGFR2, the receptor that drives the growth of new blood vessels, so more oxygen and nutrients reach damaged tissue; it works on the nitric oxide system that governs how wide vessels open and how hard inflammation fires, and it activates the FAK-paxillin pathway cells use to stick, crawl and divide during wound repair. That angiogenic effect is described as local, which is why injection proximity matters for it. Reported at 10 mg by three affiliate sites and at 20 mg by PSPeptides. Switching vendors at the same product name changes this component by 2×.
- TB-500: Described as the body-wide repair component, the counterpart to BPC-157 rather than a second copy of it, so injection site relative to an injury is treated as mattering much less. What it is described as doing is moving repair cells toward wound sites across keratinocytes, endothelial cells and stem cells at once, lowering inflammatory markers, and laying down less scar tissue. FDA is explicit that this mechanism is inherited from the 43-amino-acid parent by argument and has never been demonstrated for the fragment itself. Reported at 10 mg by three affiliate sites and at 20 mg by PSPeptides.
- Duration
- No cycle length is published by any source we can stand behind. The "4–6 weeks on, 2–4 weeks off because copper accumulates" rule circulating online has no pharmacokinetic source behind it and is not reproduced here.
Reported compositions
None of these is “the” composition. Switching vendors at the same product name and the same total milligrams can change a single component by 2×, with nothing on either label to tell you. That is why the only figure worth trusting here is the one on your own vial’s certificate of analysis.
Mixing each compound
Not established in available literature. Use the figures printed on your own vial.
- 10 units = 0.25 mg
- 20 units = 0.5 mg
- 30 units = 0.75 mg
- 40 units = 1 mg
- 60 units = 1.5 mg
- 100 units = 2.5 mg
- 80 units = 2 mg
- 60 units = 1.5 mg
- 40 units = 1 mg
- 20 units = 0.5 mg
Week by week
GHK-Cu
- Week 1–4 (topical)
Skin texture begins to smooth. Not visible yet: collagen gene activation takes time. Post-procedure healing after microneedling or laser is noticeably faster.
- Week 4–8 (topical)
First visible changes. Skin appears more hydrated and firmer, fine lines begin softening, tone becomes more even.
- Week 8–12 (topical)
Full results as measured in clinical trials: reduced wrinkle depth, increased skin density and thickness, improved elasticity.
- Month 3+ (topical)
Cumulative improvement. The longer it runs, the more collagen accumulates.
- Week 1–2 (injectable)
Wound healing effects appear earliest; reduced inflammation at injury sites.
- Week 4–8 (injectable)
Systemic effects reported: hair growth, joint recovery, skin quality. Note this route has no human trial support.
BPC-157
- Week 1–2
Subtle. Reduced inflammation, warmth or increased blood flow near the injection site, slight pain reduction. Some people feel nothing yet. The Playbook describes this as normal.
- Week 3–4
Noticeable improvement in most reports. Pain drops on movements that previously hurt, range of motion improves, swelling decreases.
- Week 5–6
People describe significant functional recovery for acute injuries in this window. Chronic injuries may need a second cycle.
- Week 6–8+
For stubborn or chronic problems, a second cycle after a 2–4 week break often brings further improvement. Chronic tendinopathy may need two full cycles.
- After stopping
Benefits generally persist. The Playbook frames this as tissue actually repairing rather than pain being masked.
TB-500
- Week 1–2
Subtle. Reduced inflammation and mild pain reduction are the commonly described early signals.
- Week 2–3
Our recovery guide places initial noticeable change here, later than BPC-157, and reads that as a body-wide rather than local effect.
- Week 4–6
Loading phase completes. Functional improvement in soft tissue injuries; the dosing schedule drops to weekly.
- Week 6–8
Our recovery guide describes significant improvement in this window for TB-500 run solo.
What it costs
- GHK-Cu: $30–80 per month (1–2% serum, 30 mL)
- BPC-157: $80–120 per 4–6 week cycle (two 5 mg vials)
- TB-500: $80–120 per 4–6 week cycle (two 5 mg vials)
These figures are published over different cycle lengths, so Claritide does not add them into one number. Log a vial and the cost engine will tell you what this stack costs you per week, from what you actually paid.
Cautions
- Read the COA, not the name. Two vials both labelled GLOW, both 70 mg, can differ by 2× on BPC-157 and 40% on GHK-Cu. Enter your own vial's composition and derive your per-compound doses from it.
- Only "G = GHK-Cu" is sourced anywhere, and only as "named after its dominant component". L, O and W are never expanded by any source. The name is not an ingredient list.
- Three of the compounds in this vial are pro-angiogenic. That is the same cancer caution counted three times, not three separate benefits.
- No stability study exists for these peptides in shared solution. Anyone telling you what colour change means the vial has degraded is telling you something nobody has measured.
- Wilson's disease rules this out entirely. It contains copper.
- Both BPC-157 and TB-500 are on the WADA prohibited list. GHK-Cu is not named on it, and we do not state a status for it.
Absence from this list does NOT mean safety. It means lack of research.
Keep reading
Every stack here is free to read, and it stays free. Your own schedule, vials and log live in the app: Claritide for iPhone.