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Actual concentrations of peptide (real % or ppm) in skin care products
Hi,
Can somebody tell me the real and actual %, or in ppm, of the common peptides used in skin care products, or any kind of recommendation?
Copper peptide, acetyl hexapeptide-3, palmitoyl pentapeptide-5, syn-coll etc.
Some manufacturers claim it is always % of a typical stock solution, whereas some say it is real %, e.g. some copper peptide serums are super blue.
Is there any standard and in that case, where can that be found?
In the case of a deep blue copper peptide serum, one would expect it to have a colorant, however, that is never listed. Is that allowed?
Thanks!/Rosa
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8 Replies
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It would vary per peptide-complex blend. You would need to ask for the compositional breakdown from the manufacturer.
I do find brands tend to mislead in marketing when it comes to peptides.
For instance, Matrixyl 3000 (INCI: Glycerin, Water, Butylene Glycol, Carbomer, Polysorbate 20, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7)
The actual amount of the 2 peptides in the complex: 0.01% and 0.005%.
The manufacturer recommends you use 4% of the blend, which means the actual amount of peptide in the finished product would be 0.0004% and 0.0002%.
Yet when a manufacturer says we use “4% of Matrixyl 3000” consumers tend to think it means 4% of the actual peptide. Peptides are not found at that high of levels in products.
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The standard is that you use enough that you’re able to claim it on the packaging but not so much that it cuts into profits. Consumers are unlikely to notice any difference so there is a tendency to use as little as necessary.
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Thank you both!
Yeas, agree, they mean % of a stock solution when they refer to concentration, but surprised it is allowed then to rank the ingredient in the list according to that. Also, a copper peptide serum which is clearly coloured blue unless they dumped a whole gram of the actual copper powder in 100ml (which obviously didn’t happen), and doesn’t have any mention of the dye in the ingredient list. Surely this isn’t allowed.
@Perry, it’s likely they put minute amounts to claim it on the label
There are no list anywhere that says recommended amounts to make a difference on the skin?
Rosa
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@rosa - a few things
1. it takes very little colorant to make a liquid blue. .001% would likely be enough
2. no it is not legal to list solution concentrations higher on the ingredient list but ignorance of the rules or outright ignoring rules is often seen by smaller companies in the industry
3. no there is no such reliable list of effective concentrations. That’s because there isn’t definitive proof that active ingredients actually work. Companies that conduct such research have motivated reasons for exaggerating effects so the research is unreliable.
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Copper complexes often have a strong colour. As @Perry mentioned, very little suffices for a blue colour. However, I doubt that copper peptide is absorbing light good enough to give a deep blue colour at 0.001% but probalby more of a lighter blue one… I may be completely wrong with that assumption 😉 .@MattTheChemist: I thought it’s not much but THAT little? Sure, % doesn’t matter anyway with most peptides because they aren’t active (at least not in a way cosmetic marketing misinterpretes the crappy scientific experiments done with them) or they would be listed as drugs (and more importantly also sold as drugs by big pharma… which they aren’t) in some instances and possible carcinogenics in others. Copper peptide is probalby one of the few exceptions and does actually do things like promote wound healing at a low % level without doing any harm (is it the peptide, the copper, the complex, or a metabolite thereof which actually shows biological activity?). -
I have read different studies in papers on the effect of copper peptides. Some claim the GHK alone also has the same effects.
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At 1000 ppm, copper peptide is clearly blue in a bottle where you can see the depth. But if you (in an emulsion - or even a serum) then use up to 10% of this solution to make a finished product, it’s not at all blue. For that reason, you know any serum is clearly dyed. And never is it listed.
Thank you all for your input
Rosa
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@Pharma Right? The “claim” is that they are “biologically active” and highly bioavailable, especially those that are acetylated or have fatty acid moieties added, and are of low molecular weight. Of course, marketing fuels most of this, as @Perry mentioned.
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