During the Second World War, doctors noticed that patients with severe burns or burn scars had a better chance of scar removal if hair follicles began growing at the edges of the burned area. If not, the odds were the scars would remain.

It was determined that new skin cells were being grown in the hair follicles and migrating to the surround damaged skin. From that, the next step was to link skin repair and hair growth.

It would take many years for researchers to determine the role copper played in this process. It was eventually discovered that copper peptides stimulated healing of wounds and also increased the size of hair follicles at the wound's edges.

Hair loss has many causes. Among the most common are: the production of DHT, which is responsible for male pattern baldness: progressive shrinking of hair follicles as we age: diminished blood supply to the hair follicles: damage due to hair treatments, overheating, dying, etc: free radicals, especially from iron: inflammation around follicles due to autoimmune responses: and decreased subcutaneous fat in the scalp.

Researchers determined that the copper solutions applied to the scalp increased follicle size: rebuilt the blood supply to damaged follicles: increased melanin synthesis, necessary to keep hair from turning white: increased subcutaneous fat below the scalp, needed to produce thick healthy hair: lengthened the hair growth phase: inhibited the formation of DHT: repaired scalp damage; healed inflammation: and caused the scalp to thicken.

This all leads to a healthy head of hair.

Minoxidil (Rogaine) grows new fine vellus hair. Copper peptide solutions convert this fine hair into thicker, fuller, pigmented hair and it is suggested that both be substances be used in combination if you are trying to re-grow hair. The copper peptide has the added benefit of reducing the inflammation and itching caused by minoxidil.

Copper peptide treatments are also beneficial after hair transplants. They speed up healing and cut the growth time of new hair in half to just six weeks. They can prevent hair loss due to chemotherapy if used beforehand or cause it to re-grow faster if used after.

While copper peptide solutions show great promise in hair restoration, one of it chief researchers, Dr. Loren Pickart, thinks its major benefit at this time is as a regular scalp treatment applied once or twice a week to maintain healthy hair and scalp.

Dr. Pickart patented several forms of copper peptides, known as GHK-Cu. He created the Folligen line which is devoted to hair and scalp health, as well as hair re-growth.

Copper peptide hair treatments show great promise in helping you keep whatever hair you still have and aiding in at least creating the proper conditions for new hair to grow. I have run a small, admittedly non-scientific, study of copper peptide hair lotions on a group of friends with thinning hair and all of us have noted a marked increase in the amount and thickness of hair as well as some filling in of the hair line.

Copper peptides are not a miracle product that will give you a full head of hair within days, weeks or months. However they do what they advertise and are not terribly expensive.

This article is for informational purposes only. It does not purport to offer medical advice.