# The GHK combination hair-count trial

> The hair-count trial — Elite Hair Restoration — The GHK combination trial at Elite Hair Restoration: 45 men, 6 months, reported hair-count changes and the limits of assigning credit to one ingredient.

**Human hair-count record**

Actual hair counts give this experiment a prominent place in the cabinet; the combination deserves equal prominence.

## The preparation and the participants

Here is the file with people and a hair-count outcome. The [trial tested a complex of 5-aminolevulinic acid and glycyl-histidyl-lysine peptide, or GHK, in 45 men with androgenetic alopecia](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4969472/). The participants’ hair-loss grades were Norwood-Hamilton II–V, and the observation period was 6 months.

The preparation matters from the outset. The [topical study groups used concentrations of 50 mg/mL and 100 mg/mL, alongside a placebo group](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4969472/). The compound under examination was the combination throughout.

Counting hair puts this trial ahead of a pathway on its own. It also sets a narrower question than “does GHK-Cu restore hair?” because its preparation includes a companion molecule and is named as a GHK complex.

![A counting lens, mechanical tally counter and loose hair strands arranged on a warm paper desk](images/counting-desk.webp)

*Illustrative still life about counting hair.*

## Reported hair-count changes

The [reported increase in hair count was 71.5 in the 50 mg/mL group, 52.6 in the 100 mg/mL group and 9.6 with placebo](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4969472/). The study reported significant gains versus placebo. 

The larger change occurred in the lower-concentration study group. That ordering resists a casual “more is better” story. It describes these groups in this experiment; it cannot pick a preparation for someone outside it.

![Bars comparing hair-count increases of 71.5, 52.6 and 9.6 in the combination trial](images/combination-hair-counts.svg)

*Reported hair-count increases over 6 months in 45 men with androgenetic alopecia, Norwood-Hamilton II–V; concentrations identify the trial groups. Source: the linked combination study.*

## Attributing the hair-count change

The [comparison was the 5-aminolevulinic acid and GHK complex against placebo](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4969472/). I leave the credit for the observed change with the combination as a whole. The [AHK-Cu follicle experiment](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17703734/) concerns a different molecule and an isolated-tissue setting; it cannot stand in for an ingredient-isolating arm of this trial.

My preference for this result is quite specific: it moves the conversation to a measured hair outcome in people. A trial separating the components while preserving a comparable hair-count outcome would settle the credit question more directly.

## Reported tolerability

The [paper reported no adverse events in any group](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4969472/). That is an encouraging observation within the participants and period described. A larger, longer controlled study would give the tolerability finding more weight.

There is another preparation question before any hair result can travel far: [how does the material get through skin?](/skin-delivery) That file deals with the delivery experiments on their own terms.

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At Elite Hair Restoration I weigh the published research on hair peptides in an editorial cabinet with no treatment business behind it, and none of these pages provides medical advice.