Hexapeptide-9_Dosage, benefits & legal status
Also known as Collaxyl, Collaxyl IS, Collaxyl ng, GPQGPQ, PeptiCode HP-9
The clearest case on this site of a trial being used to sell the ingredient it was designed to replace.
Common vial size is what vendors typically sell, not a recommendation. Enter your own vial in the calculator.
What is Hexapeptide-9?
Plain language first. The technical label stays, but it never stands alone.Overview
This is a collagen-flavored cosmetic peptide that has been on ingredient lists for well over a decade. What changed recently is that a 2025 clinical trial appeared and started getting quoted for it. That trial did not test this peptide. It tested a ring-shaped version called CHP-9, and the reason the researchers made the ring is that plain hexapeptide-9 does not survive contact with a collagen-digesting enzyme. Their own stability experiment is the clearest argument on the page against the ingredient you can actually buy.
Hexapeptide-9 is a synthetic six-residue peptide, Gly-Pro-Gln-Gly-Pro-Gln, with free termini and all residues in the L form. Its International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients name is exactly Hexapeptide-9, registered with the function skin conditioning, and its formula is C24H38N8O9. The sequence is a doubled glycine-proline-glutamine motif, echoing the glycine-proline repeat that collagen itself is built from. It is supplied as a blend rather than a neat powder: Ashland sells it under the Vincience-era Collaxyl name, and a second supplier, Seqens, now offers a fermentation-derived grade.
What it's used for
Added to anti-aging creams and serums for wrinkle and firmness claims. The supplier says it is clinically proven to reduce wrinkle length and depth, and publishes no numbers, no participant count and no duration to support that.
How does Hexapeptide-9 work?
What it does in the body, and where.The sequence is the pitch. Gly-Pro-Gln twice over looks like a piece of collagen, and the argument for matrikine peptides is that a fragment resembling the real thing can act as a signal telling skin cells to rebuild. Whether a six-residue peptide applied to intact skin ever reaches a fibroblast in a meaningful amount is a separate question that cosmetic evidence rarely addresses.
- 01What the sequence resemblesCollagen is built on a repeating glycine-proline pattern, and Gly-Pro-Gln-Gly-Pro-Gln is a short echo of it. Peptides of this kind are described as matrikines: fragments that look enough like matrix proteins to be read as signals rather than as debris.
- 02The problem the researchers foundA peptide that resembles collagen is also a peptide that collagen-digesting enzymes recognize. In the 2025 study, after 24 hours with collagenase type I, more than 95 percent of the ring-shaped CHP-9 was still intact while linear hexapeptide-9 was completely hydrolyzed. That experiment was the stated reason for building the ring.
- 03What that means for the ingredient on the labelThe ring version is a different substance with no cosmetic ingredient name of its own. The published trial supports it, not the linear peptide, and the stability result points the other way for the linear peptide. Evidence for hexapeptide-9 itself remains the supplier's own laboratory and tissue work plus an unquantified clinical claim.
A schematic of the compound's mechanism, not a diagnostic image.
What else is it used for?
Each group carries its own evidence level.Approved means regulators have cleared it for that purpose. Investigational means it is in trials. Early research means it is being studied and is not established.
The trial tests a different molecule
peer-reviewed-human- lab-analysisCHP-9 is hexapeptide-9 joined into a ring: the paper describes linking the head and tail with an amide bond, closing the carboxy and amino termini together. It has no cosmetic ingredient name of its own and is not the substance registered as Hexapeptide-9.
- Lab studyThe paper's reason for making the ring is a stability experiment: after 24 hours with collagenase type I, over 95 percent of CHP-9 survived while linear hexapeptide-9 was completely hydrolyzed. On the authors' own data, the molecule sold on ingredient lists is the fragile one.
- No dataSo the 2025 trial is not evidence for hexapeptide-9. It is evidence for a modified version, generated by a team whose stated rationale was that the unmodified version does not last.
How to read that trial even on its own terms
peer-reviewed-human- Human trialRandomized, 96 participants with 91 completing, aged 30 to 55, almost entirely women, all Asian, in China. Twice daily for 56 days with wrinkle imaging as the primary measure. A real randomized design rather than a case series.
- No dataThe comparator was retinol at 0.002 percent, and the authors say so plainly: that under-dosing of retinol may be the major reason no irritation appeared. A retinol arm set below ordinary use levels is a weak thing to beat.
- No dataEvery author is affiliated with Shanghai Chicmax Cosmetic Co. or Shanghai Kans Biotech, the companies behind the tested material, and the paper declares no conflicts of interest and no funding.
What exists for the ingredient itself
none- No dataA supplier claim of clinical proof for reduced wrinkle length and depth, tested at 1.5 percent, with no participant count, no duration and no numbers published alongside it.
- Lab studySupplier laboratory and tissue work on collagen and matrix support. That is in vitro and ex vivo evidence from the company selling the ingredient.
- No dataNo independent randomized trial of hexapeptide-9 itself was found.
The 2025 randomized trial is being attached to this ingredient, and it tested CHP-9, a ring-closed version that carries no cosmetic ingredient name and is not what any label calls Hexapeptide-9. The paper's own collagenase experiment is the reason to care about the difference: the ring survived, the linear peptide did not. Two further things get dropped when that trial is quoted. The retinol comparator sat at 0.002 percent, a level the authors themselves call under-dosing, and every author works for the companies behind the tested material while the paper declares no conflicts. Separately, the hexapeptide numbers are registry positions and not a chemical family: hexapeptide-10 is registered as a humectant, hexapeptide-11 is a different skin-conditioning substance, and palmitoyl hexapeptide-12 is a lipidated peptide. A product listing one of those is not listing this. Last, Collaxyl is a supplied blend with butylene glycol and water, not a neat peptide, so a label naming Collaxyl and a label naming Hexapeptide-9 are describing the same active at an undisclosed concentration.
The published record
Papers and trials about Hexapeptide-9
Searched: hexapeptide-9, Collaxyl, CHP-9.
Left out: hexapeptide (a length descriptor matching hexapeptide-10, -11, palmitoyl hexapeptide-12 and many unrelated peptides); GPQGPQ (a six-letter string that matches nothing reliably); collagen peptide (a marketing term with an enormous and mostly irrelevant literature); matrikine (a mechanism class covering many cosmetic peptides).
3 papers tagged human · 2 not reviews or lab · 1 clinical trial publications
Furthest stage reached: Published trials only, 1 clinical trial publication, no phased trial registered
Counted from Europe PMC indexing, not read by a person; a human tag can land on reviews, commentary or lab papers; clinical trial publications is the narrower count.
At a glance
Four things to know about Hexapeptide-9
Evidence
Cosmetic
Category
Skin and cosmetic
Common vial
Varies
Half-life
Not applicable as used
How much, and do you cycle it?
The range, and whether you take breaks.Supplier recommends 0.5 to 1.5 percent of the finished product, as directed by the product. Continuous, as a skincare ingredient Community practice
Cosmetic ingredients are used daily for as long as the product is used. No cycling scheme applies and none has been studied.
Not applicable as usedNo figure
No circulating half-life is relevant for a peptide applied to the skin surface, and none has been measured. The durability figure that matters here is enzymatic: in the 2025 study linear hexapeptide-9 was completely hydrolyzed within 24 hours of exposure to collagenase type I, while the ring-closed version largely survived.
You can compare this against the whole library to see where it sits.
How is it given?
Dosing context and source notes.Supplied as a ready-made solution, so there is nothing to mix.
Ashland recommends 0.5 to 1.5 percent of the finished formula and says its wrinkle claim was tested at 1.5 percent. Hold that beside the 2025 trial, where the active was used at 0.002 percent. That is a difference of roughly 750-fold in concentration between the supplier's own test level and the only randomized study in this area, and the study was not testing this molecule anyway. What reaches your skin is whatever a brand chose to include, and brands rarely disclose it.
How do you store it?
Before mixing, and after.Room temperature, out of light. Cap it tight after each use.
Hexapeptide-9 ships as a cream, gel, or serum. Keep it at room temperature away from sun and heat unless the label says otherwise. Refrigerating an emulsion can split the texture. Watch for color, smell, or separation changes and stop using it if any appear.
What are the side effects and cautions?
Known cautions and warnings for this compound.Solubility, computed: 33% charged residues, 33% hydrophobic. Water usually sufficient.
A first-pass rule from peptide manufacturers' guidance. It does not account for disulfide bridges, salt form or how the powder was dried, and it predicts what should be easy rather than what will happen in your vial.
Who should avoid it
- Any injected use: it is a cosmetic ingredient with no injectable product, no sterile grade and no human injection data
- Reading the 2025 CHP-9 trial as evidence for this ingredient
Stop and get help
- A rash, stinging or swelling that does not settle after stopping the product
Common effects
- Nothing specific is documented. Cosmetic peptides at these levels are usually well tolerated, and that is a general statement rather than a finding about this one
Where this page says nothing is established, that means nobody has studied it, not that a compound is safe.
Is Hexapeptide-9 approved?
And where the numbers on this page come from.Not as a medicine. Hexapeptide-9 is sold without a prescription as a cosmetic ingredient, which is a different thing from being approved as a drug.
- Approval statusCosmeticSold without a prescription as an ingredient in cosmetics, such as skincare and hair products. The FDA does not approve cosmetics before they are sold, and being easy to buy says nothing about whether it works.
- RouteOn the skin (cream or serum)
- Checked25 October 2026
- DoseNo dose has been established in people.
- Vial sizeFrom what vendors typically list; not a recommendation.
- Sources
What has happened recently
A cosmetic ingredient, so it needs no approval to be sold. Hexapeptide-9 is an International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients name registered with the function skin conditioning, formula C24H38N8O9. Two different CAS numbers circulate for the same structure across supplier and database records, so no single number is given here as the definitive one. Supply has changed hands repeatedly: the Collaxyl line began at Vincience in France, ISP acquired Vincience in 2007, and Ashland completed its acquisition of ISP in August 2011. Ashland still publishes the line under the Vincience brand, so a document bearing the Vincience name is not necessarily old and not necessarily from that company. Ashland sells Collaxyl IS biofunctional, declared as Water, Butylene Glycol, Aqua, Hexapeptide-9, and a grade called Collaxyl ng. Seqens has since introduced PeptiCode HP-9, a precision-fermentation grade. No drug approval exists anywhere and none is sought, because a cosmetic ingredient is not a drug.
You can compare this against the whole library, or read how to check a seller.
What else is like Hexapeptide-9?
Others in Skin and cosmetic, side by side.If you're weighing Hexapeptide-9, it's worth reading Melanotan III, Myristoyl Pentapeptide-17, and Oligopeptide-1 (EGF) in the same class.
The clearest case on this site of a trial being used to sell the ingredient it was designed to replace.
- Dose
- Supplier recommends 0.5 to 1.5 percent of the finished product
- How often
- As directed by the product
A name sold on the research market with no molecule publicly attached to it.
- Dose
- Research only
- How often
- Not established
The lash-serum peptide, used where people want to avoid prostaglandins.
- Dose
- Serum, per product
- How often
- Daily
Epidermal growth factor under a cosmetic name, and the only real protein on this shelf.
- Dose
- Serum, per product
- How often
- Daily
Guides for this compound
- mcg vs mg: The Peptide Dosing Mistake to Avoid
Your vial says mg and your protocol says mcg. Here is the conversion and how to check it.
- How to Read a Peptide COA
What the purity number does and does not tell you, and how to spot an edited report.
- How to Vet a Peptide Vendor
Independent COAs, HPLC purity, and the red flags that mean walk away.
Sources
- Chang and colleagues, Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology(2025)The trial routinely cited for this ingredient, and it tests CHP-9 rather than hexapeptide-9. Open access, read in full. Describes CHP-9 as made 'by linking the head and tail of hexapeptide-9 with an amide bond' and, in the discussion, says the authors 'for the first time cyclized hexapeptide-9 by linking its carboxy and amino termini'. Reports that more than 95 percent of CHP-9 remained after 24 hours of hydrolysis by collagenase type I 'whereas linear hexapeptide-9 was completely hydrolyzed'. The clinical study randomized 96 Asian participants aged 30 to 55, of whom 91 completed, comparing a 0.002 percent CHP-9 serum, a 0.002 percent retinol serum and a matching vehicle twice daily for 56 days with wrinkle imaging as the primary measure. The authors note that 'the content of retinol in the serum was only 0.002%' and that 'this under-dosing of retinol may be the major reason for the lack of irritation events in our study'. The corresponding author is affiliated with the Global R&D Center of Shanghai Chicmax Cosmetic Co. Ltd and with Shanghai Kans Biotech Co. Ltd, and most co-authors list the Kans Biotech affiliation. The paper states 'the authors declare no conflicts of interest' and 'the authors received no specific funding for this work'.
- Ashland, Collaxyl IS biofunctional product listing(2026)Gives the supplier as Ashland and the declared composition as Water, Butylene Glycol, Aqua, Hexapeptide-9. Carries the claim that it is 'clinically proven to reduce significantly the length and depth of wrinkles', with no participant count, duration or figure attached. Note the carrier: butylene glycol, not glycerin.
- Cosmetic ingredient reference entry, hexapeptide-9(2026)Gives the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients name as HEXAPEPTIDE-9 with the single registered function skin conditioning, and the molecular formula C24H38N8O9. Describes the peptide as a matrikine resembling a fragment of collagen.
Beyond these, 8 records are indexed. Browse the records