Boreal Biolabs vs The Ordinary Copper Peptides

Short answer. The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1% is a well made, inexpensive multi-peptide serum in which copper tripeptide-1 is 1 of 10 peptides. Boreal Biolabs is a single mechanism serum built around copper tripeptide-1 and sold as a 90 day protocol. If you want a general peptide serum for firmness at the lowest price, buy theirs. If your specific problem is acne scarring and texture and you want 1 variable you can actually judge over 90 days, that is what ours is for.

Both are 30 ml. Both contain copper tripeptide-1. That is where the similarity stops, and the difference is not really about quality. It is about how many things each bottle is trying to do at once.

Boreal Biolabs copper peptide serum, 30 ml blue dropper bottle

What The Ordinary actually is

Look at their ingredient list rather than the marketing. After water, glycerin and a ferment lysate, you get copper tripeptide-1, and then: acetyl hexapeptide-8, pentapeptide-18, palmitoyl tripeptide-1, palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7, palmitoyl tripeptide-38, dipeptide diaminobutyroyl benzylamide diacetate, and acetylarginyltryptophyl diphenylglycine. Plus hyaluronic acid, a full amino acid complex, and sugars.

That is a genuinely generous formula for the money. It is also 10 peptides doing 10 different jobs. Acetyl hexapeptide-8 is a neuropeptide that softens expression lines. Palmitoyl tripeptide-38 targets matrix synthesis. Pentapeptide-18 is another line-focused peptide. These are line and firmness actives, aimed at a 40 year old worried about wrinkles.

The "1%" in the name refers to a copper peptide complex, not to 1% GHK-Cu. This is a normal and honest way to label a blend, and it is worth understanding before you compare any 2 numbers on any 2 bottles.

Why 10 peptides is a problem for a scar

Not because blends do not work. Because you cannot read the result.

You are 22, you have rolling scars on both cheeks and post-inflammatory redness, and you start a 10 peptide serum. 8 weeks later your skin looks somewhat better. Which peptide did that? Was it the copper tripeptide remodelling the matrix, or the hyaluronic acid plumping the surface, or the amino acids improving barrier hydration, or the fact that you also stopped using a harsh cleanser in week 3?

You cannot know. So you cannot decide whether to keep going, increase frequency, or stop. Most people in that position quit at week 6 and add it to the list of things that did not work.

A single mechanism serum is a worse product on a spec sheet and a better instrument. 1 active, 1 protocol, 1 question: is the texture changing or not.

The mechanism, and why it is different from a marks serum

Most of what is sold for "acne scars" is not working on scars at all. Vitamin C, niacinamide, azelaic acid and tranexamic acid work on pigment. They fade flat brown, red or purple marks, and they do that well. If your face is flat and discoloured, those ingredients are the correct answer and you should use them.

They do nothing for an indent, because an indent is not a colour problem. It is a structural one: collagen that was destroyed during inflammation and rebuilt in a disorganised, insufficient way.

Copper tripeptide-1 is interesting for scars specifically because it acts as a signalling molecule rather than a surface active. The published work on GHK-Cu describes it modulating the balance between matrix metalloproteinases, the enzymes that break down extracellular matrix, and their tissue inhibitors, while stimulating collagen and glycosaminoglycan synthesis (Pickart, J Biomater Sci Polym Ed, 2008, PMID 18644225; Pickart et al., Biomed Res Int, 2015, PMID 26236730). In plainer terms, it supports the skin breaking down disorganised scar collagen and laying down more organised replacement.

The gene expression work is the reason this molecule gets attention at all: GHK has been reported to modulate expression of more than 4,000 human genes in microarray studies (Pickart and Margolina, Int J Mol Sci, 2018, PMID 29986520). That is a statement about breadth of biological activity, not a promise about your face.

What the research does not say: it does not say a topical serum removes scars. It does not say results are guaranteed, permanent, or the same for everyone. Research on GHK-Cu supports a remodelling mechanism. It does not make this or any other serum a medical treatment.

The evidence that matters most for scars

There is 1 study that gets closer to this question than any amount of ingredient theory. Kumar and Srinivasan compared dermaroller alone against dermaroller combined with 1% copper peptide in atrophic facial acne scars: 24 patients, 12 per group, 5 sessions a month apart, scored on the Goodman and Baron scale (JMSCR 7(2), 2019).

Total scar scores fell 29.17% with the roller alone and 52.32% when copper peptide was added. Boxcar scars did best in the copper peptide group at 77.78%, rolling scars 34.79%, and ice pick scars did not move at all.

Read that honestly and 3 things follow. Copper peptide plus needling is a real, studied combination and the copper arm roughly doubled the result. The concentration used was 1%, which is worth knowing before anyone sells you on a big number. And it is a small study using a 1.5 mm clinical roller under anaesthetic, so the mechanism carries over to home use but the numbers do not.

The full breakdown of that study is in copper peptides and microneedling. This is also why the 3 bottle option ships with a titanium dermaroller rather than a discount code. It is a home strength 0.25 mm roller, not the clinical one from the study, but the pairing is the one the evidence actually tested.

Where The Ordinary wins

Be honest about this or the rest is not worth reading.

Price. Nothing in this category competes with them, and they built their business on refusing to charge a markup for marketing. That is a real virtue.

Breadth. If you are in your 30s or 40s and your concern is early lines and loss of firmness rather than scarring, a multi-peptide blend is the more sensible purchase. Ours is narrower and would be the wrong tool.

Availability. Boots, Sephora, Ulta, their own site, most countries, next day. You can buy it this afternoon.

Track record. They have been making peptide serums at scale for a decade with consistent formulation and no drama.

If any of those 4 matter more to you than the rest of this page, buy theirs. This is not a difficult call and we would rather you spent 20 pounds well than 39 badly.

Where we win

Focus. 1 active, so you can read the result.

A protocol instead of a bottle. Texture first, usually somewhere in weeks 2 to 3. Marks and shallow scars filling from roughly weeks 4 to 6. The full remodel judged at 90 days. Those windows are drawn from the GHK-Cu literature and from the 5 month scar study above, not from a marketing meeting, and they are deliberately slower than what most brands promise.

The dermaroller. The 3 bottle option includes it because the strongest scar evidence for copper peptides pairs it with needling. Ours is 0.25 mm for home use, gentler than the clinical roller in the study.

The guarantee. 90 days, money back. The protocol takes 90 days, so the guarantee covers the whole of it. A 30 day guarantee on a 90 day mechanism is not a guarantee, it is an expiry date before the thing can work.

Can you use both

Yes, and quite a few people should. They are not chemically at odds. Use 1 in the morning and 1 at night, or alternate days. What you should not do is start both in the same week, because then you are back to not knowing what did what.

If you are already most of the way through a bottle of theirs and it is doing something, finish it.

Which one is for you

Buy The Ordinary if: you want a general peptide serum, your concern is fine lines or firmness rather than scarring, you want the lowest price, or you are new to peptides and want to find out whether your skin tolerates them before spending more.

Buy Boreal Biolabs if: your problem is specifically acne scarring, texture or post-acne redness, you have already been through retinoids or isotretinoin, you want 1 variable you can judge, and you are willing to give it 90 days.

If you are still working out which kind of scarring you have, start with how to fix acne scars.

Buy neither if: you have active inflammatory acne. Get that under control first, with a doctor if it is moderate or severe. Remodelling scar tissue while new scars are still forming is working against yourself.

FAQ

Is The Ordinary's copper peptide serum good? Yes. It is a well formulated multi-peptide serum at a price nobody else matches. Its copper tripeptide-1 sits alongside 9 other peptides, which makes it a broad firmness and line product rather than a scar-focused one.

Does The Ordinary have more or less copper peptide than Boreal Biolabs? Their "1%" refers to a copper peptide complex within a blend, and neither brand publishes a directly comparable figure for copper tripeptide-1 alone. Comparing the numbers on the 2 front labels would be comparing 2 different things, so we do not make that claim.

Will either of them remove my acne scars? No serum removes scars. Both may support the appearance of scarring improving over time. Deep ice pick scars in particular usually need a clinical procedure, and any brand that tells you otherwise is selling you something.

How long before I can tell if it is working? Texture tends to shift first, often in the first few weeks. Scar appearance is a longer process; the scar study above ran 5 months and our own protocol is judged at 90 days. If nothing at all has changed by day 90, it is not working for you.

Can I use copper peptides with tretinoin? Yes, separated. Copper peptides in the morning, tretinoin at night, or on alternate evenings. Do not layer them in the same application.