Cosmetic ingredient reference

Capixyl: what is in the blend, and where the evidence comes from

Capixyl is a trademark covering two actives, not a molecule. This page names them, gives the identity data for the one that has any, states the use concentrations that are actually citable, and is direct about the fact that the trial everyone quotes for this ingredient is a supplier’s own technical file rather than a published paper.

Reviewed by Jason Fleming — Biochemistry consultant, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.Last reviewed: 2026-07-22

What Capixyl is

Capixyl is a trade name belonging to Lucas Meyer Cosmetics. The blend contains two actives in a carrier:

Acetyl Tetrapeptide-3 — a synthetic tetrapeptide, Ac-Lys-Gly-His-Lys-NH₂, CAS 827306-88-7. This is a single, defined molecule with a clean public chemical record, and it has its own reference page here.
Red clover extract — Trifolium pratense, described in the trichology literature as rich in the isoflavone biochanin A.

Two consequences follow immediately for a formulator. First, there is no such thing as a molecular weight, a CAS number or an expected mass for “Capixyl” — a certificate of analysis for a blend cannot confirm identity the way one for a molecule can. Second, the botanical half is an extract, which means batch-to-batch variation in isoflavone content is a real variable and one you are trusting the supplier to control.

The mechanisms attributed to the blend in the review literature are, for the peptide, an increase in extracellular-matrix proteins associated with hair anchoring, and for biochanin A, inhibition of 5-alpha-reductase. Both are mechanistic propositions reported in a review, not demonstrated topical outcomes, and this page makes no hair claim of its own.

Reference data

Identity data exists only for the peptide constituent. The blend itself has no single chemical identity, and we do not invent one.

Property	Value
Trade name / owner	Capixyl™ — Lucas Meyer Cosmetics
Type	Trade blend of two actives in a carrier — not a single substance
Active 1 (INCI)	Acetyl Tetrapeptide-3
Active 1 sequence	Ac-Lys-Gly-His-Lys-NH₂
Active 1 CAS	827306-88-7
Active 1 formula / mass	C₂₂H₃₉N₉O₅ · ≈ 509.6 g/mol
Active 2	Trifolium pratense (red clover) extract, described as rich in biochanin A
Blend molecular weight	Not applicable — a blend has no molecular weight
Documented use level (blend)	5% intensive; 0.5–2.5% preventive (Bikash 2025)
Peptide content of the blend	Supplier figure; not independently published

Where the evidence actually comes from

The number everyone quotes is a supplier document

The figures attached to Capixyl across the internet — 30 men with androgenetic alopecia, 15 receiving the 5% lotion and 15 a placebo, applied daily as 20 drops over four months, with the anagen-to-telogen ratio reported as increasing 46% on the active against a 33% reduction on placebo — trace to the Lucas Meyer Cosmetics technical file for Capixyl, dated 2013. This is not us inferring that; a 2025 review in the International Journal of Trichology cites it explicitly as a technical file, alongside the peer-reviewed papers it also reviewed.

A supplier technical file is not nothing. Ingredient houses run real studies and their files often contain more methodological detail than a journal abstract. But it has not been peer-reviewed, it was not independently run, the full protocol is not publicly auditable, and the party reporting the result sells the material. A claim built on it should be described as what it is.

The one properly published trial

Lueangarun and Panchaprateep (2020) is a real, indexed, 24-week, prospective, randomised, triple-blind controlled trial in 32 subjects with mild-to-moderate androgenetic alopecia. It compared a combination of biochanin A, acetyl tetrapeptide-3 and ginseng extracts against 3% minoxidil solution, twice daily. Terminal hair counts increased in both arms (8.3%, p = 0.009 for the combination; 8.7%, p = 0.002 for minoxidil), with no statistically significant difference between the arms, and no local adverse reactions in the combination group. The authors declared no funding and no conflicts of interest.

Two things to hold onto. It is not a trial of Capixyl — the tested article contained a third active. And the conclusion of “comparable efficacy” rests on failing to find a difference in a 32-person study, which a study of that size has limited power to do; that is not the same as showing equivalence.

The combination-product trial

A frequently cited comparison of a “Redensyl, Capixyl and Procapil” combination against 5% minoxidil in 106 men over 24 weeks was published in the Journal of Cosmetology & Trichology in 2019 (Karaca and Akpolat), and reported higher researcher, photographic and self-evaluation scores for the combination arm. It is not indexed in PubMed, and it tests three trade blends at once, so it cannot isolate any of them. We include it because it is widely quoted, and note both limitations rather than either omitting or laundering it.

The reviewer’s own summary

The same 2025 review, surveying this whole class of hair actives, concludes that most of the underlying studies have limited sample size, lack comparison with standard therapies, show non-uniformity between study groups, do not disclose the type of alopecia treated, and carry conflicts of interest. That is the fairest one-sentence summary of the evidence position for Capixyl, and it comes from a peer-reviewed source rather than from us.

Formulation and handling

The blend is pre-solubilised. Trade material is a diluted liquid; the use levels above are levels of that liquid. Buying the isolated peptide as powder is a different formulation exercise at a different weight.
The peptide is cationic. Two lysines and a histidine make Acetyl Tetrapeptide-3 strongly basic at cosmetic pH, which raises real compatibility questions with anionic surfactants and anionic thickeners in a shampoo or gel. This follows from the structure rather than from a measurement on the blend.
Botanical variability. An extract is not a defined substance. Isoflavone content varies with source material and process, and colour and odour contribution to a finished product varies with it.
No published stability data. We have found no peer-reviewed pH-stability, preservative-compatibility or accelerated-ageing dataset for this blend. Any such data is the supplier’s.

Verifying what you received

This is the strongest practical argument for buying the constituent rather than the complex. A single peptide has one expected mass — approximately 510 Da for Acetyl Tetrapeptide-3 — so mass spectrometry can confirm identity outright, and HPLC can report purity as a single number. A proprietary blend offers no such anchor: there is no expected mass to check against, and the ratio of the two actives is not published.

Where we supply the peptide, every batch carries a Certificate of Analysis reporting both analyses. See how to read a COA, and check a batch on verify.

Verify a batch

Every order ships with a per-batch Certificate of Analysis. Have a vial in hand? Enter its lot number to look up the COA for that exact batch.

Verify a batch →How to read a COA

What is not established

Any peer-reviewed clinical trial of Capixyl as such. The headline figures are from a 2013 supplier technical file.
The contribution of either active individually. Every study involving them tests a combination.
Equivalence to minoxidil. The published trial found no significant difference in 32 subjects, which is a weaker statement than equivalence.
Published stability, permeability or compatibility data for the blend.

Sourcing and related ingredients

Supplied as raw material with a per-batch Certificate of Analysis. Not supplied as a finished cosmetic, and a certificate is not a cosmetic safety assessment.

Related pages: Acetyl Tetrapeptide-3 is the defined molecule inside this blend; Redensyl is the other supplier-file-backed hair blend in this cluster and is routinely sold alongside it. The full ingredient list is on the cosmetic ingredient hub.

Frequently asked questions

What is Capixyl made of?

Two actives: the biomimetic peptide Acetyl Tetrapeptide-3 and a red clover (Trifolium pratense) extract rich in the isoflavone biochanin A, supplied together in a carrier. Capixyl is a trademark held by Lucas Meyer Cosmetics; it is not an INCI name and not a single substance. On an ingredient list you will see the constituent INCI names.

What concentration of Capixyl is used?

A 2025 peer-reviewed review tabulates 5% for intensive treatment and 0.5–2.5% for preventive care. Those are percentages of the diluted trade blend, not of either active. The peptide content within the blend is a supplier figure we cannot independently source.

Is there a published clinical trial of Capixyl?

Not in the peer-reviewed literature that we could find. The widely-quoted study — 30 men with androgenetic alopecia, 15 on 5% Capixyl lotion and 15 on placebo for four months — comes from the Lucas Meyer Cosmetics technical file dated 2013, as identified by a 2025 review that traced the citation. The one properly published randomised trial involving the same two actives tested them alongside a third ingredient, ginseng extract, not as Capixyl.

What is biochanin A supposed to do?

The proposed mechanism reported for it is inhibition of 5-alpha-reductase, the enzyme that converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone. That is the same enzyme class that finasteride targets systemically. It is a mechanistic proposal reported in the trichology literature, not a demonstrated topical outcome, and this page makes no claim about hair.

Should I buy the blend or the peptide?

That is a formulation decision, but the analytical argument favours the isolated peptide: a single molecule has one expected mass and one purity number, so a certificate can actually confirm what you received. A trade blend has neither, and its exact composition is proprietary.

Literature cited

Bikash C. “Topical Alternatives for Hair Loss: Beyond the Conventional.” Int J Trichology. 2025;17(1):13–19. PMID 40654553. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40654553. (Constituents, use concentrations, and identification of the Capixyl technical file as the source of the 30-subject figures.)
Lueangarun S, Panchaprateep R. “An Herbal Extract Combination (Biochanin A, Acetyl tetrapeptide-3, and Ginseng Extracts) versus 3% Minoxidil Solution for the Treatment of Androgenetic Alopecia: A 24-week, Prospective, Randomized, Triple-blind, Controlled Trial.” J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 2020;13(10):32–37. PMID 33584955. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33584955. (n = 32; no funding declared; three-component test article.)
Lucas Meyer Cosmetics. “Technical File Capixyl™.” 2013. A supplier document, not a peer-reviewed publication; cited here only as the traced origin of the widely-quoted 30-subject figures, per Bikash (2025).
Karaca N, Akpolat ND. “A comparative study between topical 5% minoxidil and topical ‘redensyl, capixyl, and procapil’ combination in men with androgenetic alopecia.” J Cosmo Trichol. 2019;5:140. Not indexed in PubMed; tests three trade blends together.
National Center for Biotechnology Information. “PubChem Compound Summary for CID 11752568, Acetyl Tetrapeptide-3.” pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/11752568 (identity data for the peptide constituent).

RESEARCH USE ONLY — NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. All products are sold strictly for in-vitro laboratory research and are not intended for human or veterinary use, ingestion, or administration. Nothing on this page is a medical or efficacy claim. You must be 21 or older to browse this catalog.