Peptide guides
The how-to layer — straight answers on reconstituting, dosing in units, storage, and spotting a real source. Written for first-timers, in plain language. Educational use only.
Mixing & dosing
4How to Reconstitute a Peptide: Step-by-Step
To reconstitute a peptide, you mix its freeze-dried powder with bacteriostatic water so you can draw and inject a precise dose. Wipe the stopper with alcohol, add the water slowly down the inside glass wall, swirl gently (never shake), let it fully dissolve into a clear solution, then refrigerate the mixed vial and use it within about four weeks. The amount of water you add doesn’t change how much peptide is in the vial — it only sets the concentration, which decides how many units you draw.
How to Convert a Peptide Dose to Insulin Units (With the Correct Math)
To convert a peptide dose to insulin units, find your concentration (vial mg ÷ water mL = mg/mL), then divide your dose by that concentration and multiply by 100. The result is the number of units to draw on a standard U-100 insulin syringe — just make sure your dose and vial are in the same unit first (convert mcg to mg by dividing by 1,000). Example: a 250 mcg (0.25 mg) dose from a 5 mg vial reconstituted with 2 mL water gives 2.5 mg/mL, so (0.25 ÷ 2.5) × 100 = 10 units.
Bacteriostatic vs. Sterile Water for Peptides: Which to Use and Why
Use bacteriostatic water by default. It's sterile water carrying a small amount of benzyl alcohol (typically 0.9%) — a preservative that stops bacteria from growing, so you can safely draw from the same vial for weeks. Plain sterile water and saline have no preservative and are single-use only.
mg vs mcg: How to Avoid a 1000× Dosing Mistake
One milligram (mg) equals 1000 micrograms (mcg), so reading a dose in the wrong unit — treating a 250 mcg dose as 250 mg — is a 1000× error. Always confirm whether your protocol is written in mg or mcg, then check that unit against the vial label before you draw.
Storage & sourcing
2How to Store Peptides (and How Long They Last)
Keep sealed peptide powder at room temperature, out of direct light — it stays stable for months and survives shipping heat fine. But once you reconstitute a vial, store it in the refrigerator at 2–8 °C (36–46 °F), keep it out of light, never freeze it, and use it within about 4 weeks — closer to 2–4 weeks for fragile peptides like GHK-Cu, MOTS-c, and NAD+.
How to Vet a Peptide Source and Read a COA: The Anti-Scam Guide
A trustworthy peptide source gives you a batch-specific Certificate of Analysis (COA) whose lot number matches the exact vial you receive, run by a named, accredited third-party lab (ISO/IEC 17025– or GLP-certified) that you can independently look up. Anything less — a vendor’s own in-house COA, an unnamed “third-party tested” claim, or a generic “99.9% pure on everything” number — is a red flag.