All About Bakuchiol: The Science, the Different Forms, and What to Look For
- thereformedproduct
- Jul 18
- 9 min read
I have been looking forward to writing this post for a long time. Bakuchiol is one of those ingredients that seems to be everywhere these days, especially in clean beauty brands. It's often referred to as a "plant retinol" or a "natural retinol alternative." But is that really the right way to think about bakuchiol? Is it truly a 1:1 replacement for retinol? Should everyone start tossing out their retinol products?
Let's take a deep dive into bakuchiol—what it is, what it isn't, the different forms available, and my favorite part: what does the science actually say? We'll leave the marketing buzzwords at the door and let the research do the talking.
What Is Bakuchiol?
First...how do you even pronounce it? I will be the first to admit I butcher it...Every. Time. Bakuchiol is pronounced "buh-KOO-chee-all"...it just feels unnatural to say, probably just me.
Bakuchiol is a naturally occurring compound found primarily in the seeds and leaves of the Psoralea corylifolia, more commonly known as the babchi plant. It is native to parts of India and Asia. Babchi has been used for centuries in traditional Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine ⁴˒⁵ for a variety of things, including skin conditions. Long before it found its way into luxury skincare products, it was already an established medicinal plant.
Now let's get a little technical...don't worry it'll be fun... 😉
Bakuchiol is classified as a meroterpene phenol, which simply tells chemists what family of molecules it belongs to. While that may sound like something straight out of an organic chemistry textbook, it actually gives us a few useful clues about the ingredient. Bakuchiol is a naturally occurring plant compound, it's oil-soluble (making it well suited for oil-based/anhydrous skincare formulations), and its chemical structure made researchers interested in exploring its antioxidant potential.⁴
One of the most important things this classification tells us, however, is what bakuchiol isn't.
Bakuchiol is not vitamin A. It doesn't come from vitamin A, it doesn't become vitamin A once it's applied to the skin, and it isn't another form of a retinoid. Despite often being referred to as "plant retinol," bakuchiol is chemically unrelated to retinol, retinaldehyde, tretinoin, or any other vitamin A derivative. It has an entirely different chemical structure.
So if bakuchiol isn't a retinoid, why is everyone comparing it to one? Well, that's where things start to get interesting. A molecule's chemical classification can tell scientists about its structure and help predict some of its general properties, but it can't tell us exactly how that molecule behaves in human skin. For that, we have to look at laboratory and clinical research—and this is where bakuchiol begins to surprise us. Since bakuchiol is oil-soluble, you often find it in facial oils, oil-based serums, creams, and balms. Different formulation types can influence how ingredients interact with the skin, but that's a rabbit hole we'll save for another article.⁴
Bakuchiol & Skin: Why Researchers Took Notice
Despite being chemically unrelated to vitamin A, researchers noticed something fascinating. Early laboratory studies suggested that bakuchiol might influence some of the same biological processes associated with healthy skin as retinol.¹ That unexpected finding sparked a wave of research aimed at answering one simple question:
How can two completely different molecules produce some similar visible results?
In 2014, a study published by Chaudhuri and Bojanowski set out to understand bakuchiol and find answers by examining how bakuchiol affected gene expression in skin cells compared to retinol.¹ This simply means the cells will turn "on" or "off" certain genes depending on what they need to do. Every cell in your skin contains the same DNA, but not every gene is active all the time. A simple way to think of it is to imagine our DNA is like a menu at a restaurant. Every recipe the restaurant is capable of making is printed on that menu. However, just because a dish is on the menu doesn't mean it's being cooked at any given time. It's the orders coming into the kitchen that determine which dishes get made. Our cells work in a very similar way.
Bakuchiol appears to regulate many of the same genes associated with skin function and extracellular matrix remodeling (or the structural support/scaffolding that helps give skin its strength and resilience).¹ In other words, skin cells began to produce some of the same proteins involved in maintaining healthy skin. That discovery helped spark additional clinical research to determine whether those laboratory findings translated into visible improvements in real people.¹
Cells Are One Thing...People Are Another
Alright, so science and studies are one thing - but what we are all really wondering is how it relates to us. Real people. And as we all know, we have a range of factors that effect our skin. Environmental issues, hormones, diet, and our ridiculously complicated 10 step skincare routine (well, not anymore...). As humans we are all complex, hot messes.
That's why the next step in the scientific process is clinical research—testing an ingredient in real people to see whether those promising laboratory findings actually translate into visible improvements. In 2019, researchers published what has become one of the most frequently cited bakuchiol studies to date.² They looked at how it compared to retinol in people. But before we look at the results, let's take a quick look at how the study was designed. Not all research is created equal, and the way a study is conducted can have a big impact on how much confidence we place in the findings.²
Study Design Definitions:
Prospective means the researchers followed participants forward in time rather than looking back at existing data.
Randomized means participants were assigned to each treatment group by chance, helping reduce bias.
Double-blind means neither the participants nor the researchers knew who was receiving which product during the study, helping prevent expectations from influencing the results.
In clinical research, this type of study is considered one of the strongest ways to compare two treatments because it helps minimize bias and allows researchers to more confidently attribute differences in the results to the products being tested rather than outside factors. That said, no study is perfect. This trial's sample size and duration were smaller and shorter than I would have liked to see. It is still a solid cosmetic study, but larger studies with more participants and longer follow-up periods would help strengthen the evidence even further.
So...what came out of this study that had so many people flipping out about bakuchiol oil?
Fine Lines & Wrinkles
After 12 weeks, participants using 0.5% bakuchiol twice daily showed statistically significant improvements in several signs of facial photoaging, including:²
Wrinkle surface area
Wrinkle severity (depth & length)
The improvements observed in the bakuchiol group were comparable to those seen in the retinol group.² This is one of the reasons bakuchiol generated so much excitement. The researchers weren't simply observing healthier-looking skin in a lab; they demonstrated measurable improvements in visible signs of photoaging in real people.²
Hyperpigmentation
The study also found improvements in hyperpigmentation, including reductions in areas of uneven pigmentation associated with photoaging. Hyperpigmentation is simply the medical term for areas of skin that have become darker than the surrounding skin due to excess melanin production. This includes many forms of age spots and sun-related discoloration. Wrinkles tend to steal the spotlight when we talk about aging skin, but uneven pigmentation is often one of the first signs that make our skin look older and less radiant. A more even skin tone can make a surprisingly big difference in the overall appearance of the skin—even if every wrinkle hasn't disappeared.²
Skin Tolerability
Perhaps one of the most interesting findings involved tolerability. And to be honest, one of the reasons I really love bakuchiol oil as an ingredient as someone who has extremely sensitive skin. In the study participants using retinol reported:²
More facial scaling
More stinging
The bakuchiol group generally experienced fewer of these side effects while still demonstrating improvements in photoaging. Participants using retinol also reported more burning and itching, although those differences were not statistically significant in this study.² This doesn't mean bakuchiol is non-irritating—any skincare ingredient has the potential to cause irritation in some individuals (see note below...). However, this study suggests bakuchiol may be better tolerated than retinol for many users.² This is particularly relevant for individuals who struggle with irritation when using traditional retinoids.
There is no magical skincare ingredient that's guaranteed to never irritate anyone. Every ingredient, even some of the gentlest, most well-studied ones - has the potential to cause irritation in the right (or perhaps wrong) circumstances. The real question isn't, "can this ingredient cause irritation?" it's, "how likely is it to cause irritation, and in whom?"
So What Does This Mean For You & Me?
This study gives us genuine reason to consider bakuchiol as an ingredient capable of delivering real results. It demonstrated measurable improvements in several visible signs of photoaging while generally causing fewer reports of irritation than retinol. But it's equally important to understand what this study doesn't tell us...
It doesn't prove that bakuchiol is "better" than retinol.
It doesn't confirm the ideal concentration to use.
It doesn't tell us what happens after six months or a year of use.
And, most importantly, it doesn't mean every person will have the same experience.
What it does tell us is that bakuchiol has earned its place as a legitimate skincare ingredient worthy of continued research—not because of clever marketing, but because well-designed human clinical studies have demonstrated measurable improvements in photoaged skin.²
While the research is encouraging, it's also worth keeping the bigger picture in mind. A 2024 systematic review concluded that, although bakuchiol has shown promise across multiple human studies, much of the existing clinical literature still relies on small, open-label trials with a high risk of bias.³ Larger, well-controlled studies will help us better understand who is most likely to benefit, the optimal concentrations to use, and where bakuchiol fits alongside more established skincare ingredients. That doesn't mean bakuchiol isn't effective—it simply means we should be careful not to overstate what the current evidence can tell us. As with many skincare ingredients, individual results can vary depending on factors like skin type, concerns, formulation, and consistency of use.
Not All "Bakuchiol" Is Created Equal
For those of us who walk through life skeptical, this is likely not shocking. Depending on the supplier, bakuchiol may be offered as a concentrated CO₂ extract, a cold-pressed babchi seed oil, or another specialized raw material. Although they all originate from the same plant, they can differ significantly in composition, concentration, and recommended usage levels. Understanding those differences is important—not just for formulators, but for consumers trying to make sense of an ingredient list. They also have slightly different properties and results.⁴
Cold-Pressed Babchi Seed Oil | CO₂-Extracted Bakuchiol | |
How It's Made | The seeds are mechanically pressed to produce an oil. | Carbon dioxide is used to selectively extract bakuchiol from the plant. |
Bakuchiol Concentration | Naturally contains bakuchiol, but the amount can vary. | Manufactured to provide a standardized concentration of bakuchiol. |
What Else Is In It | Contains fatty acids and many other naturally occurring plant compounds. | Primarily contains bakuchiol with fewer of the other plant compounds. |
Usage Rate | Depends on the specific ingredient and formulation. | Usually effective at much lower percentages. |
Consistency Between Batches | The composition can vary from one harvest to another. | More consistent from batch to batch. |
Why Someone Might Choose It | To use the whole botanical oil. | To use a more concentrated, consistent source of bakuchiol. |
Sun Sensitivity | May increase sun sensitivity because it can naturally contain psoralens and other furocoumarins.* | Bakuchiol itself is not considered photosensitizing, and standardized extracts are designed to minimize these compounds. |
*This doesn't mean all products made with cold-pressed babchi oil will cause sun sensitivity. The concern comes from naturally occurring compounds such as psoralens that may be present in the oil—not from bakuchiol itself. The amount present depends on how the ingredient is sourced and processed.
**Table information summarized from published reviews of bakuchiol chemistry, extraction methods, and commercially available raw materials. ⁴
Why I Chose a Concentrated CO₂-Extracted Bakuchiol
The published research is what first caught my attention, but my own experience using bakuchiol reinforced my interest in it. As someone with sensitive skin, I've personally found it to be a great fit, which made it an ingredient I wanted to explore for Eye Serum 01 and Facial Serum 01. Once I'd made that decision, the next step was choosing which form to use. After researching the available options, I chose a concentrated CO₂-extracted bakuchiol for several reasons:
It provides a standardized concentration of bakuchiol, allowing me to formulate with greater consistency from batch to batch.
It aligns with the published clinical research I reviewed while developing these formulas.
Bakuchiol itself is not considered photosensitizing, and standardized extracts are designed to minimize naturally occurring phototoxic compounds found in whole babchi oil, making it suitable for products intended for both morning and evening use.
It supports my formulation philosophy: choosing ingredients based on evidence, consistency, and transparency—not marketing trends.
Does this mean every formula should use a CO₂ extract? No. A formulator may choose a whole babchi oil or a standardized extract depending on the goals of the finished product. For the lightweight, leave-on facial serums I wanted to create, a concentrated CO₂-extracted bakuchiol was the right fit.
Explore the Research
One of the core principles of Opensource Beauty is transparency. The information presented in this blog is based on the scientific literature available at the time of writing. Wherever possible, I've linked directly to the original publications so you can explore the research for yourself. Science is always evolving, and as new evidence emerges, my understanding—and these articles—may evolve with it.
References
1. Chaudhuri RK, Bojanowski K. Bakuchiol: A Retinol-Like Functional Compound Revealed by Gene Expression Profiling and Clinically Proven to Have Anti-Aging Effects. International Journal of Cosmetic Science. 2014;36(3):221-230. doi:10.1111/ics.12117
2. Dhaliwal S, Rybak I, Ellis SR, et al. Prospective, Randomized, Double-Blind Assessment of Topical Bakuchiol and Retinol for Facial Photoageing. British Journal of Dermatology. 2019;180(2):289-296. doi:10.1111/bjd.16918
3. Fanning A, et al. Human Clinical Trials Using Topical Bakuchiol Formulations for the Treatment of Skin Disorders: A Systematic Review. Journal of Drugs in Dermatology. 2024;23(3):239-244.
4. Mascarenhas-Melo F, Ribeiro MM, Kahkesh KH, et al. Comprehensive review of the skin use of bakuchiol: physicochemical properties, sources, bioactivities, nanotechnology delivery systems, regulatory and toxicological concerns. Phytochemistry Reviews. 2024;23:1377–1413. doi:10.1007/s11101-024-09926-y.
5. Park SJH. A comprehensive review of topical bakuchiol for the treatment of photoaging. Journal of Integrative Dermatology. Published online September 16, 2022. doi:10.64550/joid.9jag0x17.
