Bakuchiol: Nature’s Alternative to Retinol?
If you’ve spent any time looking into ingredients for ageing skin, you’ll almost certainly have come across retinol. It’s one of the best-known skincare ingredients for fine lines, uneven skin tone and texture. But more recently, another name has been getting a lot of attention: bakuchiol.
Bakuchiol is often described as nature’s alternative to retinol because it can offer some similar benefits for the appearance of fine lines, uneven skin tone and texture, but with a gentler approach.
So, is bakuchiol really a natural alternative to retinol?
And while we’re on the subject, what about Bakuchi Oil or Babchi Oil? Are they just another name for bakuchiol?
First, what exactly is retinol?
Retinol is a form of vitamin A and belongs to a family of ingredients known as retinoids. Now, vitamin A probably sounds reassuringly wholesome. After all, vitamins are good for us, right? Yes, but being a vitamin doesn’t automatically make an ingredient gentle when applied to the skin.
Retinol is best known for helping to improve the appearance of fine lines, pigmentation and skin texture, and for supporting collagen and skin renewal but it can also be quite unforgiving. Dryness, peeling and irritation are commonly associated with retinol, particularly when it is first introduced.
My personal experience with retinol was rather disappointing.
Before I discovered the beauty and benefits of natural skincare, I spent quite a lot of money on a retinol cream, fully expecting it to work miracles for my stressed skin, which at the time had become extremely dry and dehydrated, lost much of its elasticity, and looked wrinkled and dull. You can read my full story here.
My skin is actually very tolerant and not at all sensitive, so I didn’t experience redness, irritation or any kind of dramatic reaction. It simply didn’t do what I had hoped it would. In fact, my skin became drier and duller.
That expensive tube of retinol was eventually abandoned at the back of my bathroom cabinet, where it remains to this day (I just don’t like throwing things away 🫣).
Now, I’m not saying retinol doesn’t work. There is plenty of evidence that it does, and many people swear by it. It simply didn’t work for me.
Meet bakuchiol
As I began to study botanical ingredients, I became fascinated by bakuchiol. The more I learnt about it, the more I wanted to try it for myself.
Bakuchiol is a plant-derived compound found in Psoralea corylifolia, commonly known as the Babchi plant.
Despite often being compared with retinol, bakuchiol is not vitamin A and the two ingredients are not the same.
What makes bakuchiol so interesting is that research suggests it can offer similar visible benefits for the skin. One of the most interesting studies was published in the British Journal of Dermatology. In this 12-week clinical trial, 44 participants were asked to use either a 0.5% bakuchiol cream twice daily or a 0.5% retinol cream once daily.¹
Both groups showed improvements in wrinkles and hyperpigmentation, with no statistically significant difference between the two treatments. The people using retinol, however, reported more scaling and stinging.
Although it was a relatively small study, for those looking for cosmetic benefits associated with retinol but who prefer a gentler, plant-derived approach, bakuchiol is certainly worthy of consideration.
Bakuchi oil and bakuchiol: are they the same?
When I first learnt about bakuchiol early in my skincare learning journey, I bought myself a small bottle of Bakuchi Oil, only to realise that it wasn’t quite what I thought it was.
Bakuchi Oil, also known as Babchi Oil, is extracted from the seeds of the Psoralea corylifolia plant. It is the whole seed oil, so it contains a mixture of many naturally occurring compounds, and bakuchiol is just one of them.
So although they come from the same plant and have confusingly similar names, they are not the same thing. Think about sugar beet and sugar. Sugar occurs naturally within the beet, but a sugar beet and the sugar extracted from it are not the same thing. It’s much the same principle here.
Bakuchi Oil typically contains only around 1.6–12% bakuchiol, although the exact amount will vary. The rest of the oil consists of other naturally occurring compounds.
Why does the difference matter?
Some of the compounds naturally present in Bakuchi Oil are called psoralens. They can make the skin more sensitive to ultraviolet light, which is why Bakuchi or Babchi preparations may carry warnings about sun exposure.
Purified bakuchiol is different because the bakuchiol has been isolated from the other components of the seed oil. In a highly purified form, the unwanted psoralen compounds can be reduced to extremely low levels.
So when you see “Bakuchi Oil” and “bakuchiol” on skincare products, that difference is more than a matter of terminology – it affects what is actually being applied to your skin.
This was certainly a useful lesson for me after enthusiastically buying that first little bottle of Bakuchi Oil!
And what about LEORA?
Bakuchiol is one of the hero ingredients in LEORA’s Esther Evening Facial Oil.
It is not Bakuchi Oil, but a high-purity, plant-derived grade of bakuchiol called Sytenol® A.
Sytenol® A contains at least 99.7% bakuchiol, with extremely low levels of the psoralen compounds associated with the whole seed oil.²
At LEORA, every product is thoughtfully formulated with a thorough understanding of each ingredient: what it actually contains, what it can do for the skin and whether it is the right choice for the finished formulation. And I love sharing my knowledge and discoveries with you. 😊
Bakuchiol was a particularly exciting discovery for me because, unlike my experience with retinol, my skin responded beautifully to it. Combined with everything I had learnt about this fascinating ingredient, that experience is one of the reasons I chose Bakuchiol Sytenol® A as a hero ingredient in my luxurious Esther Evening Facial Oil.
So, is bakuchiol nature’s alternative to retinol?
I believe it is a fair description. Bakuchiol is a plant-derived ingredient with promising research behind it and some very interesting benefits for the appearance of ageing skin.
Retinol has a much longer history of research and clearly works very well for many people. But it didn’t for me. Bakuchiol did.
And remember, skincare is not simply about choosing the ingredient with the biggest reputation. It is about finding what works for your skin and understanding what you are actually putting on it.
And if you happen to see Bakuchi Oil and bakuchiol mentioned as though they are interchangeable, or spot either of them on a skincare label, remember: same plant, similar names, different ingredients.
References
Dhaliwal S, et al. “Prospective, randomized, double-blind assessment of topical bakuchiol and retinol for facial photoageing.” British Journal of Dermatology. 2019;180:289–296. DOI: 10.1111/bjd.16918.
Sytheon Ltd. Sytenol® A (Bakuchiol) technical and safety information.
© LEORA Natural Skincare 2026. The information contained herein is provided for information purposes only; the contents are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents herein. We disclaim, to the full extent permissible by law, all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents herein.
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