Our Amazonian Radiance Gel Cream passed its microbial and stability tests with flying colours and I will share here one of its many precious ingredients, Bakuchiol. Bakuchiol is a powerful phytochemical active ingredient, originally isolated from the babchi seeds of the tree Psoralea corylifolia, native to India and China.
In Cosmeceuticals, its biological activity is similar to that of retinol and resveratrol, that is, it boosts collagen production, promotes cellular turnover, evens out skin tone and increases blood flow to the skin. Gene expression studies indicate that bakuchiol demonstrates similar effects to retinol on the genes involved in the extracellular matrix and dermal-epidermal junction (Chaudhuri and Bojanowski 2014; Dhaliwal et al. 2018). It is currently one of the precious ingredients used in high-end anti-aging and collagen boosting cosmeceuticals and often preferred to retinol due to the fact that it does not come with the side effects the latter might cause (e.g. skin redness, sensitization, dryness).
Bakuchiol has indicated to offer significant antioxidant activity which means that oxidative stress – one of the main external reasons for skin aging, reduction in collagen synthesis and weak skin barrier function – can be tackled with bioactive ingredients like Bakuchiol (Eghbali 2020). And of course, preferring Bakuchiol to Retinol makes it a powerful vegan alternative as retinol often is made from of animal-derived ingredients.
Jacinthe will introduce you to some of the other precious ingredients that make up the Amazonian Radiance in a different post soon.
References:
Chaudhuri, R. K., and K. Bojanowski. (2014). “Bakuchiol: a retinol‐like functional compound revealed by gene expression profiling and clinically proven to have anti‐aging effects.” International journal of cosmetic science36.3 : 221-230.
Dhaliwal, S. et al. (2018). Prospective, randomized, double-blind assessment of topical bakuchiol and retinol for facial photoaging. British Journal of Dermatology 180(2): 289-296.
Eghbali, E. (2020). The Profile of an Ingredient: Bakuchiol (through personal communication).