Retinol is one of the most well-known and widely used skincare products in the world.

Retinol is effective because it's powerful, so it can cause side effects. That's why the most potent and direct form of it requires a prescription from a doctor. Over-the-counter retinol products are weaker retinoids. Many experts advise you to start with the weakest one, retinyl palmitate.

After a year of using it, you can begin moving up to applying more powerful retinoids.

And that right there tells you retinoids - although they do a lot of good in the long run - have limitations. It's natural to feel concerned when your "beauty" cream turns your skin dry, red, and itchy - and your skin needs a year to get used to it.

That's not even mentioning how the long-term use of retinol makes your skin supersensitive to sunlight, and may even cause skin cancer.

Wouldn't it be great to reduce wrinkles, and make your skin feel AND look younger - without side effects or risk to your health?

That's the promise of a little-known skincare ingredient from South Asia.

The Promise: Anti-Aging Skin Beauty Without Adverse Side Effects

Bakuchiol is a plant compound: purified meroterpene phenol, found mainly in the leaves and seeds of the babchi plant - Psoralea corylifolia. Babchi grows in India and Sri Lanka.

Bakuchiol is also found in: Psoralea glandulosa, Pimelea drupaceae (cherry riceflower), Ulmus davidiana (Father David elm), Otholobium pubescens and Piper longum (long pepper).

According to studies, bakuchiol is, functionally, a natural analog of the retinoids. It targets some of the same cellular pathways. That includes:

* Modulating retinoic acid receptor genes

* Upregulating collagen

* Increasing extracellular matrix synthesis enzymes

You probably recognize collagen as one of the most important kinds of connective tissue in your skin. The gradual loss of collagen is what causes wrinkles and fine lines.

A study done in 2018 compared the results of retinol to bakuchiol. 44 subjects applied a cream to their faces two times a day for 12 weeks. Half of them applied 0.5% retinol, and the other half 0.5% bakuchiol.

The conclusion: Both retinol and bakuchiol reduced wrinkles and hyperpigmentation, with no significant difference in effectiveness between them.

Bakuchiol also improved both skin firmness and elasticity.

And the bakuchiol group reported less stinging and skin scaling.

Other Benefits of Bakuchiol

It's an antioxidant.

We think of antioxidants as protecting our bodies from free radicals inside us. But free radicals attack your skin as well. 

Your skin's in greater danger from free radicals because it's exposed to the ultraviolet radiation of sunlight, bacteria, viruses, smoke and air pollution.

Free radicals attacking your skin's cells induce two enzymes that erode the youthful appearance and health of your skin: collagenase and elastase.

You don't want collagenase because it breaks down the collagen that holds your skin firm.

You don't want elastase because it breaks down elastin, the other supportive skin tissue that keeps your skin youthfully elastic - so it stretches as needed, then snaps right back into shape.

Increasing Collagen is the Basis for All Healthy Skin Care

Free radicals inducing the production of collagenase is no doubt one of the reasons your skin loses collagen as time goes by. Collagen is the primary connective tissue that makes your skin look firm but elastic, plump yet moist - when you're young. Losing collagen as the years pass (and your skin cells' exposure to UV radiation and other stressors adds up), makes for fine lines, wrinkles and sagging flesh.

That's why collagen has become a popular and common supplement and skin cream ingredient.

However, collagen products are overrated and dubious at best.

Collagen is a protein. When you eat it, you simply digest it, as you do with all the protein you eat. Digestion breaks it down into smaller pieces.

And it's a very large molecule. Therefore, when you apply it on your skin, it's not absorbed.

Your body can and does make its own collagen. The key is to boost that production.

Which bakuchiol does, as proven by a study going back to 2014.

Bakuchiol Increases the Rate of Skin Cell Turnover

That helps your skin maintain its youthful appearance because it is new.

It's old skin cells that get tired, enabling wrinkling and skin blemishes. The dead cells literally cling to you, giving your skin that dry, dull, scratchy, and dusty look.

Like retinol, bakuchiol speeds up how quickly skin renews itself.

Unlike skin exfoliants,  bakuchiol does not scrape the dead cells off. Therefore, it's not harsh on your skin. 

Exfoliants can force your skin cells to regenerate themselves too quickly, to protect your skin from the stress of exfoliation.

As when compared to retinol, bakuchiol is the gentle alternative.

How to Use Bakuchiol

All the studies had subjects apply bakuchiol twice a day, so every morning and evening before bed is a proven schedule.

Of course, if you notice an adverse reaction - redness, soreness, rash, irritation and so on - cut back.

If that doesn't help, maybe the product you're using contains ingredients that disagree with you.

So try another product.

As always, your best bet for long-term skincare products is to find a company that's so small it still cares about its customers - and is committed to using only natural ingredients that have been proven safe and gentle.

And are certified safe and organic by the FDA.

That means the best products aren't for sale at your local drugstore, big-box store, or supermarket.

Maybe they're on Amazon, but not every company is, so dig deep with Google.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24471735/

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjd.16918

https://theskinspot.com/blogs/the-edit/is-retinol-safe

https://puritywoods.com/2021/06/07/what-is-bakuchiol-anti-aging-skin-benefits/

https://www.marieclaire.com/beauty/a22777936/what-is-retinol/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRo9KN8zXIs