Skincare's Newest Hero: Why We Love Bakuchiol

As a non-toxic brand , we found that synthetic retinol doesn't meet our #PurePromise standards. You may be asking yourself, "Why? Retinol reduces (& almost reverses!) signs of aging...isn't that what we all want?" or you may be asking "What is retinol exactly?"

Retinol is a form of vitamin A. It's derivatives include retinol, retinyl palmitate, retinyl acetate, retinyl linoleate, retinyl propionate, and hydroxypinacolone retinoate - recognize any of these as part of our Dirty List? These derivatives can cause redness, itching, irritation and can even go as far as causing tumors, skin cancer, and heightened skin sensitivity (It's even found in some sunscreens!! Defeats the purpose…eh?), which is the opposite of what we're trying to do here. We want protection from the sun's radical damage and we want to reduce the signs of aging. So, no thanks retinol, we don't need your "help".

Fun fact: Vitamin A is an essential nutrient that's found in foods we consume, however, research shows that it's not necessarily safe for skin when used in sunscreen, skincare, and makeup. Not only has it been linked to skin cancer (especially because it causes increased sun sensitivity & more exposure to harmful UV rays), it's been linked to exposure with parabens and BHT . *screams*

Parabens and BHT cause some S E R I O U S harm to our bodies by disrupting our reproductive organs and leading to cancer. Let's stay away from all synthetic retinoids...reducing aging at that cost is is not worth it.

Luckily, we've found a clinically studied plant that has NATURALLY occurring vitamin A without the added side effects and proven to significantly reduce wrinkles, aging, etc. Cue in bakuchiol ! You've probably heard about rosehips being great for cell turnover and regeneration - you can read more about rose hips here . However, bakuchiol is on the rise and we want to highlight this pretty amazing flower’s potent power.

Bakuchiol can be found in our own brand's face oil !

Hello, Bakuchiol

One clinical study , conducted in 2014 by Society of Cosmetic Scientists and the Société Française de Cosmétologie, found that after 12 weeks of treatment there was a significant improvement in lines and wrinkles, pigmentation, elasticity, firmness, and an overall reduction in photo-damage, without the synthetic retinol/retinoid-associated undesirable effects - yeah we REALLY don't like cancer-causing ingredients here...

The same study showed how Bakuchiol performed just as well as retinol, if not, even better than retinol and all of its derivatives. Those who participated showed a WAY better tolerance to the natural retinol because it did not lead to skin irritation, burning, redness, or dryness. Those who conducted the study concluded that this may be due to bakuchiol’s potent anti-inflammatory effects .

"As human skin naturally ages, it becomes thin, lax and ﬁnely wrinkled. Of these changes, ﬁne lines & wrinkles and uneven pigmentation are most easily appreciated clinically with severity correlating strongly with age. We have demonstrated through a pilot clinical study that topical 0.5% bakuchiol treatment improves clinical appearance (% improvement vs. baseline) of naturally aged/photo-aged human skin" (Chen et al., 2010).

Click HERE to shop all our skincare products that include natural ingredients like Bakuchiol that bring the performance you are looking for to your skincare routine without the harsh, long-term, side effects