The Journal
Bakuchiol: Is It Really Nature's Answer to Retinol?
Bakuchiol is often described as a gentler, plant-derived alternative to retinol. There is promising research behind that comparison—but bakuchiol is not actually a retinoid, and the evidence is more nuanced than the nickname suggests. Here is what we know, what we do not, and why bakuchiol may be interesting on its own merits.
ROWAN & THISTLE JOURNAL
Vol. 1 | No. 007
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
If you have spent any time looking at skincare for lines, uneven tone, or changing skin, you have probably seen bakuchiol described as “nature’s retinol.” It is an appealing idea: many of the benefits people want from retinol, perhaps with less dryness, peeling, and irritation.
There is some good science behind the enthusiasm. But the phrase itself gets ahead of the evidence.
Bakuchiol is not a natural form of retinol, and it is not a retinoid. What makes it interesting is something more subtle: despite being chemically quite different from retinol, it seems able to influence some of the same processes in skin. That makes it worth understanding on its own terms rather than treating it as a botanical copy of a familiar ingredient.
Similar destination, different road
Bakuchiol is a plant-derived compound associated with babchi, or Psoralea corylifolia, a plant with a long history of traditional use. Retinol, by contrast, belongs to the vitamin A family. Once applied to skin, retinol is converted through several steps into retinoic acid, the form that interacts with retinoid receptors and changes how certain genes behave.
Bakuchiol does not follow that pathway.
Laboratory research has found that bakuchiol and retinol can produce overlapping patterns in gene activity related to collagen, skin structure, and other features involved in visible aging. That is why researchers have described bakuchiol as a “functional analogue” of retinol. In plain English, two very different molecules may sometimes lead skin in a similar direction without working in exactly the same way.
That distinction matters. “Retinol-like” describes an observed pattern of activity. It does not mean bakuchiol is chemically equivalent to retinol, carries the same amount of evidence, or can be expected to behave exactly like it.
The study that gave bakuchiol its reputation
The comparison people quote most often comes from a 12-week randomized, double-blind study of 44 participants with facial photoaging. One group used 0.5% bakuchiol cream twice a day. The other used 0.5% retinol cream once a day.
By the end of the study, both groups showed significant improvement in wrinkle surface area and hyperpigmentation, and researchers found no statistically significant difference between the two groups for those outcomes. People using retinol, however, reported more scaling and stinging.
That is genuinely encouraging, particularly for someone who has tried retinol and found the irritation more memorable than the results.
But it is also a small study, and there is an important detail hidden inside the headline: the bakuchiol was used twice daily while the retinol was used once daily. The trial tells us those two regimens produced similar results over 12 weeks in that group of people. It does not prove that bakuchiol and retinol are equally potent molecule for molecule, application for application, or over years of use.
Retinol also has a much larger and longer body of research behind it. Bakuchiol’s evidence is growing, but it is still the newer story.
There is another reason to keep the claims proportionate. Much of the additional clinical research on bakuchiol has tested it as part of formulas containing other active ingredients rather than as the only meaningful variable. Those studies can tell us that the finished products performed well, but they cannot always tell us how much credit belongs to bakuchiol alone. For a shopper, that is a useful distinction: promising ingredient research and proof of a particular finished formula are not the same thing.
Gentler does not mean incapable of irritation
One reason bakuchiol attracts people with sensitive or easily irritated skin is tolerability. The head-to-head trial found less scaling and stinging with bakuchiol, and other studies and reviews have also reported generally good tolerance.
That does not make it irritation-proof.
Cases of allergic contact dermatitis to bakuchiol have been reported, including additional published cases as its use in cosmetics has become more widespread. These reports appear uncommon, but they are a useful reminder that botanical origin is not a safety guarantee. Skin can react to plant-derived ingredients just as it can react to synthetic ones.
This is also why “natural retinol” is not merely an imprecise nickname. It can accidentally suggest that bakuchiol is a gentler version of the same substance, when the more accurate story is that it is a different substance with its own benefits, limitations, and potential for sensitivity.
So is it an alternative to retinol?
For some people, yes—in the practical sense of choosing a different ingredient for similar cosmetic goals.
If the aim is to address the appearance of fine lines, uneven pigmentation, or photodamage, human research gives bakuchiol a reasonable basis for consideration. Its appeal becomes stronger for someone who has found conventional retinol difficult to tolerate.
But “alternative” is a better word than “replacement.”
A person who does well with retinol does not need to abandon it simply because bakuchiol comes from a plant. Someone who dislikes retinol does not have to assume that effective skincare begins and ends with vitamin A. And someone choosing bakuchiol should not expect every retinol claim, concentration, timeline, or result to transfer neatly to it.
From a formulator’s perspective, that is part of what makes bakuchiol interesting. It does not need to impersonate retinol to earn a place in a thoughtful formula. A botanical ingredient can be valuable because of what it actually does—not because marketing has found a familiar ingredient to compare it with.
Perhaps the fairest answer, then, is that bakuchiol is not “nature’s retinol.” It may be something more useful: a distinct ingredient with enough evidence to deserve attention, and enough unanswered questions to deserve a little restraint.
Notes & Sources
Dhaliwal S, et al. “Prospective, randomized, double-blind assessment of topical bakuchiol and retinol for facial photoageing.” British Journal of Dermatology. 2019;180(2):289–296.
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.
Puyana C, Chandan N, Tsoukas M. “Applications of bakuchiol in dermatology: Systematic review of the literature.” Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. 2022;21(12):6636–6643.
Malinauskiene L, et al. “Bakuchiol—A new allergen in cosmetics.” Contact Dermatitis. 2019;80(6):398–399.
Sánchez-Arjona M, et al. “Allergic Contact Dermatitis to Bakuchiol Used for Photodamage Prevention: A Case Report.” Contact Dermatitis. 2026;95(2):229–230.
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