Natural vs Chemical
“Natural” is nowadays perceived as a guarantee for safety, by opposition to “Chemical”. But as everyone should know, nature is only about chemistry, and it is not always synonymous to “safe and suitable”. From the death of Socrates by poison hemlock to the accidental ingestion of deadly nightshade by children, poisonous plants have been responsible for human deaths throughout history. Castor bean, Rosary pea, white snakeroot among others are well known toxic plants among the most lethal drugs, and thousands of others are reported to create allergic reactions or systemic effects.
And yet there is a real defiance towards the cosmetic industry and the products on the shelves which do not sound natural or without natural labels. Natural and organic are not only a trend nowadays, they have become new a way of life that integrates more sustainable habits like buying directly your vegetables from farmers, reducing your waste and minimize your impact on the environment.
In this world where natural and organic are not only a trend but have almost become a social norm, the temptation is great to only seek more natural options.
Bakuchiol or Babchi oil?
Indeed, Bakuchiol is a highly purified active ingredient coming from the plant psoralea corylifolia, commonly called babchi. But lately, we saw multiple blogs, articles and Youtube videos recommending to directly use babchi oil or crushed babchi seeds in “do-it-yourself products”.or (Home-made recipes)
Well, claiming babchi seeds as natural, is a fact. Is it safe for your skin ? Clearly not !
In order to better understand what exposure risks consumers may face when buying online, we purchased 4 babchi oils from a well-known public E-commerce platform in the USA . We analyzed the samples by a validated High Pressure Liquid Chromatographic (HPLC) method using a 99% Bakuchiol as internal standard.
The assay revealed Bakuchiol concentrations between 1.6% to 12.1%. In terms of efficacy, you would need quite a lot of Babchi oil to obtain the same efficacy as pure Bakuchiol at 1% in a cream.
But the biggest concern is the amount of Psoralenes and Isopsoralenes ranging from 989 to 4,768 ppm.
Psoralens are naturally found in babchi seeds, but they are highly phototoxic for the skin. The latest Scientific Committee On Consumer Safety (SCCS), a European Committee that assesses health and safety risk for cosmetics, published an Opinion in 2005 that limits the amount of psoralens up to 1 ppm in a final product. In addition, 2 references revealed high concentrations of residual solvents such as hexane used for the extraction process (1900 ppm and 2235 ppm).
Find safe products for your skin with Bakuchiol
Using a non-standardized crude oil containing such by-products, or unknown phytochemicals can have deleterious effects and should not be recommended as a “more natural alternative” to pure Bakuchiol.
By law, finished products using these crude oils or dry powder should report the latin name of the plant on the full labelling and not Bakuchiol.
The cosmetic industry is among the most regulated area and this, for a very good reason: what we apply on the skin is only supposed to make us look better and not cause unwanted side effects or worse.
Almost all the well-recognized brands that you can trust, use high purity Bakuchiol at the clinically demonstrated use level (between 0.5 and 1.0%), both for anti-aging and acne-prone skin.
If you have a doubt about a cosmetic product claiming the presence of Bakuchiol, feel free to contact us in the contact section.
Hi there the brand typology have release a product with 1% Bakuchiol in it. Is this safe?
Yes, the product is completely safe! It was recently tested by Sytheon, the manufacturer of Sytenol A Bakuchiol: https://bakuchiol.net/2021/02/01/where-to-find-bakuchiol/
Hi there!
Nature’s Tattva is selling a ‘certified Babchi oil’. It’s available on Nykaa. Can you please tell about its purity and concentration. Also if it can be used for acne??
Hi, this product – https://www.earthrhythm.com/collections/face-serum/products/skin-smoothening-serum-bakuchiol-extract lists Psoralea Corylifolia (Bakuchiol) Extract (7%) in the ingredient list. Is 7% Bakuchiol Extract a safe percentage to use?
Hi Divya,
There is no such thing as a Psoralea Corylifolia (Bakuchiol) Extract. Either it is pure Bakuchiol (= Sytenol A), or it is a Psoralea Corylifolia plant extract. We don’t recommend the later for cosmetic use due to high amount of photoxic compounds (psoralens) or residual solvants found in those crude extracts.
Do you have any information on Makeup Artist’s Choice 100% bakuchiol oil? Does it increase photo sensitivity?
Dear Andrea,
We are not familiar with Makeup Artis’s Choice brand. By any chance, would you have a picture of the label (you can send it to sytheon@sytheonltd.com) ?
From what I see on the partial label on their website, it looks like a psoralea corylifolia plant extract and not pure Bakuchiol.
Hi BYBI has a product called bakuchiol booster, is it safe to use? It claims to have a 1% bakuchiol.
Also, is it safe to use a 1% bakuchiol day and night (so twice a day vs only at night)?
It lists ingrediants as squalane (oil) and bakuchiol.
https://us.bybi.com/products/bakuchiol-skin-booster?variant=36632484905110¤cy=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4_G-pYK48AIVhs3ICh0IXg6aEAQYBCABEgLcwfD_BwE
Hi Alice.
Yes, Bakuchiol Booster for Bybi uses genuine Sytenol A (99% Bakuchiol). On the other hand, Sytenol A is safe to be used at 1% twice a day.
Please feel free to contact us if you have further questions!
Herbivore’s Bakuchiol serum has been listed in top Bakuchiol products to use in 2021 by several websites. Does it actually offer the benefits that are advertised? They don’t list Bakuchiol in the ingredients list even though the product is named after the chemical. Any advice is much appreciated.
We have not tested the efficacy of the Herbivore’s Bakuchiol serum. If there is any skin benefits in this serum, it’s not thanks to Bakuchiol as it was found only in traces amount (not enough to observe clinical benefits). If you are looking for true Bakuchiol serums, there are several brands that propose high quality products such as: Medik8 Bakuchiol Peptides, Aroma-Zone Sérum Concentré Bakuchiol or DermAbsolu SERUM Sérum fondamental, just to name a few.
Hi Marie,
Does the bakuchiol product from inkey list uses Sytenol A as its source of bakuchiol.
Thank you
Dear Thai,
Yes, we can confirm that the Inkey List uses 1% Sytenol A Bakuchiol on their product. We actually tested the concentration by HPLC.
Hello,
Does Handmade Heros brand of Bakuchiol use true Bakuchiol? They list it as 2.5% Bakuchiol. Thank you
Yes, we confirm that Handmade Heroes does use Sytenol A Bakuchiol