Retinol can cause skin irritation, and using a lot of cream can be the only alternative Bakuchiol is a plant-based alternative that is giving people a new option for skin care. Made from the babchi flower, a naturally occurring purple flower, the formula can smooth lines without irritating your skin. It has transformed my beauty routine and given me a great stepping-stone to a bag full of cleaner beauty products! Here are 6 affordable ways to try bakuchiol (natural retinol).
#1 – Herbivore Botanicals’ Bakuchiol Retinol Alternative Serum
Herbivore botanicals knows that natural beauty products can make you feel good and look good at the same time. Beauty experts have tried and loved their natural retinol alternative, made from bakuchiol. The serum spreads smoothly over skin and doesn’t immediately tighten or dry it out, but rather hydrates and leaves you with a smooth, silky feeling.
It can be really difficult to get sensitive skin to lighten up and pull together without drying it out or causing yourself to break out. The herbivore botanicals alternative allows you to target those wrinkles without drying yourself out further.
When you’re using bakuchiol instead of retinol, you want the product to be as natural as possible. Otherwise, you might as well still be using retinol! This babchi product is also made from turmeric, eggplant extract, and basil, giving your face a nice blend of natural ingredients and herbal remedies. Turmeric has a ton of anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties that can help reduce the swelling and blemishes on your face.
#2 – Imagine Dermatology’s Beyond Retinol
Bakuchiol is naturally occurring, and has been shown in studies to have anti-aging effects for your skin. Imagine dermatology sells a “beyond retinol” product that mimics the youthful effects of retinol without the dryness or irritation that retinol has been known to cause.
The bakuchiol of this product is built to specifically target aging and oxidant damage, repairing your skin where it needs a boost the most. It combines a natural vitamin complex with bisabolol and allantoin to try to contain the damage of free radicals. It soothes and reduces irritation through the anti-inflammatory effects of bakuchiol.
Beauty shouldn’t be painful! There are natural ways to smooth out your skin and maintain a youthful glow that don’t involve drying out your face before you’ve even applied foundation.
#3 – Avalea’s Retinol Alternative Serum with Bakuchiol
Avalea offers a more complete retinol alternative. It combines vitamin C and squalane to smooth skin and reduce wrinkles. Squalane is a skincare-like fatty molecule that comes in our skin. It is versatile, and helps repair and maintain healthy skin. In our 20s, squalane production begins to drop significantly. You can restore
Avalea’s retinol alternative not only moisturizes with the bakichiol, but it contains squalane which naturally restores 20-year-old skin to your face. If you want skin like you used to have when you were young and didn’t know how great your skin was, you’ll need to use products that restore the chemicals and molecules that built up that early youthful glow. Squalane, vitamin C, and bakuchiol can all combine to do that!
Plus, it’s all built without parabens, synthetic fragrances, or those pesky silicone derivatives that can stick to your skin. No artificial colors!
#4 – Full Moon and Fern’s Natural Youthful Glow Serum (Retinol Alternative)
Full Moon and Fern sells an even more natural, vegan alternative to retinol. Natural Youthful Glow Serum is a fully vegan product, containing bakuchiol as the active ingredient to naturally smooth and soothe your face.
The beauty industry has had a number of damaging impacts on the environment. Choosing a vegan alternative helps make you more beautiful while minimizing the amount that you make the environment less beautiful!
This product also includes vitamin A, which helps prevent sun damage and stimulates the deeper growth and regeneration of cells. While bakuchiol will smooth and hydrate the surface of your skin, vitamin A is easily absorbed and goes down to heal the deeper layers.
#5 – Sheer Essence Babchi 100% Oil
Bakuchiol is made from the pressing of the purple babchi flowers. It can be used to create beauty products that are specially formulated as retinol alternatives, healing and giving your skin a youthful bounce.
Pure Essence’s brand is on this list because they’ve taken the Babchi flower and turned it into an aromatherapy essential oil. The oil is pure, thick, and smells more like a natural tree than some sort of sweet flower. If you put it on your face, you’re not only improving your skin but also providing your body with some healing essences and scents. The smell is calming, natural, and pleasant.
If you are more hands-on with your beauty routine and want to combine the babchi oil in interesting ways with other products, without getting products that have pre-prepared combinations, this may be the product for you.
#6 – MB Herbals Bakuchi Oil
Another full spectrum bakuchi oil, the MB herbals brand doesn’t dilute the oil with any minerals or waters. You’ll need to dilute it yourself. It is cold pressed to maintain freshness.
Bakuchi oils helps you have a healthy and consistent complexion of skin, and supports the healthy pigment in your skin. If you buy the undiluted oil here, you’ll need to dilute with a natural coconut or olive oil when you use–and it has to be diluted 90%! Coconut oil might be best for the dilution, because it is also known to have some anti-inflammatory effects.
The oil is not that expensive, and makes a lovely retinol alternative for your beauty routine.
Conclusion
Did you enjoy the list? Are you inspired to put some bakuchiol into your beauty routine? Natural textures and plant-based alternatives are an important step we should all be taking in our beauty routines. We don’t always know what’s in our beauty products, which can be gross for our bodies and bad for the environment.
Let me know what you think in the comments–and if you have other ideas for affordable ways to try out bakuchiol. Share the article if you liked it! Let’s spread natural beauty!