Bakuchiol is a botanical retinoid, in many ways nearly identical to retinol.
Twelve weeks of twice-daily use reduced wrinkle depth 20% and skin roughness 21%, measured by profilometry, in a formulation carrying bakuchiol and nothing else. In laboratory testing on human skin cells it raised collagen I to 147% of control where retinol reached 119%. In a randomized head-to-head clinical trial against retinol it matched retinol on wrinkles, beat it on hyperpigmentation (59% saw improvement against retinol's 44%), and it left its users with less scaling and stinging. It is photostable, so you wear it morning and evening rather than only at night, and it is not generally known to be contraindicated in pregnancy. Radiance doses it at 1.00%, at or above the level every one of those studies used.










