Bakuchiol, an active ingredient to avoid during sun exposure?

The bakuchiol is an active ingredient recognized for its multiple skin benefits. It smooths wrinkles, improves skin firmness, evens skin tone, reduces blemishes, soothes inflammation, and supports the healing process, while demonstrating an excellent tolerance profile, even on sensitive skin. Often described as a plant-based alternative to retinol, the bakuchiol shares certain effects and mechanisms of action and can stimulate collagen synthesis by dermal fibroblasts. This similarity is partly due to their chemical structures, which, while not identical, are closely related.

This common comparison with retinol may cause confusion because the retinoids are known to be photosensitizing and require extra caution during sun exposure.

However, current studies indicate that the purified bakuchiol is not photosensitizing. Photosensitization risks are associated with crude extracts of Psoralea corylifolia, the source plant of bakuchiol, because these extracts may contain psoralens and furocoumarins, compounds with known phototoxicity. These molecules increase skin sensitivity to the sun by absorbing UVA rays, making them photoreactive. Once activated by light, they form covalent bonds with DNA and cellular proteins, producing reactive oxygen species that damage skin cells and cause redness and warmth.

However, the bakuchiol used in skincare is obtained through purification processes, including liquid-liquid extractions and chromatography steps that remove photosensitizing molecules and retain only bakuchiol. Clinical studies on bakuchiol confirm its good tolerance: no photosensitization reaction was reported after using a formulation containing this molecule.

The bakuchiol is an active ingredient that can be used in the morning and/or evening, depending on preference.

However, although bakuchiol does not pose a photosensitization risk, we recommend that you protect your skin with daily sunscreen use. Sunscreen use is essential to prevent cellular damage that increases the risk of skin cancers, as well as the photoaging, regardless of the actives used.