You may have seen the ingredient “chamomile” in your skin care products. But have you ever seen “bisabolol?”
If so, you’re basically seeing the same thing, but in a more concentrated form.
Bisabolol comes from chamomile, but when used in skin care on its own, it can impart even more potent benefits.
What is Bisabolol?
Bisabolol (specifically, “alpha-bisabolol”) is a colorless oily liquid that is the main component of chamomile essential oil. It’s also present in the bark of the Candeia tree of Brazil. Scientists isolate this compound specifically because it has proven to be extremely beneficial in cosmetic products.
One of the reasons why skin care formulators like bisabolol so much is that it helps increase the penetration power of other ingredients in the cream or lotion. If you have other essential oils, for instance, like jojoba or olive oil, or additional ingredients like triglycerides, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, bisabolol will help usher these ingredients more deeply into the skin.
That’s an important task, as sometimes skin care products may contain a lot of healthy ingredients, but if they just sit on top of the skin without penetrating into the deeper layers, they won’t do you much good.
7 Benefits of Bisabolol
In addition to enhancing penetration, bisabolol provides a number of other benefits to the skin.
- Tames inflammation: Bisabolol has natural anti-inflammatory properties. In fact, a number of studies have shown that it reduces inflammation and inflammatory reactions-even helping to delay redness after exposure to UV light. That means it can help soothe and calm your skin, particularly if you suffer from acne, redness, rashes, rosacea, psoriasis, sunburn, and other similar conditions. It’s an especially good ingredient for those with sensitive skin.
- Moisturizes deeply: Bisabolol is a good source of panthenol, which is a form of vitamin B. This is a natural humectant, which means it helps skin hold onto moisture, so it’s less likely to dry out. It penetrates deep into the lower layers of skin, which can help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Panthenol has also been found in some research to help reduce acne breakouts.
- Stimulates healing: Chamomile has long been known to help heal wounds. Traditional medicine used the oil for this purpose. More recent studies have also shown that it helps repair the skin barrier and can help speed up the healing time of sunburn, mild burns, and skin irritations.
- Provides protection and repair: Bisabolol is a potent antioxidant. It protects from the damaging effects of free radicals, and promotes skin barrier repair.
- Kills germs & leaves you smelling great: Bisabolol has antimicrobial properties, which means it can kill microorganisms in the product and on skin, reducing the risk of contamination in the product, and of skin infections. Studies have found it to be effective against staph, epidermidis, and corynebacteria, as well as Candida albicans. This property also means that bisabolol works as a type of deodorant! The bacteria staphylococcus epidermidis and corynebacteria both play a role in the breakdown of human sweat, which leads to body odor. Bisabolol kills these bacteria, leaving you smelling great.
- Provides a natural scent without chemicals: Since bisabolol comes from chamomile, it has a similar subtle floral aroma that can add a nice smell to products without the usual cocktail of chemicals employed in fragrances.
- Helps fade/soften fine lines and wrinkles: Bisabolol has been found to inhibit the enzymes in skin that can break down collagen, and at the same time, to stimulate collagen production. Since collagen is responsible for creating skin’s structure and shape, supporting it can help delay the appearance of aging.
- Fades hyperpigmentation: Researchers have found that bisabolol can help inhibit melanin synthesis. Melanin is the pigment in skin that can cause age spots and blotches as we get older. Inhibiting melanin is what skin-lightening products are supposed to do, but many of these have potentially dangerous chemicals in them. Bisabolol offers a more natural solution to inhibiting melanin synthesis and fading hyperpigmentation.
Where Can You Get Bisabolol?
If you’re impressed with this ingredients many benefits for skin, you may be wondering where you can get your hands on it.
Look no further than our CV Skinlabs page. All of our products contain an exclusive Tri-Rescue Complex, which includes wonderful bisabolol as one of the three key ingredients.
Try it today and let us know what you think!
Have you tried skin care with bisabolol? Please share your experiences.
Sources
“Natural alpha Bisabolol,” Kyowa Hakko Europe GmbH, http://www.kyowa.eu/files/pdfs/broschures/natural_alpha_bisabolol.pdf.
