Bisabolol: What is Bisabolol in Skin Care?

By: Margaux Reese

June 09, 2021

When it comes to your skin, it’s understandable that you want to know what’s in your products. If you’ve been taking a closer look at your ingredient labels, you’re likely finding it to be a long string of unfamiliar words. We’re here to help you decipher that ingredients list, starting with bisabolol.

Bisabolol is a common skin care ingredient due to its anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, and anti-microbial qualities. As you can see, it’s nothing to shy away from. In fact, because of these soothing properties, it’s a staple ingredient in many Colorescience skin care solutions.

Learn everything you need to know about bisabolol in skin care and how using products with this ingredient can help your complexion. Keep reading for a full overview of how it’s used in skin care and bisabolol skin benefits you can enjoy. Curious about a specific aspect of bisabolol? Use the links below.

What is Bisabolol

Bisabolol, which is also known as alpha bisabolol or a-bisabolol, is an active ingredient in chamomile. This oil is extracted from chamomile—specifically German chamomile—and is commonly used in cosmetics and personal care products.

Since bisabolol originates from chamomile, it possesses many of the same qualities, including helping with inflammation. It’s also known to have a lightly floral scent, which is one of the reasons it’s used in many cosmetic and skin care products.

In addition to chamomile, bisabolol can also be found in certain plants and trees. While bisabolol can be taken straight from source, it can also be recreated in a lab, so nothing has to be taken from the environment.

Is bisabolol safe?

Yes, bisabolol is considered safe. This was confirmed in a panel assessment by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review, which concluded that bisabolol was safe to use in cosmetics.

Unlike many chemical ingredients used in our skin and personal care products, bisabolol is a naturally occurring oil. And, when it comes to use of bisabolol in skin care, it’s typically low concentrations.

Note that, even though bisabolol is non-toxic and soothing for sensitive skin, as with any ingredient, some individuals may have an allergy to bisabolol. If this is the case, you may experience some irritation. Before using any skin care solution, always check the ingredients to see if there’s anything you’re known to have a reaction to. In general, bisabolol can be safely combined with most other ingredients.

What are the benefits of bisabolol?

One of the reasons that bisabolol is a popular skin care ingredient is that it offers many benefits to those who use it. Some of the most bisabolol skin benefits include:

Hydration, which helps with dryness and flakiness. Whether you find your skin dry year-round or going through phases where it can use a boost of moisture, using products with bisabolol can help.
Protection against free radicals, helping to keep signs of aging like wrinkles and fine lines at bay, making it a great addition to your anti-aging skin care regimen.
Soothing qualities, making it a good option for individuals who suffer from sensitive skin that gets easily irritated.
Antimicrobials that kill bacteria, which can help prevent and reduce breakouts. If you want to keep breakouts at bay—and let’s be honest, who doesn’t—bisabolol is a great ingredient to have in your skincare arsenal.
Stimulation of the skin’s healing response, helping to reduce scarring and blemishes. This can help you achieve a clearer, more even complexion.

When you’re reading ingredient lists and you see bisabolol, you can feel confident that there’s one less ingredient you need to worry about.

Is bisabolol good for acne?

When you’re dealing with acne flare ups, the last thing you want to do is have to try one product after the other to find something that helps. Bisabolol is one ingredient that can help.

Bisabolol can help with current acne breakouts and play a role in preventing new ones. When you have a current breakout, you need to use skincare treatments that are anti-inflammatory. Those with bisabolol can fit that bill.

And thanks to its antimicrobial properties it can help prevent acne. This is because antimicrobials can kill bacteria on the skin, which is one of the reasons breakouts happen in the first place. By reducing how much bacteria is present on the skin, it can help it from spreading and turning into a flare up.

What other skin conditions can bisabolol help with?

As you can see from the many benefits of bisabolol, it has a variety of properties that can help with common skin conditions. Its ability to help moisturize the skin is good for individuals suffering from dryness or conditions like psoriasis. This hydration factor—and the fact that it helps prevent collagen breakdown—means it can also minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Due to the calming effects bisabolol can have on the skin, it can reduce redness and irritation, helping individuals who suffer from rosacea, rashes, and more. It can also help reduce discomfort after a sunburn. For this reason, bisabolol is sometimes used in sunscreens.

Have some remaining scarring after blemishes have healed? Bisabolol can help with that too. While it’s not a solution for major acne scarring, it can help with smaller spots and scars left behind on the skin.

Overall, it’s great for helping your skin look calm, healthy, and youthful.

What kinds of products and treatments can I find with bisabolol in them?

Now more than ever, people are conscious of the things they’re consuming and using on their bodies. As such, there has been a major prioritization of finding more products with natural ingredients and using fewer with chemicals that can be irritating and harmful. With the shift, some brands—like Colorescience—have risen to the needs and desires of consumers by focusing on using more natural ingredients in their products, including bisabolol.

So, how can you harness the powers of this natural ingredient to improve your skincare routine? There are a variety of products and treatments that include bisabolol as an active ingredient. Here are just a few of the ways you can introduce bisabolol into your personal care routine:

Sunscreen

Sunscreens—including those that you use for your face and body—can include bisabolol in their active ingredients. For example, Colorescience uses bisabolol in our sunscreens to calm and condition the skin while other ingredients provide protection against harmful UVA and UVB rays and environmental factors.

Try our face shield and body shield with SPF 50 to take advantage of the benefits of bisabolol and make sure you’re guarded against the sun.

Cosmetics and Skin Care

Bisabolol is often used in many cosmetics and skin care solutions—like our hydrating color balm—due to all it’s skin-friendly properties. You can find bisabolol creams, face makeup, cleansers, essential oils, moisturizers, and more.

Hair Care

Similarly to how bisabolol stimulates the healing process within your skin, it can also have similar effects on your hair by promoting hair growth and even preventing hair loss. You’ll likely find it in your shampoo and other hair care products.

How often should I use bisabolol?

As we’ve mentioned bisabolol is an organic ingredient that’s used in small quantities in your skin and personal care products. So generally speaking, it’s okay to use in your daily skincare routine. In fact, it’s in many of your products that you use for your daily care routine like face makeup, shampoo, and sunscreen.

It’s important to note that one of bisabolol’s quantities is that it increases absorbance. So, if it’s being combined in a solution with ingredients that may be harsh on the skin, you may need to use it less. If you’re unsure of how your products containing bisabolol may affect your skin, you might want to speak with your dermatologist before diving head-first into a new skincare regimen.

Are bisabolol products worth adding to your routine?

Based on the many benefits of bisabolol for skin and the accessibility of this ingredient in everyday personal care products, we’d say yes. Who doesn’t want skin that’s calm, moisturized, and clear? With the right products, bisabolol can help you achieve your ideal complexion.

Start using skin care with bisabolol and see the difference

Add the power of bisabolol to your skincare routine with sun protection and skin care solutions from Colorescience. Colorescience is obsessively protective about preventing skin damage and providing our customers with natural, high-quality sunscreen and skin treatments. This includes our mineral sunscreens featuring bisabolol as an active ingredient.

Try our sport stick that you can take everywhere with you and easily apply on-the-go or one of our other convenient solutions to take full advantage of bisabolol’s qualities for your skin.