What is Sandalwood ?

The main source of true sandalwood oil, Santalum album, is an over-harvested, slow-growing protected species, and demand for it cannot be met.

Sandalwood has been a part of the religious and spiritual traditions of India for centuries, where it is used as an aid to meditation and for calming and focusing the mind.

Sandalwood naturally contains aromatherapy effects and the extracted oil has anti-bacterial properties. The oil benefits skin as well as hair.

The wood is used to fashion representations of deities, and the essential oil is used as incense in temples or on personal altars, to anoint both deities and their worshippers.

Sandalwood as an ingredient in soap helps in exfoliating dirt-impurities and clogged pores. It brightens complexion, lightens fine lines and rejuvenates skin cells for a soft and glowing skin. Sandalwood's distinctive soft, smooth and creamy scent, gives the soap a similar texture and which makes the skin smooth, soft and supple.

In traditional medicine, sandalwood has been used for thousands of years as an antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, astringent, diuretic, disinfectant, emollient, expectant, hypotensive, and sedative agent.

Sandalwood in massage oils works great for easing stress. It instantly energises and soothes the body and mind, and works as a great moisturiser. It provides antibacterial protection to the skin and helps it become shiny, hydrated, blemish-free and beautiful. A few drops of this oil into warm bath tub water can be instantly refreshing. Mixing it with your favourite bath salts to scrub the skin will make a great difference, making it look and feel healthier.

Some fragrances for women starring sandalwood in their composition are Estee Lauder Pleasures Sandalwood Amber Splash, Chanel Bois des Iles, Boucheron Femme, Bond no.9 Chinatown, Dior Dolce Vita, Diptyque Tam Dao, 10 Corso Como, Etro Sandalo, Cacharel Loulou, Guerlain Mahora, and Guerlain Samsara.

Sandalwood protects the hair from damage and hydrates it from within. When used as a shampoo bar, it should be lathered thoroughly onto hair and scalp with finger tips on dampened hair. It should be used twice or thrice a week to make the hair lustrous and bring back the life into them.

Sandalwood also has anti-tanning properties which help your skin look fresh. Bio Sandalwood 50+ SPF sunscreen lotion can protect the skin against probable sunburns and provide a significant natural defence against UV radiation.

Sandalwood essential oil is derived from sandalwood trees, a class of heavy, fine-grained woods which all produce an aromatic, long-lasting scent. It’s this distinctive fragrance which makes sandalwood oil such a highly-coveted ingredient, and, after centuries of cultivation, the oil has emerged as one of the world’s most expensive and desirable natural extracts.

While sandalwood trees grow throughout the world, some regional species are more favoured for their fragrance than others, with notable varieties including Australian and Indian sandalwoods. Australian woods, in particular, are widely cultivated for their high oil-level and warm, creamy fragrance – making them perfect for use in cosmetic products and home scents.

Sandalwood may be a longstanding and ever-popular staple of the cosmetics industry – particularly in men’s cologne and aftershave – but there’s more to this captivating essential oil than its signature, woody fragrance.

In order to attain valuable sandalwood oil with a sweet, long-lasting fragrance, trees are only harvested when they’re at least 15 years old. In Western Australia, which is known to produce some of the world’s finest sandalwood oil, santalum trees are cultivated when they’re much older – a practice which produces a stronger and more fragrant essential oil.

From historic Ayurvedic medicine to modern mental health, sandalwood has been used for generations, and is favoured for its calming, therapeutic scent. Here, we explore the origins and history of this beloved essential oil, and delve into what makes it the perfect fragrant accompaniment to your home.

Sandalwood is among the world’s most treasured natural extracts, cultivated and used for generations across Asia, Australia and the Pacific. Immensely popular in modern cosmetics, sandalwood oil has an impressively long history – with its earliest uses dating back over 5,000 years.

Sandalwood essential oil is derived from sandalwood trees, a class of heavy, fine-grained woods which all produce an aromatic, long-lasting scent. It’s this distinctive fragrance which makes sandalwood oil such a highly-coveted ingredient, and, after centuries of cultivation, the oil has emerged as one of the world’s most expensive and desirable natural extracts.

Sandalwood has been harvested in India for over 5,000 years, with Ancient Egyptians importing the wood to use in medicine and for embalming their dead. In India itself, the extract was first used during religious ceremonies, with the aroma being an integral part of the country’s three main religious groups: Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam.

While sandalwood trees grow throughout the world, some regional species are more favoured for their fragrance than others, with notable varieties including Australian and Indian sandalwoods. Australian woods, in particular, are widely cultivated for their high oil-level and warm, creamy fragrance – making them perfect for use in cosmetic products and home scents.

In order to attain valuable sandalwood oil with a sweet, long-lasting fragrance, trees are only harvested when they’re at least 15 years old. In Western Australia, which is known to produce some of the world’s finest sandalwood oil, santalum trees are cultivated when they’re much older – a practice which produces a stronger and more fragrant essential oil.

In Hinduism, particularly, sandalwood is considered sacred. Indian Hindus use extracts from the wood to pay homage to the God Shiva, creating a paste which is used to mark the forehead during religious ceremonies.

What exactly is the perfume ingredient sandalwood? In this article, we explain where this popular fragrance ingredient comes from, what it smells like and we share actual perfumes that contain sandalwood.

Given the value of sandalwood, producers go to great lengths to extract maximum profit value from every santalum tree. Rather than cutting at the stump, the whole tree is removed from the ground so that the roots, which contain large quantities of oil, can be cultivated alongside the trunk and branches. Currently, the best-quality sandalwoods of Western Australia can fetch anywhere in the region of AUS$16,000 (roughly £9,000) per tonne – a testament to the quality of the sandalwood oil produced here.

Sandalwood oil is used widely as a base note in modern perfumery and cosmetic production.

Away from religion, sandalwood has long been used in medicine, with Ancient Egyptians, Chinese and Japanese civilisations using the wood for its healing and restorative properties. In more recent times, sandalwood has found favour with aromatherapists and those associated with alternative mental health treatments – with its mellow, soft fragrance supposedly offering calming benefits.