What is Sandalwood ?

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.

The oil is highly valued for its deep, woody aroma.

In its pure, essential oil form, sandalwood has historically been used to treat muscle soreness, as well as an antiviral and antibacterial ointment. While it’s rarely used for medicinal purposes in developed countries today, many communities in India and Asia still use sandalwood oil for its antispasmodic and antiseptic properties.

Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus Santalum. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades

The oil is generally steam distilled from the heartwood and roots of the tree genus Santalum album, which can retain their distinctive fragrance for decades.

Sandalwood trees are semi-parasitic, which means they actively steal nutrients from other nearby plants. As well as normal tree roots, they also feature tube-like growths called haustoria, which grow into the root structures of other organisms and tap into their nutrient source.

While Australia is perhaps one of the region’s most synonymous with sandalwood cultivation, the extract is more closely interwoven with the history, heritage and culture of India. For thousands of years, sandalwood has been used widely across this sweeping Asian nation, featuring in everything from religious ceremonies to Ayurvedic medicine and aromatherapy.

Due to its increasing rarity, sandalwood is among the most expensive perfume ingredients and is most commonly found in designer fragrances.

Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for use. Sandalwood is the second-most expensive wood in the world, after African blackwood.[1][dubious – discuss] Both the wood and the oil produce a distinctive fragrance that has been highly valued for centuries. Consequently, species of these slow-growing trees have suffered overharvesting in the past century.

Most of the sandalwood extracts found in cosmetics and perfumery are derived from a by-product of steam distillation. Often called ‘sandalwood water’, it carries the distinct fragrance of sandalwood trees and is incredibly long-lasting.

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.

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

In Indian cultures, sandalwood is ground down for use in incense sticks, and often burnt during religious festivals. In fact, sandalwood is widely-considered to be the national scent of India, with most families burning the natural extract in their homes.

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.

Sandalwoods are medium-sized hemiparasitic trees, and part of the same botanical family as European mistletoe. Notable members of this group are Indian sandalwood (Santalum album) and Australian sandalwood (Santalum spicatum); others in the genus also have fragrant wood.

As a result, many species of plants within the genus Santalum (there are more than nineteen) are traded as "sandalwood".

The most expensive sandalwoods are harvested when the trees are around 60 years old. The older the tree, the stronger, more powerful and long-lasting the fragrance. This is particularly true of sandalwoods cultivated in Western Australia.

The Santalum tree is primarily grown in India but can be found in over 10 distinct regions of the world.

These are found in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, Indonesia, Hawaii, and other Pacific Islands.

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 aromatherapy, sandalwood has many benefits. Its sweet, soft scent induces relaxation and calmness, and promotes positive thinking, clarity and aids concentration. Many people believe it can also help boost memory, but this isn’t yet proven.

S. album is a threatened species indigenous to South India, and grows in the Western Ghats and a few other mountain ranges such as the Kalrayan and Shevaroy Hills.

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.

Sandalwood has a very distinctive fragrance, and is one of the most commonly used natural extracts in modern perfumery. Quality sandalwood should have a soft, warm, smooth and creamy fragrance, with a long-lasting bouquet that invokes the milky woodiness of the heart tree. It’s often paired with citrus fragrances to create a rounded nose of scent, and also complements white florals such as jasmine and gardenia very well.

Sandalwood essential oil is derived from sandalwood trees, a class of heavy, fine-grained woods which all produce an aromatic, long-lasting scent.