For centuries, sandalwood essential oil has been a popular ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic medicine. It’s used to bring a sense of calmness and greater mental clarity. It’s popularly used in perfumes and essential oil treatment blends, as it doesn’t just have a sweet, musky, and woody scent – it also has an overall positive effect on well-being and mental health, along with other healing properties.
Sandalwood essential oil is extracted through steam distillation of wood from matured sandalwood trees that are about 40-80 years old. The older the tree, the better its oil reserve, and its smell stronger.
Sandalwood essential oil is also great to blend with other oils. It’s used to make medicine, beauty treatments, and numerous products like incense sticks, room fresheners, perfumes, soaps, lotions, and creams. For perfume and aromatherapy blends, sandalwood is frequently used as a base note and a base for products like cosmetics, incense, and aftershave.
Here are some of the reasons to use products containing sandalwood essential oil:
1. It promotes mental clarity.
One of the primary benefits of sandalwood is it promotes mental clarity when used as a fragrance or in aromatherapy. This is why it’s often used for prayer, meditation, and other spiritual rituals.
One study evaluated the effect of sandalwood oil on attention and arousal levels, and findings reveal that sandalwood’s main compound, alpha-santalol, generated high ratings of mood and attentiveness.
If you’re about to embark on a task that requires mental focus and calmness, you can drop about 2-4 drops of sandalwood oil on your ankles or wrists. You can also simply inhale the oil if you don’t want to apply it directly to your skin. You can also use it in a diffuser when you’re at home or in your personal office. And after the end of a long day, you can add a few drops of it to your bathwater.
2. It helps relax and calm the mood.
Along with chamomile and lavender, sandalwood makes the list of essential oils in aromatherapy used to relieve stress, anxiety, and depression. A study published in the Journal of Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice revealed that patients in palliative care felt less anxious and more relaxed when they received aromatherapy with sandalwood before receiving care than patients who did not receive sandalwood.
It’s great to inhale a few drops of sandalwood essential oil before yoga, barre, stretching, or other relaxing activities to help set the mood. Use it before praying, quiet time, or journaling to increase your ability to focus and relax.
3. It helps you be grounded and balanced.
In traditional Chinese medicine, essential oil sandalwood helps with the qi flow in our body. Qi is the vital life force responsible for the good flow of energy. If you feel scattered and ungrounded, you can use sandalwood essential oil. Add three to four drops of sandalwood to your palms, then close your eyes and cup your palm over your nose and mouth to inhale deeply through your nose. Exhale through your mouth, expelling as much air from the lungs as possible. Repeat this for several minutes while visualizing a smooth flow of energy through your body.
4. It acts as a natural aphrodisiac.
Practitioners of Ayurveda traditionally use sandalwood as an aphrodisiac. Sandalwood is a natural substance that can increase sexual desire, helping you increase libido. It can also help men with impotence. To use sandalwood as a natural aphrodisiac, add a couple of drops to your lotion or massage oil.
5. It can be used as an astringent.
Though its mild, sandalwood essential oil comes with astringent properties that can induce minor contractions in the skin, gums, and muscles. Many facial toners and aftershaves use sandalwood as an ingredient to help cleanse, soothe, and tighten the skin.
A study revealed that sandalwood essential oil is useful as a disinfectant in bronchial and genitourinary tracts. It was also proven beneficial in terms of strengthening the gums.
If you’re looking for a product with an astringent effect from your body care products, you can add a couple of drops of sandalwood oil.
6. It acts as an antiseptic.
Sandalwood essential blend is an excellent anti-viral agent that’s found to help prevent the replication of common viruses like herpes simplex viruses. It can also help reduce inflammation from mild skin irritation like superficial wounds, warts, pimples, and boils. Simply make sure to test the oil on a small area of your skin before applying it to the affected area. Better yet, mix it with a base carrier oil first.
If you experience a sore throat, you can also gargle with sandalwood oil by adding a few drops in warm water.
7. It has anti-inflammatory properties.
Both sandalwood essential oil and sandalwood paste is very effective as anti-inflammatory agents. A study found that Indian sandalwood comes with a cooling effect that can offer relief for all types of inflammation in the brain, nervous, digestive, circulatory, and excretory systems that result from infections, poisoning, wounds, fever, and side effects of antibiotics.
Another study found that the active compounds in sandalwood can decrease inflammation markers in the body.
8. It has anti-aging properties.
Sandalwood contains high levels of antioxidants that can help reduce damage caused by free radicals. A scientific review revealed that sandalwood oil has a natural ability to improve eczema, acne, psoriasis, and common warts. You can try adding a few drops of sandalwood oil to an unscented lotion and apply it directly to your face for natural anti-aging benefits. You can also use it to help treat acne and other minor skin conditions.
9. It can be used to pamper the skin.
Using sandalwood oil in skincare products is common. It can soothe the skin, relieve it from irritation and inflammation, and helps cure infections. A great use for sandalwood essential oil for skincare is mixing it with a base oil to help moisturize and treat dry skin. You can try some sandalwood essential oil blend recipes you can find to make your own blend.
10. It’s used in perfume blends.
You can also try making DIY cologne blends using sandalwood and mix it with other essential oils to create an earthy, woody scent. Sandalwood has a sweet, lasting odor that makes it a great base note in perfumes. It helps anchor and blends the fragrance together, helping lighter aromas blend in harmony.