Ways to Tell If Your Sandalwood is Fake

Sandalwood is one of the most beneficial essential oils out there. It has a lot of benefits, such as relieving headaches, muscle pains, and joint pains, and as well as calming the mind and body. It’s also easy to find and buy sandalwood essential oils because they are available in stores and even online. However, when purchasing one, you need to choose a high-quality essential oil. This means that going with the cheapest options is not always the best. 

When purchasing a sandalwood essential oil, you need to make sure that it is 100% pure. If it’s not, you’re just wasting your hard-earned money because low-quality essential oils are not as effective and they do not offer the benefits that high-quality ones do. A poor quality sandalwood oil may have additives or have been mishandled. When you use this type of essential oil, it might either have harmful side effects to your skin or no effect at all. 

Since many sandalwood essential oils are being offered in health food stores and online, it’s sometimes overwhelming to choose the best one. Also, it’s challenging to know which of them are genuine and which are fake. If you’re looking into buying sandalwood essential oil, but you’re not sure if you will be getting a legit and high-quality one, we are happy to help you. Today, we are giving you different ways to tell if the sandalwood essential oil is fake to help you avoid getting ripped off. 

Check the Type of Container

One of the easiest ways to tell if the sandalwood essential oil is fake is to check its container or bottle. If it is stored in a plastic or clear glass, then chances are it is fake. Real sandalwood essential oils are usually stored in dark-colored glass bottles with an eyedropper bulb. It is essential to store them in a glass container because there are potent chemical compounds in the oil that break down and react when it comes in contact with plastic. Also, the bottle needs to be dark-colored as well, such as dark blue or amber, to protect the oil from ultraviolet degradation. 

If you will be buying a sandalwood essential oil in person, it’s also important to check where they are placed. Make sure that the bottles are in a cool place because heat can also cause negative changes in its chemical composition.

Check the Name of the Oil

If you are shopping for a sandalwood oil online, it’s important to check the name of the oil. Make sure that the store you are purchasing from includes the common name of the oil and its Latin name as well. This means that aside from the name Sandalwood, you should also be seeing the Latin name santalum album on the label. If the Latin name of the oil is not included, it may actually be a non-essential oil that has perfume added to give its scent. 

If It Has a Very Cheap Price

As we’ve mentioned earlier, a lower price does not equal the best at all times. But choosing the most expensive sandalwood essential oil doesn’t necessarily mean you are getting a high-quality one either. You just need to be more cautious about buying an essential oil that comes at a very low price. It’s because it takes a lot of effort and an astounding amount of sandalwood to produce them. For example, a small bottle of sandalwood essential oil may contain about a quarter ounce of sandalwood powder, which can be really expensive. That is the reason why the price also increases depending on the quantity of the oil. 

Know How It Was Harvested and Produced

Sandalwood essential oils are created from woods from trees in the genus Santalum. It is a particular type of wood that is heavy, yellow, and fine-grained. What special is that unlike many other aromatic kinds of wood, Sandalwood can retain its fragrance for decades. It is also the second most expensive wood in the world, next to African blackwood. This is the reason why it’s important to know how the sandalwood in the essential oil you are buying is harvested and produced. 

When buying a sandalwood essential oil, you need to look for the official USDA seal. Aside from that, it should also be labeled “wild-crafted”, which means the tree used to make the oil was harvested in the wild and not farmed. With this, you can be sure that the sandalwood used in making the oil was not sprayed with chemicals. 

The Purity Statement

Another way to tell if the sandalwood essential oil is fake is when the statement about purity is missing on the label. When buying essential oil, it should indicate that it is 100% pure. If it does not, there’s a high chance that the oil has been altered or mixed with something else. Remember that for the sandalwood oil to be effective, it needs to be pure. 

Pay Attention to the Smell of the Oil

If you have purchased a sandalwood essential oil from the same company, but it does not smell like the ones you’ve had before, then that’s actually fine. But if the essential oils consistently smell precisely the same every time you buy, then chances are they are adding chemicals to achieve the same smell. 

It’s okay if the essential oil does not smell exactly the same because there are lots of things that influence the scent. It can be due to the amount of rain the tree or plant received, the temperature of the air, the length of the growing season, the soil content, and more. It is just like in wines. Grapes used in making certain wines may have grown in the same location, but the wines being produced can taste different from year to year.  

Check How the Oil Pours

You can also check the authenticity of the oil by checking how it pours from the bottle. When you open the sandalwood oil bottle, it should be sealed with an orifice reducer. That is a plug that controls the number of drops that comes out of the bottle at once. Aside from helping you get the right dose of oil, that plug also helps in prolonging the shelf life of the essential oil by limiting its exposure to air. As much as possible, avoid droppers that are made of rubber and plastic because these materials tend to break down, releasing synthetic impurities into the oil. 

Test the Oil

If you really want to make sure that you are getting a high-quality sandalwood essential oil, then you can have it tested. 

Every batch of pure essential oil must be tested with Gas Chromatography (GC) / Mass Spectrometry (MS) to ensure purity. GC is a method of sorting out the volatile compounds in essential oils into individual components. MS, on the other hand, identifies each of the components and the percentages. It is the process that identifies any pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and adulteration in the essential oil. You will be needing need a qualified aroma chemist to do this test.

If you want to test the sandalwood oil yourself, then you can do the blotter test. All you need is a perfume test strip or a white sheet of paper. Place a drop of the sandalwood oil on the strip or clean sheet of paper. A pure sandalwood oil should not leave a telltale oily stain when it dries. When it does, then it means it has been adulterated or extended with synthetic fragrance oil. Since sandalwood oil is thick, you can leave it to dry for up to 24 hours or several days. 

These are some of the ways to tell if your sandalwood essential oil is fake. By knowing these things, the next time you purchase, you can be confident that you are getting a high-quality and effective essential oil.