Sandalwood is not always harvested in a sustainable manner, but Australian sandalwood is now responsibly harvested and sustained. Sandalwood has had many uses including its historical use in embalming, as furniture, carvings, sandalwood incense, sandalwood perfume, and as an essential oil fixative to slow evaporation. Other good fixatives include cedar oil, patchouli oil, rose oil, and oil of frankincense. Most often, sandalwood essential oil (Santalum album) is produced by steam distillation. Sandalwood oil blends well with many oils including geranium oil and ylang ylang. Use with natural skin care oils such as sweet almond oil and apricot kernel oil. Sandalwood essential oil can be adulterated with oils such as copaiba oil and Atlas cedar, so always be sure to get 100% pure essential oils for maximum aromatherapy benefits.

Sandalwood is a tall evergreen shrub or large tree whose wood contains a large amount of fragrance. The 16 species of sandalwood (Santalum) are indigenous to the Pacific and Eastern Indian Ocean areas where it is used for furniture, ornaments, sacred objects, carvings, and incense called joss sticks that are popular in China. Its essential oil is useful for aromatherapy, perfumery, and medicinal purposes.

The growing conditions sandalwood is able to tolerate varies widely. It can live in the Australian desert climate, subtropical New Caledonia, at sea level, or at elevations above 8000 feet. For nourishment, this parasitic plant robs nutrients from host plants by attaching to the roots.

There are a number of sandalwood species that provide essential oils. Indian sandalwood or Santalum album is the most notable and economically significant since it possesses the preferred scent and contains the greatest amount of oil (6 to 7%). Other species used to produce oil include S. austarocaledonicum from New Caledonia, S. Yasi from Fiji, and S. spicatum from Australia. Numerous other sandalwoods are used for the wood in construction, furniture, and firewood.

Larger older trees are harvested for oil because they contain more heartwood with more essential oil. Dead trees are also used since the oils are retained for years. Nothing is wasted - even the sawdust, stump with the greatest amount of oil, and the sapwood with little oil are used. However, the lower grades like sapwood are used to make incense, chips, and powder. Larger pieces are used for carving and to make furniture.  

Sandalwood History

Sandalwood has been around for a long time - most likely over 4000 years. Vedic text from the 5th century B.C. is the first recorded account of its existence. Its usefulness has been taken advantage of since ancient times. For a minimum of 2000 years, India has considered sandalwood a sacred tree and has used it in worship practices with the wood being made into spiritual articles like staffs, figures, and a sandalwood paste used to mark the skin. Also, early builders utilized sandalwood's resistance to white ants by using it in construction.

As a major constituent in perfumes, incense, lotions, and body oils, sandalwood has been one of the most significant components for perfumery for over 2000 years. Its use became substantial in the 1900s and it is still treasured in European and American perfumery for its scent and fixative capabilities, often being used in fine perfumes.

Sandalwood was a valuable medicinal herb in traditional Chinese and Tibetan cultures and became a significant trade commodity by 700 B.C. As a consumer good, sandalwood was used by the Egyptians in embalming, in India to burn on funeral pyres, and to make coffins for the wealthy.

As in the past, sandalwood is still used to create sacred objects, carvings, and assorted handcrafted ornaments. Also, it has been used for temple doors, and elaborately carved furniture, though not as often as in the past.  Wood chips are burned as incense or ground to make incense sticks.

Leading Sandalwood Types

Santalum album, Indian Sandalwood

Indian history and culture is mingled with the aroma of sandalwood with it being in Indian literature about 2000 B.C. in the Ramayana. Sandalwood was placed with spices and silk trade items to other countries for its rich aroma. It was established in 1792 as a "royal tree" by the Sultan of Mysore, a practice which continues today. The government owns all the sandalwood trees, but individuals are able to receive as much as 75% of their value for taking care of and protecting the trees on their land, even though harvest must be government approved.

Sandalwood from India is used for medicine, incense, ritual chip burning, perfumes, beauty care products, and religious carvings. Most of the sandalwood comes from the Deccan Plateau in southern India in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states. This slow-growing tree grows in dry, deciduous forests and is easily damaged by fire, pests, grazing and disease.

Not all factors of how heartwood obtains its concentration is completely understood. What is known is that the age, soil, and climate conditions are important. The essential oil in the heartwood starts to develop at 10 years or later with the trees being normally harvested at 30 years or older. Of the yellowish to dark brown heartwood, the lighter-colored wood has greater amounts and a higher quality essential oil than the darker. The roots and core of the heartwood have the highest concentration of oil and lessens going up and out from the heartwood and tree. 

Sandalwood essential oil is produced most often by steam distillation, water distillation being considered outdated. It is colorless to pale yellow and rather thick. The top note is soft with a sweet-woody, balsamic body and a long-lasting bottom note, which is the reason sandalwood is a good fixative.

Santalum spicatum, Australian Sandalwood

Even though Australia has five indigenous sandalwood species, only two are significant commercially, S. spicatum and S. lanceolatum. The wood of both types began being exported in the early 1800s, largely to China. Demand grew and supplies decreased, so the Australian government tried to control harvesting using the Western Australian Sandalwood Control Act of 1929. About the same time, S. spicatum essential oil was organized sufficiently to control the quality, allowing it to be recognized as beneficially equal to East Indian oil. S. spicatum was included in the British Pharmacopoeia in 1932.

S. spicatum, also referred to as Western Australian sandalwood, is a small tree that can reach 20 feet in height. It flowers in March or April and yields fruit at 5 to 10 years old. Trees mature considerably faster with high moisture levels - a difference of 30 years to mature compared to dry areas that can take 50 years or longer. Early over-harvesting and the transformation of forest to farmland in these areas of high rainfall have done away with most of the trees in the region. A considerable amount of replanting occurs in this area of high moisture to ensure greater success of survival.

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Sustaining Sandalwood

Sandalwood from East India was the first to be traded solely in its indigenous region. High demand, particularly in China, resulted in an exploration of alternatives and an exploitation of several types of sandalwood in the Pacific and East Indian Ocean areas. For instance, on Timor Island, exploitation began in the 1600s when the Portuguese harvested but didn't replant. This practice was continued when the land was handed over to the Indonesians in 1975. By 1990, few plants remained. King Kamehameha I traded huge quantities of sandalwood for extravagant commodities in the early 19th century in Hawaii by coercing his people to gather sandalwood to pay his debts. His successors continued this practice of accruing massive financial obligations for over-priced goods to be paid by future harvests. The ability to pay these debts became increasingly harder. Insistence on payment maintained supplies until the 1940s when the majority of the trees had been depleted. By 1820, Fiji and the Marquesas Islands were also virtually exhausted. Late in the 19th century rampant harvesting in Vanuatu resulted in the same fate.

The Indian civilization has enmeshed the use of patchouli into their culture and heritage so much that this may be why they were first to respond to ensuring the longevity of this valuable commodity. Unfortunately, progress on reforestation has been limited. In the late 1700s, the Sultan of Mysore proclaimed sandalwood a "royal tree" and took government control of the trees, but over time numerous governments have been involved in trying to manage harvesting and planting. Problems have occurred stifling progress due to fire, livestock browsing, smuggling, and diseases. Fungal disease affecting the seeds and spike disease, thought to be caused by a mycoplasma-like organism that is transmitted one live plant to another by insects have repressed regrowth. India fights to overcome the difficulties associated with sandalwood by restricting the age and number of trees allowed to be harvested, by replanting, and by managing wood and lumber export. Making matters more difficult was the death of an infamous smuggler in 2004 causing sandalwood prices to rise, which entices poachers.

In Australia sandalwood exploitation started in the 1840s and ended in the 1950s when diminished reserves and cost made it no longer economically feasible to market. Regulation began in 1923 on royal property that called for annual quotas, export licenses, royalty increases, and forest rangers to keep poachers in check and to reforest. In 1984 Australia's Forest Department mapped Western Australian sandalwood trees to plan natural and artificial revitalization. The Forest Product Commission (FPC) now ensures Australia's sandalwood sustenance by aiding natural regeneration. Current harvesting quotas are 2000 tons a year with around half of that being from dead wood. Sandalwood harvesters are called pullers since the entire tree is pulled from the ground to obtain the roots that contain large amounts of oil. For each tree harvested, 12 seeds are to be planted near appropriate host plants. An external audit establishes all sandalwood planning, harvesting, and management are within standard requirements.

Much progress has been made in sustaining Australia's sandalwood reserves. The government is following information learned from research regarding soil, rain, elevation, and growing conditions to improve natural regeneration and plantation planting. Other research concerning the best host plants, seeding rates indicating how much seed to plant to produce the desired amount of plant, seed sprouting, and survival are being utilized. The FPC supplies farmers with land for planting trees. In return, the farmers make cash payments and give a portion of the lumber earnings to the FPC. Australia uses research to build sandalwood tree farms so that harvesting in the wild will be unnecessary.

Sandalwood Aromatherapy

Used for over 4000 years as a perfume, incense and medicine, sandalwood has had considerable crop deficits within the last 100 years due to a lack of regulation and over-harvesting. This problem has been fueled by an increasing demand for this unusual, tender, aesthetic scent. Due to the Australian government's successful protection of sandalwood from deficits, Aura Cacia offers Australian sandalwood in an allegiance to their commitment to quality, environmentally responsible practices, and preserving this precious oil to supply benefits for future generations.   

The small Australian sandalwood tree, Santalum spicatum, from the dry areas of central Western Australia and harvested since the 1800s, has produced many joss sticks (incense) that were exported to China. In 1929, the Sandalwood Control Act was enacted to control tree harvesting. Also, the Department of Conservation and Land Managements (CALM) was founded to ensure sandalwood's longevity. 

Indian sandalwood has 60 to 70% greater amounts of santalol compared to 25 to 30% in Australian, but the base notes are nearly identical. Long-lasting base-note oils include sandalwood essential oil, cedar oil, oil of frankincense, rose oil, and patchouli oil. There is a little variation in the middle notes between the oils oil and a great deal in the top notes, the first scent detected. Australian sandalwood has a more tenacious, drier and less sweet top note than Indian. Both Australian and Indian sandalwood are ideal fixatives that are interchangeable.

Sandalwood essential oil is one of the longest used ingredients for perfume and is still used today in natural scents and premium perfumes, not only for its sweet, warm, rich balsamic fragrance, but also for its fixative character when mixed with other oils. In aromatherapy, sandalwood is used for its ability to calm, center, cleanse, cool, sooth, and for its sensual qualities. It is added to lotions, creams, and ointments for chapped, dry, sensitive, inflamed, or aging skin as well. The astringent nature of sandalwood makes it an excellent ingredient in aftershaves, lotions, creams, and massage, facial, and bath oils. It encourages and supports peaceful sleep and relieves anxiety, often being used in meditation and prayer. Try this in times of emotional distress to ground oneself or to bring about peace and acceptance in times of loss.

This wonderful oil blends particularly well with florals or oils with a strong top or middle note. In fact, it blends well with almost any oil by enhancing the base note and working as a fixative for the other oils. It is appropriate for feminine and masculine blends.

 Add 3 to 5 drops of sandalwood essential oil per ounce of hair rinse, particularly for dry or damaged hair. For a:

Nourishing, exquisite skin cream: add 3 drops of rose oil and 3 drops of sandalwood essential oil  

Relaxing massage oil: add 3 drops of sandalwood essential oil per teaspoon of natural skin care oils. For a more sensual massage include a drop of jasmine or rose oil.

Sandalwood Quality

Because sandalwood is expensive and scarce, adulteration is common. Most often essential oils from other sandalwood species, copaiba oil, Atlas cedar fractions, and amyris oil are used. "Stretching", a different type of adulteration, also occurs when odorless solvents are added to expand the amount of sandalwood oil.

Sandalwood oil must be aged at least six months to completely develop the sweet, woody, sensual scent, after which the aroma continues to gradually improve. Always store sandalwood in a dark, airtight glass container.  

NOTE: Sandalwood is a very safe, non-irritating oil. However, as with all essential oils, it should be diluted before applying directly to the skin due to rare, but potential skin irritation.

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