Sandalwood Oil: Health Benefits and Uses In Ayurveda

Santalum album. that is the scientific name of sandalwood, an evergreen and hemiparasitic tree that, is originally from India and other parts of Asia.
It is considered sacred in the Hindu culture and listed as “national property” by the Indian administration, which has intended in this way to stop the deforestation to which it has been exposed for many decades.

The sandalwood can reach ten meters high; it has a brown trunk and thin branches with thick and smooth leaves of intense green color. Sandalwood flowers, meanwhile, are small and purple.

Its wood has historically been used to make furniture and build houses and also to make sandalwood essential oil. The wood of sandalwood, prized and sought after, becomes a yellowish wood that is sold in thin shavings.

This wood reaches its maximum aromatic power when the sandalwood tree has reached thirty years of age. Among all the existing sandalwood species, the most valued is the one that grows and is grown in the Mysore region, near Bangalore.

To obtain sandalwood essential oil, the core of the tree trunk is used, as well as its roots. Distilling these parts with steam gives an essential oil of intense and sweet aroma, which makes sandalwood an aromatic note highly valued in the world of cosmetics and perfumery.

Its fragrance is so pleasant that most of the world’s best cosmetics and perfumery industry make their perfume, some of the brands such as Christian Dior, Loewe, Paloma Picasso, and Calvin Klein have used it to make some of their most famous fragrances.

Since time immemorial, sandalwood and sandalwood essential oil has been used in all kinds of spiritual ceremonies (the embalming of corpses would be one of them), and, above all, it has been used to perform massages.

Although if we refer to it on Our page is mainly because sandalwood has been used in Ayurvedic medicine to, for example, eliminate mucus or treat abscesses.

Uses of sandalwood oil

The main function of sandalwood in Ayurvedic medicine is to act as a sedative for the nervous system. Acting neutrally on the Kapha dosha, the sandalwood reduces Pitta and Vata.

Thus, sandalwood has been used and is used in Ayurvedic medicine to calm anxiety, relieve panic states, and treat depression.

Bringing a sense of well-being and acting, although slightly, euphoric, sandalwood calms the mind and brings peace, so it improves the quality of sleep, reduces insomnia, and acts as a good complement to help study and concentration.

Properties and benefits of sandalwood oil

• It is a disinfectant, diuretic, and expectorant, so it acts in a very positive way to balance the digestive, respiratory, and circulatory systems.
• Sandalwood vapors are very useful for treating different respiratory problems such as sore throats, irritation, or excessive mucus.
• Used in the form of creams or prepared lotions, sandalwood is used to treat sores, acne, pimples, infections, and all types of skin rashes. If we want to treat irritated or infected skin, we can apply a compress with a cloth dampened with warm water in which, previously, we will have added a few drops of sandalwood essential oil. If the skin is very dry, we can add a few drops of essential oil to our body cream or dilute the drops of sandalwood essential oil in olive or almond base oil.
• Ten drops of sandalwood oil, mixed with ten olive oil and ten sesame oil, serve to improve the split ends of the hair and eliminate dandruff.
• A drop of sandalwood oil, placed on the forehead, between the eyebrows, in that space known as the “third eye”, helps to harmonize body and mind.
• Sandalwood is also used in ayurvedic to treat infections of the lower urinary tract (cystitis) medicine, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, frigidity, impotence, gonorrhea, or decreased libido.
• Not surprisingly, there are chemists who have pointed out that the aroma of sandalwood is very similar to that of a male hormone, which would explain, in a scientific way, the fact that sandalwood has traditionally been attributed aphrodisiac and erotizing effects.

Precautions while using sandalwood oil

As with most essential sandalwood oil, it is not advisable to use the essence of sandalwood oil with children or pregnant women, and there are experts who do not recommend using sandalwood in people suffering from any type of kidney problem.