Sandalwood extract has a long history. Its use can be traced back through beauty treatments, healthy living and even spiritual rituals that took place over 4,000 years ago.
The exotic scent of this extract comes from the heartwood of sandalwood, an evergreen from the Santalaceae family. The highest quality of oil comes from older, more mature trees, and is extracted through steam distillation. This woody, sweet and exotic smell often complements cosmetic and skin care formulas, and it’s often used as an essential oil for therapeutic purposes.
Although this scent is pleasant and popular, this ingredient does much more than smell good. Read below to see why you should include sandalwood in your skin care products.
 
Hydrates Skin
Sandalwood oil can effectively moisturize and nourish skin, which makes this the perfect ingredient for hydrating dry, flaky skin. Pure Sandalwood Oil contains 90 percent santalol (often credited for its moisturizing and viscoelasticity properties), which explains why sandalwood is considered such a good moisturizer.
Anti-aging
Sun exposure can dry skin and speed up skin aging such as premature wrinkles and age spots. Pollutants in the air and environment can also lead to cellular damage. Sandalwood, however, has high levels of antioxidants to fight free radical damage. These antioxidants improve blood circulation to your face, removing toxins and helping to restore skin's elasticity, smoothing away pesky wrinkles and other signs of aging.
Helps Various Skin Conditions
Is your skin inflamed? Is it prone to rashes and acne? Because sandalwood is anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antiviral in nature, it will calm the skin and kill bacteria (that gives rise to those pesky pimples), allowing you to keep your skin clear and healthy.
Scar Tissue
Scar tissue can be irritating, and in some cases embarrassing or uncomfortable, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be something you live with forever. The use of sandalwood, for instance, can fade scar tissue and make it much less noticeable. You can also combine it with black gram paste, tea tree oil or turmeric for an even more effective scar treatment.
You can use sandalwood oil directly, though mixing it with a carrier oil (such sweet almond oil, avocado oil, grapeseed oil) is highly recommended.  All you need to do is add a few drops of sandalwood oil to the carrier oil and gently massage onto skin. Before applying anything to your skin, however, you should test a small patch to make sure your skin isn’t easily irritated. As always you should also do additional research if you have a particular medical concern or previous issues with certain essential and/or carrier oils.
 
Looking for more comprehensive skin care solutions? Give Real Purity’s products a try! Although we have several items that use sandalwood specifically (including our Natural Roll-On Deodorant, our Men’s Stick Deodorant, our Velvet Glove Hand Cream and our Pure Body Soap) all of our body and skin care solutions use a variety of essential oils and extracts that will help manage your skin’s health.