Sandalwood is used for skin care, fragrance, religious ceremonies, and traditional medicine. Its essential oil, extracted from the heartwood of the Santalum album tree, contains compounds called santalols that give it a distinctive warm, creamy scent and a range of biological effects on skin and inflammation. These properties have kept sandalwood in demand for thousands of years, from ancient Ayurvedic treatments to modern perfumery and dermatology.
Skin Care and Inflammatory Skin Conditions
Sandalwood oil’s most studied modern use is in skin care, where it works as an anti-inflammatory agent. The oil suppresses a key inflammatory signaling pathway in skin cells, reducing the production of proteins that drive redness, swelling, and irritation. In laboratory studies, it shut down up to 90% of inflammatory signaling in certain cell types. This mechanism is similar to how some prescription anti-inflammatory drugs work, by blocking enzymes that break down a molecule your cells use to keep inflammation in check.
This makes sandalwood oil particularly relevant for conditions like psoriasis, eczema, and acne. In one study using a lab-grown model of psoriatic skin, treatment with sandalwood oil for four days restored the skin to a more normal structure, with healthier, well-defined layers. The oil also has mild antiseptic properties. In at least one documented clinical case, a patient’s antibiotic-resistant staph infection (MRSA) resolved during sandalwood treatment for a different skin condition.
For pigmentation and pore size, a 24-week clinical trial compared sandalwood oil to lemon oil in women with post-inflammatory facial pigmentation. Sandalwood significantly reduced facial spots and pore size, and it outperformed lemon oil on both measures. Pore size scores dropped from about 84 to 73 over the treatment period, and the improvement was statistically meaningful. UV-related acne also showed some improvement in the sandalwood group.
Perfumery and Fragrance
Sandalwood is one of the most prized base notes in perfumery. A base note is the longest-lasting layer of a fragrance, the scent that lingers on your skin hours after application. Sandalwood excels in this role because its main aromatic compounds, alpha- and beta-santalol, are large, stable molecules that evaporate slowly. These two compounds make up 50 to 70% of natural sandalwood oil.
Beyond its own scent, sandalwood acts as a fixative, meaning it slows the evaporation of other fragrance ingredients and helps a perfume last longer. It blends well with almost anything because it doesn’t cause chemical reactions with other fragrance components. This stability, combined with its soft, woody sweetness, makes it a staple in both fine perfumes and soap fragrances.
The high cost of natural sandalwood has pushed the fragrance industry toward synthetic alternatives. Companies like Symrise, Givaudan, and Firmenich sell synthetic compounds that mimic the sandalwood scent. However, the complex molecular structure of natural santalols makes them extremely difficult to replicate through chemical synthesis, resulting in low yields and imperfect copies. Synthetics can approximate the smell for fragrance purposes, but they lack the full chemical profile that gives natural sandalwood oil its biological activity on skin.
Traditional and Ayurvedic Medicine
Sandalwood has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for millennia. Ancient Indian texts describe it as a cooling agent that balances the body’s internal energies. In this tradition, sandalwood paste taken internally was used to soothe digestive complaints like heartburn and indigestion. Inhaling steam from a sandalwood preparation was a treatment for congestion and coughs. Its antiseptic and anti-inflammatory reputation also led to its use for urinary tract concerns.
Externally, Ayurvedic practitioners applied sandalwood paste to calm irritated skin, tighten pores, and treat conditions from acne to allergic reactions. Much of this traditional knowledge aligns with what modern research has confirmed about sandalwood’s anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, though the concentrations and preparations differ significantly from what you’d find in a modern essential oil bottle.
In Hindu and Buddhist traditions, sandalwood paste is applied to the forehead during religious ceremonies, and the wood is burned as incense during prayer and meditation. This spiritual use remains widespread across South and Southeast Asia.
How to Use Sandalwood Oil Safely
Sandalwood essential oil should always be diluted before applying it to skin. For your face, a 0.5 to 1% dilution is standard, which works out to roughly one to six drops of essential oil per 30 milliliters of a carrier oil like jojoba or coconut oil. For body application, you can go up to 2%. Before using it anywhere on your face or body, apply a small amount of the diluted oil to your inner wrist and wait 24 hours to check for redness or irritation.
Keep the oil away from your eyes and the inside of your nose. If you’re pregnant, many aromatherapists recommend avoiding essential oils entirely during the first trimester. Later in pregnancy, use only very mild dilutions after patch testing.
Conservation and Supply Concerns
Indian sandalwood (Santalum album) is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, with its wild population declining. Over the last three generations of the tree, overharvesting for timber and essential oil has reduced the population by at least 30%. Global demand currently exceeds supply, and the species is commercially exhausted in parts of India and much of Indonesia.
The tree’s high market value fuels widespread illegal harvesting and trade. Plantation-grown sandalwood in Australia and parts of Asia has eased some pressure on wild populations, but poaching from protected forests remains a persistent problem. If you’re buying sandalwood oil, plantation-sourced products from certified suppliers are the more sustainable option. Expect to pay a premium for genuine oil: the scarcity of the raw material is real, and very cheap sandalwood oil is almost certainly synthetic or heavily adulterated.