Ingredient Library
Sandalwood
Santalum album
Sandalwood is a prized aromatic wood whose oil calms, balances, and softens the look of skin. Grounding and gentle, it suits dry, mature, and sensitive skin.
A natural history
Sandalwood is one of the oldest fragrant materials known, its heartwood treasured in southern India for some four thousand years and named in ancient writings from Kautilya's manual of statecraft to the great Indian epics. Its scent, unusually, deepens with age, hidden in the heartwood and roots of a slow-growing tree, which is why mature sandalwood has always been so coveted: traded along old routes, burned as temple incense, and carried far from its home.
For the skin, sandalwood has a long, specific tradition. A cooling paste of the ground wood, called chandana, was smoothed onto the face and body to calm heat and irritation, especially in the hot season, and the wood is classed among the traditional complexion-supporting botanicals. That cooling, soothing role is exactly how it is used in skincare today.
What it does for your skin
Sandalwood's character on skin comes largely from santalol, the main compound in its essential oil. A 2019 review in Natural Product Research describes alpha-santalol as lowering markers of inflammation in skin models, which helps explain sandalwood's calming reputation.[1] A dermatology review in the Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology likewise reports that sandalwood album oil has shown anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activity, supporting the look of clearer, more soothed skin.[2] We use it for that gentle, cooling comfort rather than any single claim.
References
[1] Bommareddy A, Brozena S, Steigerwalt J, et al. Medicinal properties of alpha-santalol, a naturally occurring constituent of sandalwood oil: review. Nat Prod Res. 2019;33(4):527-543. doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2017.1399387
[2] Moy RL, Levenson C. Sandalwood album oil as a botanical therapeutic in dermatology. J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 2017;10(10):34-39. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29344319
Found in these formulas
Questions, answered
Yes. It is prized for cooling and calming the look of redness, which makes it a natural fit for sensitive, reactive skin.
In traditional use its ground-wood paste was applied to soothe heat and irritation, and that soothing reputation carries into skincare today.
Soft, warm, and woody. Its scent is one of the most treasured natural fragrances in the world and lends a quiet calm to a routine.
Our Active Botanical Replenishing Oil, Vitamin C Serum Balm, and Morning Minerals Eye Mask, among others.