Product Overview
Sandalwood lovers will rejoice to find our sustainable, plantation-grown Sandalwood Nut CO2 Total Extract for face, hair and body care. This is a lightweight, non-greasy and nourishing ‘dry’ carrier oil that is an ideal addition to a myriad of products for the hair and body, as well as for facial creams and serums. It is quite stable relative to other nut oils - it has been extracted from the kernels of the Sandalwood species native to Australia, Santalum spicatum, using only CO2 gas as the solvent, a process that is regarded as one of the best ways to produce stable and pure natural plant extracts. Sandalwood Nut CO2 should not be confused with Sandalwood essential oil distilled from the heartwood of Santalum trees.
Although Sandalwood Nut Oil has been studied for its unique properties for quite some time, anecdotal evidence and oral tradition suggest that it has an ancient history of use by the aboriginal people of Australia through the consumption of Sandalwood nuts as a traditional food. Scientific studies are only now catching up with this indigenous knowledge.
Sandalwood trees begin to develop golden brown fruits, about 15-20 mm in diameter, at the age of four years and thereafter produce an annual crop.[1] Small, carrion-scented flowers appear from February to March, followed by fruits throughout the cooler season, and an early to mid-winter harvest.[2]
The fatty acid profile of Sandalwood Nut Oil reveals a ximenynic acid content between 27-35%, a constituent found so far in only two genera of plants - Santalum and Ximenia. Ximenynic acid (XA, aka santalbic acid) is a rare polyunsaturated fatty acid with a triple (acetylenic) bond that offers unique skin, scalp, and hair care properties
Regarding Sandalwood plantations and sustainability issues in general, production of Sandalwood Nut Oil also provides an incentive for farmers to allow the trees to grow for longer periods of time - an absolute necessity given that in order to provide a high-quality essential oil and a worthwhile yield, Sandalwood must be distilled from trees mature enough to develop sizeable heartwood.
Want to know more about how to use Sandalwood Nut CO2 as a base for your essential oil blends? Read Dilution Solutions to learn about essential oil to carrier oil ratios and how to mix essential oils with carrier oils.
1 Industry communication.
2 Ibid.
