My #momsays sandalwood can zap all your zits and truer words may have never been spoken

By now, you must be quite familiar with Kohli senior’s stubbornness. After all, the woman has always made sure that I and now—all of you—never let her lack of a medical degree cause any doubts about her suggested home remedies.

Unfortunately, being aware of this newfound stardom has driven the lady to take her always-right game to a whole new level.

Recently, she took me to Vrindavan on the pretext of spiritual motivation, only to point out how the chandan teeka that the pandit had smeared on my forehead had soothed the raw zits in the area in just half an hour. What followed was an extended gloating session of “I told you so”, which ended with me buying pure sandalwood powder to subdue on the acne on my face.

And so my tryst with this remedy began
Just to prove her wrong for once, I started applying sandalwood paste on the apple-red zits that I swear were brighter than the sun back then. I let the paste—I just mixed sandalwood powder with water to make some—sit on my face till it dried out. Then I rinsed it off with water, applied a water-based moisturiser, and snoozed away to glory every night.

Also read: My #momsays coconut oil and camphor are a godsend burn scar remedy

Also Read

Cinnamon for period pain: Here’s how to use it to deal with menstrual cramps Read Now

To be honest, the reason I followed this ritual so religiously for over a month had nothing to do sandalwood’s acne-curbing superpower. I simply enjoyed the calming aroma and the cool sensation of chandan on my face after a stressful day at work.

Of course, in due time, I realised that sandalwood had started overpowering my overactive sebaceous glands—which were producing dirt-trapping and pimple-causing sebum at the speed of light.

I noticed the first sign of its effectiveness, after a week of regular application and there has been no looking back ever since. In fact, the magic potion has even lightened the acne scars on my face. Now my skin looks matte and clean and feels soft and smooth. Tada!

But why is sandalwood powder so effective against acne?
No power in the world can prove a determined mother wrong. So, how can science be an exception, then?

According to a research article in the journal Letters in Applied Microbiology, sandalwood possesses antimicrobial and antiseptic properties, making it a mild and easy way to treat acne.

On the other hand, the scar-healing effect of sandalwood can be attributed to the presence of olfactory receptors in our skin that respond to the aroma of sandalwood and promote cell growth as per a study conducted at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany.

Also watch:

But not all chandan is the same
As effective as sandalwood is, sourcing pure chandan is also quite a task. The scarcity of this amazing resource not only makes it rare and expensive but also ensures that there are tons of cheap and useless dupes in the mark. So buy wisely. The strong yet soothing fragrance of sandalwood is a dead giveaway of whether or not you have the real deal.