Essential Oil Spotlight: Frankincense

Somalia

The other day, somebody emailed to say that they'd noticed we use frankincense in some of our products, and wasn't this unethical for a company claiming to be sustainable?

The answer of course, was no. As with everything we do, we take the utmost care in the sourcing of our ingredients. Not to say that we're infallible, but we're certainly diligent.

Anyway, it seemed like frankincense would be a good topic for our next essential oil spotlight post.

Frankincense is a beautiful fragrance that has been used for thousands and thousands of years. Extracted from the sap of varieties of Boswellia tree, the majority of frankincense is grown in the horn of Africa, in mountainous regions of Somalia.

A beautiful grounding, woody aroma, frankincense has various aromatherapy benefits including stress reduction and relaxation.

For us, our essential oil sourcing has a dual purpose- ensuring sustainability and supporting communities.

Having lived near the Somali border myself, I probably have a better understanding of the factors that lead to poor harvesting practices than most.

People in these communities are often very poor- struggling to feed families or send their kids to school. Frankincense trees grow wild, and the majority are tapped by local tribespeople who then sell the resin on to traders. The temptation to overharvest trees to make ends meet is high- and totally understandable. It doesn't mean that the people don't love their natural environment- in fact, the opposite is true- these people are incredibly proud of their natural environment and respectful of nature. But when it comes to feeding your family, eeking a few extra pennies of sap might make all the difference.

So should we stop using frankincense? Absolutely not. In fact, stopping using frankincense is simply pushing people without a voice into further poverty, by curtailing their only source of income.

This is not large corporations factory farming large plantations. It's individuals laboriously wild harvesting to earn money to survive in some of the harshest conditions on the planet.

So what do we do? We only use Soil Association certified organic frankincense in all of our products. Organic certification isn't just about not using pesticides- it's about environmental protection and sustainability too. This frankincense is multiples more expensive than "standard" frankincense, but amazing quality and - even more importantly- independently audited for sustainability. Strict standards about frequency of tree tapping, methods used and rotation of harvesting areas alongside paying a higher price mean that harvesters can afford to care for their families as well as preserving their trees for generations to come.

We extend this principle to sourcing many of our other oils- purchasing from similar schemes in Angola, Madagascar and Haiti.

The simple act of sourcing the right ingredients to put in a candle, car freshener or sauna fragrance means that we're supporting sustainable livelihoods in poor communities globally.

Thanks for reading and do reach out with any comments or questions!

Best Wishes

Ben