Frankincense resin

• 100% natural ingredients
• Vegan
• From wild plants.

Traditional use of frankincense resin/resin:

• fresh resin chewed as a hygienic chewing gum, improves breath;
• pieces are added to coffee, or a small coffee drinking ritual. The coffee cup is held over the incense until it fizzles and then hot coffee is added. Believe me, the taste and smell are indescribable...
• arabs use frankincense to scent their clothes and homes, and to make them smelly. Their weddings and religious ceremonies are not without incense. A bowl of frankincense is given to the guest to soap his beard and to the bride to smell her headscarf;
• women have used incense smoke as a perfume since time immemorial. No self-respecting Arab or Indian woman would leave the bath without standing over a bowl of incense, which was used to breathe on the body, hair and clothes that had just been washed;
• the smoke from the incense resin was used as a cosmetic treatment to keep the skin of the face firm, youthful and beautiful. Instead of applying cream, women simply sanded their faces;
• in the valleys of incense, where the boswellia trees are planted, incense resin has always been burnt in front of the woman giving birth and the baby is immediately smothered. The baby is regularly smothered for 40 days after birth; 
• in ancient Egypt, both frankincense and myrrh resins were used for embalming because they inhibit decay and putrefaction;

The resins produced by boswellia, myrtle, pine, spruce and fir trees have properties that protect the tree from infections and invaders, heal wounds, accelerate the healing of injured bark, and act as pheromones, sending scent signals to pollinating insects and attacking insects. Frankincense (boswellia tree resin, resin) is one of the oldest substances used in human history and has been considered a panacea for a wide range of spiritual and somatic problems and diseases. Today, the properties of the boswellic acids in the resin are the most studied, and their preparations are used in medicine and health promotion.

Frankincense resin has long been used as a hygienic chewing gum and spice, and in Arabic and other countries it is used in sweets.

Cosmetics, skin. Boswellia resin has a positive effect on skin cells, i.e. it activates healthy cell growth and regeneration of skin cells, so frankincense tree resins are good for damaged skin. Traditionally, the resin has been used in various ointments and balms. Nowadays, essential oils are more commonly used for these purposes. Frankincense resin and its essential oil have innumerable applications in both modern and traditional cosmetics. Mixed with beeswax, frankincense resin has been used since ancient times to treat blackheads and bags under the eyes. Frankincense resin extracts and oil are used in skin rejuvenating masks and anti-wrinkle creams; it improves the condition of dry and ageing skin.

Problems of seasonal changes. Frankincense essential oil is suitable for indoor steaming during the changing seasons, in winter. However, be aware that use for children is slightly different from adults – see here for how to use and a list of other essential oils suitable for use by children during the changing seasons. 

Insects. Like any smoke (think of bees and beekeepers with their smoky incense burners), resin incense is unpalatable to insects.

Joints and muscles. Frankincense essential oils are excellent for massage blends after exercise or other unpleasant sensations, and are favoured by sports people and the elderly alike.  The essential oil of Boswellia serrata is particularly suitable. 

Mood. When you want to achieve inner peace and a relaxed state of mind, frankincense can be used to breathe in rooms when you are feeling sad, anxious and negative.

Perfumery. Because of its characteristic, graceful, mysterious, liturgical scent, frankincense is a much-loved ingredient in perfumes. It is a favourite with both classic and niche perfumers. 

Literature:

1. Essential oils of frankincense, myrrh and opopanax. Flavour Fragr. J. 18, Baser, KHC., Demirci, B, Dekebo, A, Dagne, E, 2003.

2. Furanosesquiterpenes from Commiphora sphaerorocarpa and related adulterants of true myrrh, Fitoterapia, Dekebo A, Dagne E, Sterner, O., 2002.

3. Flavours and fragrances of plant origin, Non-Wood Forest Products, 1, FAO, Rome. Coppen, J.J.W., 1995.

4. Analgesic effects of myrrh. Nature 379, Dolara, P., Luceri, C., Ghelardini, C., Monserrat, C., Aiolli, S., Luceri, F., Lodovici, M., Menichetti, S., Romanelli, M. N., 1996.

5. Frankincense and Myrrh. Economic Botany 40, Tucker A.O., 1986.

6. A safe, effective, herbal antischistosomal therapy derived from myrrh. Sheir Z, Nasr AA, Massoud A, Salama O, Badra GA, El-Shennawy H, Hassan