Frankincense is surprisingly versatile. Depending on which form you have (raw resin, essential oil, or supplement capsules), you can burn it as incense, use it in skincare, inhale it for relaxation, take it orally for inflammation, or infuse your own oil at home. Here’s how each method works and what to expect.
Burn the Resin as Incense
Raw frankincense resin is the most traditional form, and burning it produces a warm, woody smoke that’s been used in religious and meditative settings for thousands of years. You’ll need a charcoal incense burner, charcoal discs (sold at most incense or specialty stores), and metal tongs.
Use the tongs to hold a charcoal disc over a flame until it sparks and begins to glow. Place it in your burner and wait a few minutes until a layer of gray ash forms on the surface. Then drop a few small pieces of resin directly onto the hot charcoal. The resin will begin releasing fragrant smoke almost immediately. Start with two or three small pieces; you can always add more. Keep a window cracked for ventilation, and place the burner on a heat-safe surface since charcoal gets extremely hot.
Use the Essential Oil for Skin
Frankincense essential oil has real benefits for skin. It inhibits the enzymes that break down collagen and elastin, the two proteins responsible for keeping skin firm and elastic. In animal studies, topical frankincense oil reduced UV-related skin damage, lowered inflammatory markers, and boosted the production of new collagen. One of its key components also accelerated wound healing by increasing new tissue growth and blood vessel formation.
The critical rule: never apply undiluted essential oil to your skin. For your face, mix it at roughly 0.5 to 1.2% concentration, which works out to about 3 to 7 drops of essential oil per tablespoon of carrier oil (jojoba, sweet almond, or argan all work well). For body application, you can go up to 3%, or around 9 to 18 drops per tablespoon. If your skin is sensitive, reactive, or compromised, stay at 0.5% or below and patch-test on your inner forearm for 24 hours first.
A few drops of the diluted blend can be added to your regular moisturizer, or you can apply it directly as a facial serum at night.
Inhale It for Stress Relief
When you inhale frankincense, its aromatic compounds reach olfactory receptors in your nose and send signals directly to the limbic system and hypothalamus, the brain regions that regulate emotion, stress hormones, and autonomic functions like heart rate and blood pressure. This is the fastest route for essential oils to affect your nervous system, and studies on aromatic compounds in the same family have documented reductions in cortisol levels, lower blood pressure, and measurable shifts in brain wave patterns associated with calm.
The simplest method is adding 3 to 5 drops to a diffuser. You can also place a drop or two on your palms, rub them together, and cup your hands near your nose for a few slow breaths. A warm bath with a few drops mixed into a carrier oil (essential oils don’t dissolve in water on their own) works well before bed.
Take Boswellia Supplements for Inflammation
Frankincense resin contains a group of compounds called boswellic acids, which are potent, targeted anti-inflammatory agents. They work by blocking a specific enzyme involved in the inflammatory cascade, making them particularly useful for joint pain, stiffness, and conditions like osteoarthritis. Boswellia supplements have also been studied for asthma, inflammatory bowel conditions, and general pain relief.
Supplement capsules typically contain 150 to 250 mg of Boswellia serrata extract and are taken two to three times per day. Look for products standardized to boswellic acid content, since that’s the active component. One important caution: boswellia can interfere with blood-thinning medications like warfarin. Case reports from the Italian surveillance system documented increased bleeding risk in patients taking warfarin alongside boswellia products, likely because boswellia inhibits the liver enzymes that metabolize the drug. If you take anticoagulants or other medications processed by the liver, talk to your pharmacist before adding a boswellia supplement.
Note that Boswellia supplements (standardized resin extract) are not the same as frankincense essential oil. The safety of ingesting essential oil daily is still being formally studied, with clinical trials currently underway to evaluate whether it’s safe based on liver function, kidney function, and blood markers. Until that data is available, supplements made from the resin extract are the better-established oral option.
Make Your Own Infused Oil at Home
If you have raw frankincense resin and want a gentler, more versatile product than pure essential oil, you can make a slow-infused oil at home. This produces something milder than distilled essential oil but still aromatic and useful for moisturizing, massage, or adding to homemade balms.
Start by crushing the resin into small pieces with a mortar and pestle. Don’t grind it to powder, which makes straining difficult later. Place the crushed resin in a clean, dry glass jar (mason jars work fine) and pour a neutral carrier oil over it until the resin is fully submerged, leaving a little headroom. Jojoba and fractionated coconut oil are good choices because they resist going rancid.
Set the jar in a warm spot like a sunny windowsill and shake it gently once a day. Let it steep for two to six weeks; longer steeping produces a stronger infusion. When it’s ready, strain the oil through cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl, pressing the resin pieces to extract as much oil as possible. Transfer the finished oil to an amber or cobalt blue glass bottle to protect it from light, and label it with the date. Stored in a cool, dark place, it should last several months.
Choosing the Right Type of Frankincense
Not all frankincense is the same. The most common species you’ll encounter are Boswellia sacra (from Oman and Yemen), Boswellia carterii (from Somalia), and Boswellia serrata (from India). Despite sometimes being marketed interchangeably, sacra and carterii are chemically distinct species. Sacra resin contains about 68% of its primary aromatic compound (a terpene called alpha-pinene), while carterii contains roughly 37%, giving them noticeably different scent profiles. Sacra tends to smell brighter and more citrusy; carterii is warmer and more complex.
For burning as incense, any species works. Choose based on scent preference and budget, since Omani sacra resin tends to be the most expensive. For anti-inflammatory supplements, Boswellia serrata is the most extensively studied and the species used in the vast majority of clinical research on boswellic acids. For skincare and aromatherapy, sacra and carterii essential oils are both popular, and the best choice comes down to which scent you prefer.