How you can avoid the fatal Sandalwood-Cedarwood mistake

Posted on 16th April 2009 at 16:54 Tagged under Books

We here at Shopping Place are big fans of The Apprentice. If you were privileged enough to watch the show last night, you'll have witnessed probably the biggest mistake mankind has ever made concerning oil. And this time we're not talking about climate change.

Paula, the team manager of Empire, was sadly fired in last night's episode despite making what seemed to be possibly the best set of products seen this series - the Rock Poole seaweed based soap and shower gel. Despite the pathetic leadership of rival team leader Noorul, Paula found herself in Sir Alan's firing line after producing a loss of £68.04. Her mistake? Mixing up cedarwood oil and sandalwood oil.

Whilst Empire insisted that the two names sounded the same (the only thing we can see in common is the word 'wood'), the difference in terms of cost was about £1170 per kilo. Cause we're the scientific type, we've had a look on Wikipedia and can inform you with the following:

"Sandalwood essential oil provides perfumes with a striking wood base note. Sandalwood smells not unlike other wood scents, except it has a bright and fresh edge with few natural analogues. When used in smaller proportions in a perfume, it is an excellent fixative to enhance the head space of other fragrances. The oil from sandalwood is widely used in the cosmetic industry and is expensive."

OK, sounds good, but what about cedarwood?

"Cedar wood and cedar oil is known to be a natural repellent to moths, hence cedar is a popular lining for modern-day closets in which woolens are stored. This specific use of cedar is mentioned in The Iliad (Book 24), referring to the cedar-roofed or lined storage chamber where Priam goes to fetch treasures to be used as ransom."

Personally I wouldn't want moth repellant in my soap, however if the team had used cedarwood instead of the more expensive sandalwood, they would have rightly won the task with a profit of £590. Admittedly it didn't help either that the team sporting a trainee stockbroker (in the form of Ben) couldn't do some simple primary school maths, and thought ingredients costing £700 would cost a couple of quid. That comes firmly under the category of 'epic fail'.

If you saw the after-show, The Apprentice - You're Fired, afterwards on BBC2, you'll have seen Paula given a book as a leaving gift. We've had a look on the internet, and you too can own this essential (pun intended) guide to your essential oils, and pretend to be your favourite Apprentice star. It's called 'The Essential Oils Handbook: All the Oils You Will Ever Need for Health, Vitality and Well-being' and you can buy it from Amazon now for the measly price of £6.99 delivered. The book costs £7 - the team wasted £700 on ingredients. Sounds like a 100x markup to me. Had the team known about this book beforehand, it would've been a no-brainer, and could have kept Paula in a job.

So now you too can avoid making the fatal mistake of mixing up your sandalwood and cedarwood. If you get onto the next series of The Apprentice and this book ends up saving your skin in the boardroom - I'll expect a cheque through the post.