I noticed my son’s skin and lips were a little dry, so I said we should put some coconut oil on it. He shook his head and said, “No, Dad. I need gamussa.” I had no idea what that was. “Gamussa? What’s gamussa?” He just repeated it, confident and playful, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. So I did what I’ve learned to do. I looked it up. And there it was. Gamussa is almost certainly Ferula gummosa, the plant whose resin is called galbanum. It’s an ancient remedy, used for skin, inflammation, wounds. My son had somehow landed on this obscure Persian plant and knew exactly which oil he wanted. Not coconut. Galbanum. And here’s the part that hit me hardest. Galbanum is one of the ingredients in the sacred incense described in Exodus, right alongside frankincense and myrrh. My son may have just asked for a three-thousand-year-old biblical skin remedy. Topically, galbanum has a long history in Middle Eastern skin care. It’s been mixed into carrier oils or beeswax salves for cracked, scaly, or eczema-prone skin, valued for its soothing and antimicrobial effect. The resin or essential oil is diluted, five percent or less in something like jojoba or shea.