A Wandering Soul

Candles are very populer these days but you could be paying to put harmful chemicals in the air that can cause major illness later or even affect your mood. 

For a long time I was paying tons of money for candles advertised as all natural. They had “organic” wood wicks with natural soy wax. The problem lay with what was done with the wick and the wax after. The natural soy wax had synthetic fragrances added to it. Most fragrances are created with petroleum based chemicals that are harmful to you. The wood wicks were treated with a “clean burning” agent that when I went to research what this meant was not given any answers by any of the companies that created them. 

Because I could not get any answers I did a test. I made candles with wood wicks both treated and untreated as well as candles with organic hemp wicks. When burned the untreated wood wicks did not stay lit and created black smoke emissions that is not great for breathing in. The wooden wicks that were treated had less smoke emissions and had a clove like synthetic smell to them. They did seem like a good alternative until I saw the wax. The wax had been changed to a brownish color. I did not realize this was caused by the treated wood wicks until I burned the all natural hemp core wicks. These wicks burned much brighter then any of the other wicks used previously. They had little smoke as long as you kept them trimmed to a nice short length. The soy wax was crystal clear as well showing no chemicals were being released from the wick. 

I realized from all of this experimentation that I had to create candles that payed attention to every last material put into them. Just one material can set back all efforts made to be environmentally thoughtful as well as healthy. I use organic or naturally harvested fair trade essential oils, eco friendly pesticide free soy wax, organic hemp wicks and both 100% recycled glass containers and some with 30% recycled glass that I have placed hand cut vellum luminary designs around. 

I would like to thank http://peacefulhealingjourney.com in helping me with my education on the pitfalls of synthetic materials in candle making. I think it is important to pay attention to everything that goes into your body and I am trying to put more options out there for people who really care about what they consume.