There’s so much to be said about candles and the types of waxes used in them. When I started my journey into candle making, I was flooded with all the varieties from soy wax, beeswax, coconut soy wax, paraffin wax, I had no idea there were so many different types, so I thought I would make a blog to help educate, but also talk about my opinions as a candle maker, of each one!
My thoughts
Soy Wax: its a vegetable wax made from the oil of soybeans after a process called hydrogenation which converts some of the fatty acids in the oil from unsaturated to saturated, which is how the wax is formed. It’s a great wax for its simple and natural nature, and is arguably the most used wax in the candle community. But I really wanted to offer something different and not just straight up soy wax. On its own soy wax has some interesting traits, like how the appearance of the wax has the potential to look a bit like curdled milk after burning, which is just because of its natural nature, but I didn’t want that for my candles. Another thing I’ve seen is if the candle sits in the sunshine, the fragrance oil comes to the surface and sometimes changes the wax color to a yellow hue. Again, it is a great wax, but on its own it just wasn’t what i was looking for my candles!
Beeswax: a lot of people like bees wax because it’s known for being incredibly natural (which It is), it’s benefits of purifying the air and having a low toxicity level. These are all great traits of this wax, but when it came down to it, I honestly worry about the harvesting process of bees wax and the cost can be high, as it should those bees work hard! It’s not considered vegan, or cruelty-free which for me was a no go… Bees wax is hard to make & it takes 6-8 pounds of honey to produce 1 LB of bees wax…. Most candle makers buy wax in bulk, in 11-44 LBs at a time so think about that for just a second. It’s a great wax, but again it just wasn’t what i was looking for.
Paraffin Wax: 🚩 Ohhhhh paraffin wax, I hate to break it to you but 99.9% of the candles you buy at big stores are made from paraffin including…. BBW… I know it’s sad but paraffin wax is a big ick in my book. As I said earlier paraffin wax is derived from petroleum, coal, or shale oil, it’s full of carcinogens, & toxins that correlate with headaches, cancer, kidney damage and so much more. Do I need to say more? It’s a NO for me. ALTHOUGH, there are waxes that contain a small bit of food grade paraffin, which is very common, but isn’t just straight up paraffin, so its a little better as long is its food grade.
Coconut Soy Wax: I chose this wax for a few reasons, it’s made of the cold pressed meat of coconut and combined with soy wax for stability reasons, coconut wax is too soft on its own so the small amount of soy used in it helps keep it more solid. Coconut soy wax is made from the coconut itself, and leaves the candle with smooth, creamy tops every time! t’s organic, environmentally friendly to produce, and free of pesticides. Coconut Soy wax is a relatively new wax, but so far it is considered one of the cleanest burning wax’s on the market! It is super soft and is has very luxurious traits, due to it being known for how clean burning it is, low soot production, being non-toxic, and eco-friendly. This was the first wax I came across that checked all my boxes, which is why i chose it for my candles!
Phew, did you guys learn something new while reading this blogs!? I never knew there were so many candles waxes, and I never knew that a ton of candles are made from paraffin. So, do youself a favor and throw away your store bought candles and buy from a small business or look on the label for what kind of wax they use! If it’s not stated, maybe think twice before buying it!