Waxes for Scented Candles

There are numerous types of scented candle available on the market today. The most common is a paraffin scented candle such as Yankee Candles or Price’s Candles. These use paraffin as their fuel and are made from a fast depleting resource, crude oil. Paraffin is a hydrocarbon similar to petrol, diesel and other crude oil derivatives and burns very well (as you would expect). In burning, paraffin releases all manner of toxic substances such as benzene and carbon monoxide. Not good from a health and environmental stand point. More on this later.

Greener waxes are available. Soy wax is natural plant based wax made by hydrogenating soy oil. The soy oil is obtained by crushing soy beans and the waste products from the process are fed to cattle. They in turn fertilise their pasture and so the cycle goes on. The manufacturing process is similar to that used in making margarine. The resultant soy wax is a clean burning creamy soft substance that is ideal for scented candle manufacture. The burning of soy wax has been shown to produce none of the toxic or carcinogenic substances found in burning paraffin wax.

Palm wax and other vegetable based natural waxes are available. These waxes are similar but do tend to have drawbacks. One of these is that these waxes are usually self scented (they emit their own fragrance). This is not a great quality for making scented candles as the candle maker must overcome this scent in reaching their desired fragrance. These other vegetable waxes also usually suffer from being too soft at room temperature. Other additives are sometimes required to stabilise them in order that they remain solid at room temperature. Beeswax is also a natural wax which can be used for making scented candles. However, beeswax is also self scented and is therefore unsuitable for the majority of uses. It is also expensive in comparison to the other waxes available.

Paraffin Wax

Paraffin is undoubtedly a fine burning wax. It ignites well and produces a good strong flame. So it should given its origins as a derivative of crude oil. The major drawbacks to using this wax in scented candle manufacture are the sustainability of the resource from whence it came and also the toxicity of the products of combustion in its use. Who would knowingly burn something in their home that the scientific community recommends be used in a well ventilated space? Surely that defeats the point of a scented candle.

The reason that paraffin is used today as a fuel for scented candles is primarily its cost. It is far cheaper to manufacture a paraffin candle than one made from soy. The raw paraffin wax is approximately one third the cost of soy wax. Hey presto, large commercial organisations steer toward this as they can significantly increase profits on each unit manufactured.

UK national newspapers recently published articles that tested various types of scented candle made using an assortment of waxes. The findings of these scientific studies indicated both toxic and carcinogenic emissions from paraffin wax candles whilst soy wax candles were given a clean bill of health. This is a very clear reason to promote soy wax candles and discontinue the use of paraffin scented candles.

Soy wax

Soy wax creates a wide and deep melt pool in scented container candles. This launches the fragrance into the air. Besides these excellent burn qualities, soy wax is from a sustainable resource, is safe and clean to handle and is carbon neutral. The obvious comparison is wood to heat our homes. As tree is to wood is to heat, so soy wax can be described as plant to wax to candle.

Other Waxes

In the Authors experience, other waxes have intrinsic problems in manufacturing scented candles. This includes the self scent of the wax, cost, burn characteristics and stability at normal room temperature. For this reason, further descriptions etc have been curtailed in this fact sheet.

In Summary

Based on the authors experience and the articles mentioned in the review, soy wax has been clearly found to be the most suitable scented candle base wax. The green credentials, burn characteristics and safety in use all contribute to and support this conclusion.

Background Information

If you would like to find out more about the health issues regarding paraffin and soy candles, go to the Author’s website to read the various articles.

Haitham Al-Ubaidi is the owner and operator of Busy Bee Candles, a premium scented soy candle manufacturer and distributor, Busy Bee Candles. To find out more about soy candles go to News and Articles Don’t reprint this exact article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.