It’s no secret I’m a massive candle addict and while I know the wax can be made of many different things, but I didn’t realise the health implications attached to different waxes.
Regular candles are made of paraffin, which isn’t great for the environment but it also isn’t great for your health. Paraffin wax contains many carcinogenic toxins and synthetic fragrances which when burnt release chemicals into the air, not great for your lungs. Personally, when I light candles I tend to close the doors and windows to keep the scent in, but what I am also doing, is keeping all the chemicals in the air too. When you burn Paraffin candles, you may have noticed it leaves a trail of black soot up the walls, this same soot is in the air and in your lungs.
Soy candles are natural and non-toxic, they burn at a lower temperature to give you a longer lasting candle which is cleaner. While they don’t fill the room with scent as fast, the scent does gradually creep up on you and the candle burns down much slower so they are much more cost effective.
Recently I have been burning candles from IW Natural Candle Co. These candles are made from soy wax and are scented with naturally rather than artifical scent (which again is better for you in term of health and wellbeing). My favourite scent is the fresh fig, as I go nuts for anything fig scented, while it doesn’t fill the room quite as fast as a paraffin based candle, it does burn slowly and the scent gradually fills the room. It burns with a lovely flicker and you can leave it lit all evening long which is much more enjoyable than blowing it out after 30 minutes.
Handmade in the Isle of Wight, these are really lovely candles with beautiful scents and they last for ages. They are a great price and make a lovely gift for anyone this christmas!
