Is There Any Such Thing As a Truly “Green” Candle?
Of course you can make a green candle with a wick, some wax and a little food coloring, but what about a truly environmentally friendly candle. Yes, and I think, the best solution – with an actual small carbon footprint – is a candle made with soy wax.
Also, soy candles can be in a growing minority of eco-friendly products that are actually cheaper to use than their carbon hungry petroleum based cousins. Built well, they will emit less black soot that can end up in your carpet – and your lungs. Finally soy is a renewable resource, and soy candles are a boon to soy farmers as well.
Soy candles also make their users happy in other ways. When well built, they burn slower than their paraffin counterparts – as much as fifty percent slower! For a container candle, if you will sprinkle a little salt into the wax once the top layer has melted it will melt slower still. Also, if you use a lot of candles and start to notice some dark stuff collecting at your baseboards, a switch to soy candles can minimize this soot build-up.
Of course, to be truly green, a soy candle’s other components must also be environmentally friendly. Be sure your candles have wicks made from cotton and/or hemp. This further reduces soot production and avoids adding harmful stuff into the air of your home. It also ensures that the wick materials are made from renewable resources.
Finally, natural, food safe colorants and scents complete the true “green” candle. If you are making them yourself, food coloring and natural essential oils are easily attainable and simple to use. Otherwise, you need to become an environmentally conscious label-reader, but that is important for any product.
One additional tip if you’re making the candles . Most soy candle wax has other additives. Make sure only natural waxes, such as beeswax, oils and colorants are added to your soy wax supply. Once again, food coloring and natural essential oils are your best choices for color and scent.
All it takes to be sure you are making and using “green” candles is a little diligence and care. All the other pluses to soy based candles are just added benefits.
So have fun.
Ella Smart is a world class party planner and world traveler who loves to use the ideas she picks up in her travels to plan magnificent parties on a shoe string. Ella found her love for making candles when she realized how much money she could save making them herself! Check out her web site, http://www.esmartycandlemaking.info for more information. She also sells a great collection of natural soy candles at her Aunt Eden’s web site http://www.edensgarden.com/candles for truly wonderful candles.
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