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How good for the human experience is burning a soy vs paraffin candle?
The impact of candle burning on human health is the center of much debate in the industry, and it seems to favor soy over paraffin. Many smaller candle shops make claims about soy candles as part of the story they tell, which essentially boils down to two statements:
- Burning paraffin wax candles is generally harmful to your health
- Soot is dangerous, and soy wax doesn’t soot. Paraffin does.
Many of these claims are made in passing on an “about us” page or social media post with very little data (if any) to support it. Taking a much closer look at the first claim, no studies have found that burning paraffin wax candles, as found in modern day candle making, is harmful to your health.
The toxic elements of candles where the metal cored wicks (that are now banned) and potentially the fragrance oils used. Neither of these has anything to do with the wax.
The second claim revolves around soot, which is a product of incomplete combustion. Candles use wax as fuel, whether that’s paraffin or soy doesn’t matter. When there is an imbalance to the combustion process, whether that comes from too much or too little oxygen, fuel, or heat, the combustion process releases black smoke.
This is soot.
Soot is completely unrelated to the wax, and is controlled mostly by the overall candle design (wick, wax, fragrance oil, container, room conditions, etc). Paraffin wax candles soot, but so do soy wax candles. Make a few errant candles of either type and the point proves itself.
Without deeper studies into the topic of candles on human health (most are from too long ago to really lean on anyways), the best interpretation of the knowledge we have is that candles made today are safe, regardless of wax choice.
Winner: both.
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