You work hard all week so when you come home on a Friday night you want to unwind and soothe your aching muscles.You decide to take a long, hot bubble bath. So you run the water, add the bubbles, pick out a good book and grab a glass of wine. Before you get in you want to set the atmosphere so you put some mood music on and light a few candles around the tub.
So far so good.
Except that the last step might just cost you your life. Okay, enough with the hyperbole already! What I'm trying to say, is that certain kinds of candles may be very, very hazardous for your health.
I'm talking about your traditional (as in most sold and most used) paraffin candles. Maybe it's never occurred to you before (and believe me it hadn't occurred to me either up until a couple of years ago) but paraffin candles come from the bottom of an oil barrel. And as I'm sure you're aware; burning oil isn't so great for our planet, so why would burning paraffin (even in the form of a candle) be any different?
There are three main problems with paraffin candles (I could go on all day but we both have other things to do):
1) The ingredients are pretty darn awful. And when I say awful, I mean A-W-F-U-L. Awful for the environment and awful for your health and the health of the people you love. Aside from the obvious petroleum which paraffin candles are made of, other less well-known preservatives are used to make those 'lovely', perfectly formed, mass produced, identical candles; such as animal based stearic acid (very yucky and like totally not vegan) and acrolyn which is used to whiten candles from their natural muddy brown/oily colour. Acroyln is also a known carcinogenic or in other words a substance which has 'cancer causing properties'.
2) Soot. When paraffin candles burn they emit black soot and toxic fumes. Which is comparable to what comes out of a diesel car exhaust.
3) Lead wicks. You would never ask your plumber to put in lead piping because you know you would get lead-poisoning and die. Yet if you have ever lit a paraffin candle you have probably inhaled the toxic lead fumes which are given off when burned.
So given all of the above, why do people still by paraffin candles?
1) They're cheap. Cheap to make and cheap to sell.
2) People who buy them simply don't have the facts. Why? In no small part because more than a handful of large multi-national corporations have a lot to lose if and when the candle market's bubble bursts.
So what should you, me and Dupree do?
You don't have to buy my candles. Even though they are all natural (wink, wink). But for goodness sake stop and think twice before buying any candles in the future. There are two things you should look for:
1) Vegetable wax. The best alternative to petroleum/paraffin candles by a country mile is soy. Which comes from soya beans.
S-O-Y-A-B-E-A-N-S. No oil. No toxicity. No fumes. Just vegetable. Good enough to eat (but don't).
2) 100% cotton wick. Make sure that whatever candle you buy has a lead free core. If it doesn't tell you whether it is or isn't then it probably isn't. So put that candle down! For the sake of your health and for the sake of your country (okay the last bit isn't really true).
Finally, for the love of all things holy-moly: ENJOY CANDLES. Candles are wonderful in all of their various shapes, sizes and scents. Just watch out for the bad ones and you'll be hunky dory.
Until another time,
Aimee.
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