I often get asked why we use soy wax for our candles.
Short answer...because that's what came in the kit when I was learning how to make candles for Abby's wedding. Full transparency here, folks.
However, when I decided to make this an official business, I did a lot more research about soy wax and decided this: we were using a great product. And if it ain't broke....don't fix it.
Soy wax has many excellent benefits. I started this post intending to list several of them but it was quickly becoming a novel. So, for today, we will focus on one key benefit:
Soy wax is all-natural.
It is a derivative of soybean and contains no artificial additives. Soybeans are grown in the United States and after being harvested, they go through a process in which they are rolled into flakes. Soybean oil is extracted from those flakes.
Many candles produced in mass quantity are made of paraffin. This is largely done because it is cheaper (side note, soy wax has increased in price pretty significantly in the past year). Paraffin wax is produced from the oil purification process of things like coal and petroleum. Paraffin wax is obtained from scraping the waxy substance from the crude oil. Gross, right? People who say they get headaches from scented candles often think it is from the scent, but it may be they are burning paraffin wax and reacting to the chemicals they emit.
In short, because it is all-natural, soy wax is non-toxic and clean-burning making it better for the environment and for you and your family/pets.