Beeswax, essential oils, candle-making, and what you need to know

Wow! I just read the most interesting think about essential oils today. Did you know that when you heat essential oils that you can actually change their chemical make-up? I sure didn't. Let me explain.

I've been reading lately a lot about the benefits of beeswax candles. Basically if you use pure beeswax candles you can actually purify the air in your home by burning them. I'm not a huge science fan so I will try and dumb this down to a level that I can understand :-) When you burn beeswax it acts as a fuel that produces negative ions (but this is actually a positive thing...haha, science pun). Many of the particles in the air (that are bad for you) are positively charged. Things like allergens: pollen (my big issue), dust, bacteria and even viruses are all positively charged. When you burn a beeswax candle, the negative ions that are released attach to the not so great air particles in your home causing them to become heavier and fall to the ground. This allows you to clean them up when you vacuum, dust, and sweep instead of leaving them floating around in the air for you to breathe. Source

So what does this have to do with essential oils? Well I am a big DIY fan, so when I read about this I thought it would be fun to make my own beeswax candles. Why not, I thought, combine my love of essential oils with this wonderful beeswax to make them even more beneficial, right? Wrong. As I read on about candle-making, it turns out that heating essential oils (like when you mix This keeps them pure and non-toxic. To maintain the integrity of the oils you should not heat the oils and jeopardize their health benefits.  Source

 

Well that's all well and good but what about adding oils to your bath? Think about it...the process to make candles involves heating wax over a double-boiler to the point of melting. Hopefully you are not taking baths this hot, and if you are...may I suggest that you stop?

So that is my big news. It will take further research on my part but I think this is why a cold-process method is encouraged for soap-making as so many soaps are made with essential oils. I would also suggest doing your own research into not only this but as to how traditional candles are made. It isn't a pretty process. Do yourself a favor and read up on where paraffin, which is in traditional was candles, comes from. It's not from sweet little honey-bees. It is a bit gross when you read up on it.