Type of Waxes

This week on Candlelumiere I am going to tell you about the different type of waxes.

There are variety of waxes available in the market and have various applications as well apart from candle making such as cosmetics and sculpting. In this article I am going to tell you about two most commonly used waxes in candle making:

Paraffin Wax & Soy Wax.

Paraffin Wax is one of the most widely used wax in the candle industry. Because of its properties paraffin wax provides wide area of possibility for making designer candles with beautiful textures.

Paraffin wax was introduced in late 1800’s. It is a petroleum by product primarily obtained from the slack wax. It goes through treatment processes like crystallization, filtration, purification and decolourization before forming a well refined Paraffin wax. Lesser the percentage of oil content in the wax more the wax is considered refined. 0.5% oil content is the most refined form and this is what you need to look out for while buying a paraffin wax for your candle making project.

Paraffin wax is solid at room temperature. It is white, odourless, translucent and brittle. It melts at approximately 40°C. Paraffin wax should always be stored away from the heat source. Paraffin wax has a flash point. Even if it doesn’t reach the flash point it will melt. More precaution measures are mentioned in my article “Safety Measures for Candle Making”.

Soy wax is a natural, eco-friendly, renewal wax formed from soybean oil. That’s why it is categorized as a vegetable wax. Soybean oil goes through process of hydrogenation which gives out Soy wax. This hydrogenation process affects its melting point, due to which it is solid at room temperature.

The biggest advantage of soy candle is that they burn clean without any black soot. Further, soy wax has a fairly low melting point which is why soy wax candle burn longer comparatively. It is most commonly found in flakes form.

Soy wax is a soft wax, most suitable for making container candles or T light candles. Due to its softness it cannot be used alone for making free standing candles, unless it is blended with another hard wax like paraffin wax or additives. Else soy wax candles are made without any additives.

Soy wax has gained its popularity in the candle industry and is considered as the healthier and eco-friendly choice.