“What is the date written on top of the candles?”
This is the most common question at farmers markets, and also my FAVORITE (other than maybe, “hey could I get you some pretzel bites and cheese?” 🥨)
I ❤️ this question bc it gives me a chance to throw a sprinkle of much-earned shade on big-name candles, and tell you the tragic story of how ✨ they don’t give a rat’s pajamas about you ✨
ICYMI: your health means nothingggg to Big Candle.
Most mass-production candlemakers choose convenience over their customers’ (*ahem*, meaning OUR) health and well-being. Super cute of them, amiright? 🙄
You’ve heard me bark about paraffin wax before, and it alllll goes back to that. Big companies use straight paraffin or paraffin-heavy wax blends bc, aside from being cheaper and easier to work with, it also cures almost instantly.
“Candle curing” is the process that candles need to go through for the fragrance oil molecules and the wax molecules to totally bond together. (This is the extent of my scientific knowledge, but did I sound like a real scientist for a second? 👩🔬)
Candles made w/ paraffin wax (bleh 🤢) are fully “cured” as soon as the wax hardens, so a few hours at most.
They are ready to go, to take your money 💸 and exchange it for fruity-pebble-scented toxins that spew formaldehyde fumes into your house. we love! (jokes—we do not love.)
But your well-being is everything to me.
Candles made with NATURAL and NONTOXIC ingredients, on other hand, take a little more TLC, and not the No Scrubs kind. Good-for-you candles (like 5th + R, *woop woop*) need 2 weeks for curing after a candle is poured.
Light it before the 2 weeks and it’ll burn the fragrance oil off the top and leave you with basically unscented wax, which sounds like a FAT. BUMMER. to me personally.
So ⚠️ slow your roll, ⚠️ hold your horses, ⚠️ chill your . . . teeter-totters? The wait is WORTH IT to give you a product that won’t hurt your children or fur babies 👶🏼🐶🐱 and is ~free as a bird~ from mysterious, toxic, carcinogenic mumbo jumbo.
Down with the mumbo jumbo.
Obvi, my pals Yankee, Bath & Body, Great Value, and WoodWick don’t feel the same way. 🐸☕️
So grab your fave 5th + R candle, and breathe easy, bc THESE candles aren’t trying to k*ll you. 😌