I remember one day while at a vending event and I had an opportunity to speak with one of the vendors that sold essential oil lip gloss. We began a conversation about the proper use; research and study about using essential oils specifically in my candles. We talked about the craze over using essential oils but sometimes the limited knowledge and facts. Yes, essential oils are natural but NOT all are safe to use in candles. I also explained to her that there are essential oils that although they are good for us as humans but some can be quite toxic for our pets No one want to use things that are harmful to their to their fur babies. I also let her know that there are many essential oils that are healthy for us in their natural state but once they are burned, they lose some of the healing properties that they are known for.
We also talked about the marketing strategies that can be used when it comes to candles and essential oils for example someone might say might market their candle as an essential oil candle an in essence the candle may only have 5% of the essential oil in it and it could be also mixed with a fragrance oil. They don't have to mention that if they at least 5% essential oil in it they can actually market the candle as an essential oil candle.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't buy essential oil candles they are quite lovely and if someone is really using a decent amount of essential oil in their candle you're going to know it in the price so if you see an essential oil candle that cost $8.00 and it is a 8 ounce jar or 16 ounce jar it probably only has minimal fragrance on minimal essential oil in it . Why? Because many essential oils are very costly, essential oils can run anywhere from $10.00 an ounce to $23.00 an ounce. You can see with this kind of price point that an essential oil candle would cost anywhere upwards of $20 to $25 or more.
This blog is not meant to discourage you from using an essential oil candle but to have some basic knowledge and understanding about them. As I research, I will let my customers know so they can be an informed consumer and make the best choices for them.
Here is some more science behind the burning stability:
From Wiley Online Library. Here’s the link to the full study on essential oil stability onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1541-4337.12006 “Ambient temperature crucially influences essential oil stability in several respects: Generally, chemical reactions accelerate with increasing heat due to the temperature‐dependence of the reaction rate as expressed by the Arrhenius equation (Atkins 2002). Based thereon, the van’t Hoff law states that a temperature rise of 10 °C approximately doubles chemical reaction rates, a relation that can be consulted to predict stability at different temperatures (Glasl 1975). Hence, both autoxidation as well as decomposition of hydroperoxides advances with increasing temperature, even more so since heat is likely to contribute to the initial formation of free radicals (Choe and Min 2006)”
Happy Candle Burning!
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