How to care for a soy candle (and double its life)
Three small habits — trim the wick, burn the full pool, store cool — that turn a 50-hour candle into a 70-hour one.
Craft
Why we pour soy, not paraffin
A short, honest explanation of the wax differences — and why we made the switch in 2018 even though it cost us margin.
Most candles on a grocery store shelf are paraffin. Paraffin is cheap, easy to work with, throws scent loudly, and is a byproduct of crude oil refining. That last part was a deal-breaker for us.
What soy actually is.
Soy wax is hydrogenated soybean oil — basically a vegetable wax. It's grown on farms in the American Midwest. When it burns, it produces a tiny fraction of the soot that paraffin does, and it doesn't release the same combustion byproducts that can give people headaches.
The trade-offs (we'll be honest).
Soy is harder to work with. It's softer, so it scratches easier in the jar. It has a lower melt point, so the throw can feel more subtle. And it's about 40% more expensive per pound than paraffin.
But it burns about 30% slower. So a soy candle that's labeled "50 hours" really does last 50 hours. We think that's a fair trade.
Our exact recipe.
100% American-grown soy wax (Golden Brands 464, if you're a candle nerd), pre-tabbed cotton wicks from a small Wisconsin supplier, and IFRA-certified phthalate-free fragrance oils blended in-house. That's it. No additives, no UV stabilizers, no dye unless we say so on the label.
Simple recipes are easier to trust.
