Paraffin, evil incarnate or just misunderstood?

[Skylantern]

Paraffin, why all the hate?

I keep reading posts about the difficulties of working with soy and I'm actually considering changing my process to straight paraffin. Before I dive-in, I'd love to hear from other chandlers as to their own experiences with paraffin and how to deal with the misconceptions around petroleum-based products.

I find myself having more of a challenge convincing others that paraffin is quite possibly a superior wax (cost/throw) when all they've been hearing about are the virtues of soy and the dangers of paraffin. Currently I don't have enough information to properly counter this argument so I'm reaching out to you guys to help educate me so that I can make a better informed decision that isn't swayed by fear and marketing.

Lastly, I have somes questions about additives. Do you guys use stearic acid to improve opacity? Does this mess with a pre-blended wax such as IGI 4625? To keep from buying more than one type of wax I was thinking about adding Crisco or Mineral Oil to the IGI 4625 to make it softer for containers. Bad idea? What should I be thinking about when formulating for a softer wax?

I feel like no matter how much I work with wax I always find new things to baffle me. I appreciate you guys so much, thank you for being there for us newbies.

 

[lsg]

"Paraffin wax (or petroleum wax) is a soft colorless solid derived from petroleum, coal or oil shale."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraf...m kerosene,that are sometimes called paraffin.
I think that we can all agree that coal is not a clean fuel. Anyone who has ever heated with it knows that is true. So, I don't believe that there are many misconceptions about paraffin wax. The wax itself may not be toxic, but the fumes from burning a paraffin candle can cause problems.
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pel88/8002-74.html

 

[paradisi]

Sustainability aside, this is what the National Candle Association says about comparative safety:

FAQs - National Candle Association
Are candles made from petroleum-based products safe?

Validated scientific studies have shown that all major candle waxes exhibit the same basic burn behavior and produce virtually identical combustion byproducts, both in terms of composition and amount. To date, no peer-reviewed scientific study has ever collected or analyzed any emissions data on any candle wax, including petroleum-based paraffin, and proven them to be harmful to human health.

https://candles.org/faqs/
... they also have loads of pdfs of various studies to download on their site.

 

[Skylantern]

@lsg and @paradisi - Thank you guys for the studies, I appreciate your input and having information to dig into.

I made the mistake of casually talking to my engineering spock-brained husband and now he's trying to figure out how many candles you'd have to burn in a standard room that also has HVAC in order to approach the OSHA levels mentioned while being able to properly capture all the fumes from a burning candle and I fear I've created a monster. This will be all I'll be hearing about for the next week.

 

[msunnerstood]

My customers prefer Soy over a product made from petroleum. I do as well. Seems more natural, clean, and supports farmers. Im rural, so I can see a soy field(unless the farmer rotates this year) from my window.

 

[Quanta]

I do hear people complain about the soot paraffin candles produce, but the truth is that ANY candle will produce soot if the wick isn't trimmed properly.

 

[Skylantern]

So I've picked up a few things while reading online.

There is more to making a wax container-friendly than softening it with crisco or mineral oil because different blends have varying melting points and you don't want a high-melting point pillar blend in your container. I decided to grab an IGI 4630 to test with.

I've read several different published journals on paraffin wax and a lot of online blogs and candle-specific sites. None of them have definitively proved that paraffin is dangerous to use in consumer candles. Do they produce soot? Yes, every wax produces soot due to combustion. Is it more noticable with paraffin, yes. Does that automatically make it a health concern? Not exactly. We're not lighting our houses with candles these days so the dilution rates of a burning candle aren't really enough to qualify them as quite the danger I keep reading about on blogs and "reports." Interestingly enough I have run across a few papers backed by soy producers like this one by the Iowa Soybean Promotion Board that reads with extreme bias. It honestly reminds me of the smear campaigns over parabens and SLS.

Now, there are valid arguments about sustainability, ease of use (cleaning), and the label appeal of a vegetable-based wax. Consumers lean more and more towards natural ingredients. But is paraffin outright worse? I'm not entirely convinced that it is.

Do I know what I'm talking about? Yeah, not really. I'm still figuring it out. But it seems like this is more of a personal opinion/preference/lifestyle issue than it is a genuine health concern.

 

[Skylantern]

Sustainability aside, this is what the National Candle Association says about comparative safety:

To date, no peer-reviewed scientific study has ever collected or analyzed any emissions data on any candle wax, including petroleum-based paraffin, and proven them to be harmful to human health.

I feel like this is a really important point that often gets overlooked. I kept seeing people refer to a list of "confirmed" health issues and not a single one of the YT videos or blogs referenced a single peer-reviewed evidence-based report. That's dangerous. It's dangerous to believe in something so completely without substantial knowledge and then pass yourself off as an authority to others.

All the sustainability concerns and supporting local farmers are legit issues that appeal to me and I feel like you can run with those without having to exaggerate unconfirmed health hazards. I just feel... manipulated?

 

[jcandleattic]

Paraffin, why all the hate?

Because the soy marketers have done an EXCELLENT job in promoting their product by bashing others.
You can look on the NCA and see REAL studies that have been done, that state - exactly what paradisi has posted.
To date, no peer-reviewed scientific study has ever collected or analyzed any emissions data on any candle wax, including petroleum-based paraffin, and proven them to be harmful to human health.

I think that we can all agree that coal is not a clean fuel. Anyone who has ever heated with it knows that is true. So, I don't believe that there are many misconceptions about paraffin wax. The wax itself may not be toxic, but the fumes from burning a paraffin candle can cause problems.

This is OLD data, very misleading, and very inaccurate.

My customers prefer Soy over a product made from petroleum. I do as well.

Because the soy based marketers have done their jobs and have done it well.

Seems more natural, clean, and supports farmers.

It's not.

None of them have definitively proved that paraffin is dangerous to use in consumer candles.

They can't because it's not.

Consumers lean more and more towards natural ingredients.

Due to the processing of how soy wax is made, it is no more natural than paraffin or palm. This is a misconception that people have, they think because it derives from a natural source (but let's be honest, petroleum is also derived from a natural source) it's a natural product, and that just is not true.

 

[Skylantern]

@jcandleattic I've been waiting for you to chime in

I went into the dark recesses of the interwebs on this one and it is such an emotionally charged issue. But after reading through a dozen different peer-reviewed studies it really does sound like both a lack of consumer awareness and a very effective disinformation campaign.

I'm not even against soy. I think where I find most of my frustrations are the direct claims of health hazards attributed to burning paraffin candles and being parroted by well-meaning makers and consumers.

 

[jcandleattic]

@jcandleattic I've been waiting for you to chime in

Sorry, was in Vegas over the weekend.

it is such an emotionally charged issue.

It is very much so. It's like politics. LOL But the truth of the matter is, paraffin is no worse than any other wax. It's just NOT. And people who don't believe that do not do enough independent research and believe the biases that the soy industry have put out there.

 

[Skylantern]

Playing on people's desires to take care of their health and their families feels so predatory. It's a great selling point and everyone wants to do what is best for their loved ones and the environment, which I totally get.

I can see the arguments for sustainability and farming. I just wish those were the points being bolstered and not the health claims because it's just misleading and is losing sight of the better argument.

 

[AliOop]

I think that we can all agree that coal is not a clean fuel.

As someone who used to live in Wyoming (a large coal producer), I received quite an education when I first moved there. Coal for fuel can be extremely clean. They have the technology for clean-burning, coal-fired house heating units and production plants - some of which actually exist in real life and have stood the test of time. But this information gets buried by those who push for "green" energy. These same green energy folks conveniently ignore the significant and pervasive environmental costs of producing wind energy, lithium ion batteries for cars, solar panels, etc.

My customers prefer Soy over a product made from petroleum. I do as well. Seems more natural, clean, and supports farmers. Im rural, so I can see a soy field(unless the farmer rotates this year) from my window.

But most soy is GMO and heavily sprayed with chemicals. Even the non-GMO organic soy is sprayed with chemicals - just ones that are currently approved for organic crops.

Please hear my heart on this; I honestly am not trying to start any arguments here. I do believe people should make the best decision that works for them, and for their customers. And if they tell me they've done that, it's not my place to change their minds. My only point is just that these issues aren't as clear-cut as they appear to be on the surface, or as reported to the general public.

 

[Skylantern]

Please hear my heart on this; I honestly am not trying to start any arguments here. I do believe people should make the best decision that works for them, and for their customers.

So much this, it really is just about having the conversation and sorting through the details. It's never meant to be personal. Thank you for saying this <3

 

[jcandleattic]

I can see the arguments for sustainability and farming.

The thing is soy wax is a byproduct of the soy industry just as paraffin wax is the byproduct for the oil and gas industry. Crops being grown specifically for the production of wax is few and far between.

If soy was easier to work with, and gave consistent results I would probably use it, but there are (for me) more cons than there are pros.
I love that everyone has their own niche, and has a preference, however, when I hear people saying how much "cleaner" and "safer" it is than other waxes, I have to chime in.

 

[msunnerstood]

Playing on people's desires to take care of their health and their families feels so predatory. It's a great selling point and everyone wants to do what is best for their loved ones and the environment, which I totally get.

I can see the arguments for sustainability and farming. I just wish those were the points being bolstered and not the health claims because it's just misleading and is losing sight of the better argument.

Nobody here is playing on people's desire to take care of their health. I listen to what my customers want. I make special sulfate-free batches of shampoo bars for those sensitive to sulfates, I make fragrance-free soap for those who get headaches from fragrances. If my Customers want Soy-based wax tarts, then that's what I will give them. I don't slam paraffin on my website or suggest soy is safer there either.

On a personal level, I prefer soy tarts and candles both to support farmers and because of my own research on paraffin. Things change and new research is done all the time so I may revisit.

 

[Skylantern]

Nobody here is playing on people's desire to take care of their health. I listen to what my customers want. I make special sulfate-free batches of shampoo bars for those sensitive to sulfates, I make fragrance-free soap for those who get headaches from fragrances. If my Customers want Soy-based wax tarts, then that's what I will give them. I don't slam paraffin on my website or suggest soy is safer there either.

On a personal level, I prefer soy tarts and candles both to support farmers and because of my own research on paraffin. Things change and new research is done all the time so I may revisit.

@msunnerstood I can see the confusion because this was said in the discussion but I was actually referring to the information I found on blogs, YT videos, and even journals that were willfully spreading misinformation that paraffin candles cause without a doubt a list of health conditions without any actual backing evidence. There are some content creators that take it a little too far and they have huge followings which feels negligent because their content and their image is geared towards making people afraid of ingredients in their cosmetics and beauty aids so it's in their interests to cause alarm.

 

[Quanta]

@msunnerstood I can see the confusion because this was said in the discussion but I was actually referring to the information I found on blogs, YT videos, and even journals that were willfully spreading misinformation that paraffin candles cause without a doubt a list of health conditions without any actual backing evidence. There are some content creators that take it a little too far and they have huge followings which feels negligent because their blogs are geared towards making people afraid of ingredients in their cosmetics and beauty aids so it's in their interests to cause alarm.

You would expect that if all the stuff said about paraffin were true, Yankee Candle customers would be dropping like flies.

And I agree with you regarding people who cause unnecessary fear of harmless things. Right now that's going on with a lot of things, like parabens and preservatives in general. There are people who are so terrified of preservatives, that they'd rather take a chance on getting a serious skin infection, than use skin care products with preservatives. I unashamedly use Phenonip in my products and it hasn't killed me yet. All the studies done show parabens to be safe when used appropriately, and toxic when eaten in large quantities. But then anything is toxic if you consume enough of it. Even water is toxic in high enough doses. It's deceitful to make people think that a substance is toxic in any quantity and method of contact at all when that has been shown to not be the case.

 

[Skylantern]

@Quanta I'm so frustrated with companies like LUSH slamming preservatives and claiming to add fresh fruit to their products. It just sends such a dangerous message to consumers that both of these things are totally normal in your beauty products. I did find this article which was pretty interesting as to how they might be able to do it.

You know what would be awesome is if there was a place on the SMF where we could put articles and research papers that we run across like a learning library. So if I was curious about different studies on preservatives I could look through user submitted documentation. Is there a place on here that already exists? I did a search but maybe i'm using the wrong lookup terms.

 

[Skylantern]

This is unrelated to paraffin but at the bottom of the article I just linked is a really good example of fear mongering by someone out to make a buck and is exactly the kind of content that causes confusion and harm.

Beauty Science News
Cotton ball calamity
We received a press release for a line of products by Dr. Mercola. The good doctor says that the products you use to clean your face should be as pure as the product itself. he says that cotton balls, swabs and other applicators can contain “contain traces of harmful residues from pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, dioxins, or other chemicals”

He says that cotton balls are often bleached with chlorine and you know what that means: ” there is a possibility of creating the toxic carcinogens, dioxin and disinfection-by-products (DBP’s) such as trihalomethane.” He goes on to explain that dioxin is the same chemical family as agent orange.

Therefore, if you’re using regular cotton balls you’re running the risk of…”Abnormal tissue growth in the abdomen and reproductive organs
. Abnormal cell growth throughout the body
Immune system suppression
 and hormonal and endocrine system disruption.”

The solution of course is to buy his special organic cotton balls which are guaranteed to be free of all these toxins. This is fear mongering at its worst. If we said it once we’ve said it many times the dose makes the poison. Even if there are trace amounts of harmful substances in regular cotton balls I defy Dr. mercola to produce a single credible study that shows using cotton balls causes any of the problems he alleges.

Without that kind of data this just seems like a shameless ploy to get you to spend more money on something that should be a very inexpensive commodity.