We love wax. It's such a fun, versatile substance. We use it for candles, we use it in cosmetics, I need it for snowboarding. But what is wax, exactly? Let's talk about wax, and dispel some myths in the process.
Wax is a water-resistant substance that is solid at room temperature but melts when heated. It can be natural (animal, mineral, plant) or man-made (synthetic ester waxes) and has many uses. Another characteristic of wax is that it has low toxicity/low reactivity, and has low odor.
All waxes are primarily hydrocarbons, whether the wax is of animal, vegetable, or petroleum origin. The chemical composition of all waxes used for candle-making is similar, and all candle waxes burn in the same manner. No specific type of wax or wax blend is considered “best” for candlemaking. All candle waxes – when provided in high-quality format – have been shown to burn cleanly, safely and in the same manner. There is no such thing as a soot-free wax. All organic compounds when burned will emit some carbon (soot) due to incomplete combustion. Sooting is primarily a factor of wick length and flame disturbance. No candle wax has ever been shown to be toxic or harmful to human health.
Beeswax is a popular wax for candles. I use it for making my hand-rolled beeswax spell candles. Beeswax is prepared for candle making by melting and straining the wax to remove honey, propolis, and hive debris. The wax is heated in a double boiler with water, strained through cheesecloth or fine fleece, and is cooled. Propolis is a sticky, resinous mixture that honeybees produce to build, repair, and protect their hives. Normally, not all the propolis is removed from beeswax used in candle making. It gives beeswax it's distinctive and very pleasant scent.
I do use propolis-free beeswax for my candles, which unfortunately means they don't have that wonderful beeswax scent we all love. The reason I chose propolis-free beeswax is because it is the leading cause of beeswax allergies, thanks to 2 chemical compounds - caffeates and cinnamic acid. In raw, or "yellow" beeswax, microscopic fragments of larval casings, bee secretions, and honey sugars remain bound to the lipids. These can provoke allergic contact dermatitis, manifesting as a rash, swelling, or redness in sensitive individuals (I'm pointing at myself).
Paraffin wax is made during the fractional distillation of petroleum. The slack wax undergoes chilling and dewaxing to crystallize and separate the wax from the remaining oil, followed by clay filtration to remove impurities. The filtered wax still contains a small percentage of oil. It is melted, chilled again, and slowly warmed to specific temperatures to melt and "sweat" out the remaining residual oils, leaving behind the wax. Depending on how much oil is removed, the final product is classified as either semi-refined (1% to 3% oil content), or fully-refined (less than 0.5% oil content). The more mottled the wax is, the more oil content it contains. I use fully-refined paraffin wax (99.6% pure) for making my scented spell candles.
Soy and palm wax are made by extracting and solidifying oil from the plants and putting them through a chemical process called hydrogenation. While the palm fruit is pressed to get the oil, typically the oil from soybeans is solvent extracted by using hexane, a petroleum byproduct used as an industrial and chemical solvent. The oil is then hydrogenated, using a nickle catalyst to add hydrogen to the oils, turning unsaturated fatty acids into saturated ones, making the oils solid at room temperature.
Soy and palm wax are often hailed as a superior, healthier, environmentally-friendly option for candle making. They however, are no more safer than any other wax. We've already learned that all waxes are primarily hydrocarbons, and all organic compounds emit soot when burned. They also emit other substances, like benzene, toluene, and formaldehyde, just like burning wood does.
One thing to keep in mind when it comes to soy and palm waxes, is the farming process. Palm-derived ingredients are widely used in food and cosmetics. It's such a big industry, that large swathes of the Indonesian rain forest is being razed to make way for palm farms. In Brazil, large swathes of the Amazon rain forest is being raised not just for cattle ranching, but for various forms of crop farming, particularly soy bean farming. However, the soil is not suitable for such crops, necessitating the need for petroleum-based fertilizers. And it's a long way for these substances to travel in order to be turned into waxes so that we can burn "safe" and "environmentally-friendly" candles.
So there's the low-down on waxes. We are a part of nature. Everything we do has an impact on the planet, good and bad. There's never a neutral effect in what we do. So what does that mean for candle burning? My suggestion, from a metaphysical perspective? Find the candle that is right for you in that moment, for your specific magical intention. It will call out to you. And then maybe go plant a tree! :)