Essential Oils, Aromatherapy & Soy Wax

In recent years, both the use of soy wax and the practice of aromatherapy have found their way into mainstream society. Even more recently, the two have been united in the form of aromatherapy soy candles. Soy wax was invented in 1992. Before then, aromatherapy candles using essential oils basically did not exist. After the clean burning soy wax became popular, aromatherapy soy candles were born and have continued to grow in popularity since their inception.

You might ask why it is so important to use soy wax for aromatherapy candles as opposed to the traditional paraffin.

First of all, what is aromatherapy? Generally speaking, it is the use of aroma to aid in emotional, psychological and physical well being. In this case however, and more specifically, aromatherapy is the use of the aroma of essential oils to assist in dealing with many emotional and physical ailments.

When you use paraffin as a medium to disperse these essential oils into the air, you are also dispersing the chemicals contained in the paraffin itself, which many consider to be harmful. The petro-carbon soot produced from paraffin and the carcinogens that are released into the air disrupt the healing properties of these delicate essential oils, in effect, contaminating the aroma.

When you use soy wax with aromatherapy candles, it does not release harmful petro-carbon soot into the air like paraffin. Unlike paraffin, soy is all natural and burn completely clean. The burning of the soy wax does not interfere with the natural healing properties of the essential oils since it is a clean burning wax.

One of the main advantages of burning an aromatherapy soy candle as opposed to a paraffin candle infused with essential oils is the scent throw of soy wax. Scent throw is basically how a candle releases fragrance into the air, its effectiveness in releasing that fragrance, how much fragrance is released and how long it stays in the air. If a candle is said to have a strong scent throw that simply means a lot of scent is released into the air. But there are other factors to take into account.

Soy wax burns cooler, which has a dramatic effect on the way in which an aromatherapy soy candle throws the scent. Because the melted wax is much cooler than paraffin, the release of essential oils is steadier and more long lasting. A soy candle may take a bit longer to release its fragrance into the air, but the result is cleaner since the soy wax does not interfere with the scent of the fragrance as well as longer lasting.

Let's point out three reasons why one should burn aromatherapy soy candles.

1. Soy wax is a clean burning wax and does not disrupt the natural healing power of the aroma of the essential oils that are released into the air.

2. Soy wax, compared to paraffin wax, has a much cooler melting point. This causes it to have a better, more consistent and effective scent throw.

3. Because soy wax burns much longer than paraffin, it actually ends up being cheaper to use and much more cost effective.