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Beeswax candles offer many benefits over their more common paraffin candle counterparts. At
Brighter Blessings we feel that if more people were aware of the advantages of beeswax candles
then they would always prefer to use beeswax.
Health Issues
Paraffin is a petroleum product.
Crude oil does not burn cleanly and must be processed in oil
refineries in order to make the petrol we burn in our cars. That process involves removing all
impurities that prevent petrol from burning cleanly. The waste products (i.e. the impurities
removed) are then reused to make other products, including paraffin.
Thus, although these waste products are deemed too impure for use in petrol, we are using them
around the home. A report on the American Lung Association website purports "Burning candles
can emit small amounts of toxins such as acetone, benzene, lead and mercury into the air."
Purity
In addition pure paraffin is colourless, has too rapid a burn time, and is tantamount to
odourless. Paraffin candle makers and wax suppliers thus compensate for this with synthetic
additives. For example, stearic acid is added to elongate the burning time, and chemicals are
also added to create a pleasant aroma. These candles are then burnt in the home and the
partially combusted residues of these chemicals float about in the air. Pure beeswax makes
excellent candles without any additives at all. However, Beeswax candles burn longer than
paraffin, burn cleanly, and smell naturally divine.
Beeswax Emits Negative Ions
Alternative health practitioners, entomologists and beeswax candle makers have celebrated the
fact that beeswax is the only candle fuel that emits negative ions which in turn cleanse the
air. In a study performed by a Japanese laboratory comparing the negative ion emissions of a
paraffin candle versus a beeswax candle the paraffin candle did indeed emit negative ions but
did so at a significantly lower rate than the beeswax candle. So while beeswax is admittedly
not the only fuel to emit negative ions it is superior to paraffin and does not contain the
carcinogenic compounds that paraffin does.
How do negative ions work?
Airborne contaminates are held aloft by positively charged ions. Negative ions are drawn
toward positive ions, latch on and the weighted contaminates fall to the ground. A rainstorm
is an example of a negative ionic event, which is why the air smells so fresh and clean after
a rain or thunderstorm.
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