Candle Season by Jill Kosdrosky Founder Aspen Clean Candle

The shorter days and colder nights mean one thing to me: candle season.  At my Colorado-based company, Aspen Clean Candle, the season is a busy one.  

There’s something incredibly comforting about a flicker of a flame on a dark and chilly winter afternoon.  The holidays find us craving cinnamon and spice, peppermint sticks, and all things fir tree.  We catch the scent of a ginger bread candle in a friend’s foyer and are instantly taken back to grandma’s house.  The childhood memories of snowy afternoons on the sledding hill melt into warm kitchens with turkey in the oven. And we realize that come Thanksgiving, we have a month until Christmas.  The flurry of shopping, prepping, and planning can start to overwhelm.  And when the holidays are behind us, a quiet pause with a calming candle can help us recharge.

Not all candles are created equal.  The mainstream holiday scents are full of sugary synthetic vanilla and pumpkin spice, and consumers fill their shopping bags without much thought about ingredients and combustion.  And why should they? If a store sells them, they’ve done the due diligence on safety and quality, right? Not really. There is no candle watchdog for ingredients.  The fragrances are considered trade secrets by the FDA and therefore aren’t specifically regulated.  Candlemakers are not required to list ingredients on their labels. 

So that apple cinnamon candle you’re burning probably has no actual apple or cinnamon in it. And there may be more chemicals lurking in it than you had ever considered. Toluene, benzene, and formaldehyde may have you burning candle soot like a diesel engine in your living room. You may also think the wax is the most important element, and if yours is a soy wax blend, you’re golden.  Again, no.  The wax is definitely important, and a plant-based soy is magnitudes better than a petroleum-based paraffin when it comes to air quality.  But if that candle label reads ‘Soy Blend’, you’re most likely getting a cheap filler wax in there with a little bit of soy.  

The onus then falls on the consumer to do the research and avoid the impulse candle buys at the department stores.  Décor and gifts flood the market this time of year as we deck the halls and create the festive mood.  It’s not too hard to do a little sleuthing to find which candle companies are making the effort to take the toxins out of candles.  Look for 100% soy wax, fruit wax (apricot, coconut), or beeswax, and ensure that any wax blends do not include paraffin.  Further, check that the fragrances are based in essential oils and are phthalate-free.  Phthalates are nasty chemicals that have found their way into many candles and cosmetics, but may have a hand in disrupting hormones.  Lastly, choose candles with cotton wicks and lead-free cores.  When in doubt, contact the company. Check their website. Ask if you can get ingredient lists.  Find out where they source their raw materials.  Unfortunately they don’t have to legally tell you, but it can help you determine who is being transparent and who isn’t. 

With these simple tips you’ll find a clean candle to fill your home with holiday cheer.  You can find my very own hand-poured clean candles at boutiques throughout the Aspen valley and at AspenCleanCandle.com.