Are scented candles bad for your health?

The short answer: every burning candle puts fine dust and other combustion products into the air at home, a sunflower wax candle like ours included. RIVM, the Dutch public health institute, lists candles among the sources of combustion products indoors and says ventilation should always happen; the Longfonds, the Dutch lung foundation, advises parents to consider other ways of making the home cosy, because fine dust raises the risk of asthma in children. What you control yourself: ventilate, keep the wick short and keep the candle out of a draught, because a restless flame gives more soot. Below we explain honestly where the discussion comes from, and the choices we make.

Where does the worry come from?

Many candles are made from paraffin, a by-product of the petroleum industry. Paraffin is cheap and carries fragrance well, which is why it turns up in so many candles. What people worry about is what gets released when it burns. Any combustion releases small particles and gases, and paraffin in particular has been the subject of a lot of debate in recent years.

How much stays in the air depends on how often and how long you burn, and on how well you ventilate. If you burn candles for hours every day in a small, closed room, ventilate more or burn less often.

Soot and a clean flame

The most noticeable difference at home is soot. A candle that gives off soot leaves a black ring on the glass and spreads fine particles into the air. Soot comes mostly from a wick that is too long and from draught, not from the wax alone.

That is something you have a lot of control over. Trim the wick to about half a centimetre before each burn, and keep the candle away from open windows and vents. That keeps the flame calm and steady, and it makes an immediate difference to soot. Our candle care guide walks you through exactly how.

Why we choose sunflower wax

Our candles are made from 100% sunflower wax, without paraffin. That is a deliberate choice. Sunflower wax is plant-based and gives a clean, even burn. Combined with a well-trimmed wick, the candle burns down calmly, with little soot.

We are not promising a miracle, and we would never call a scented candle healthy. What we can say is that we make deliberate choices about what the candle is made of and how it burns.

What to look for

If you want a candle that burns cleanly, keep an eye on a few things:

• The wax. A plant-based wax such as sunflower or soy comes from plants, paraffin from petroleum.
• The wick. A cotton wick without a metal core, trimmed short, gives a calm flame.
• The fragrance. Our perfume oil comes from Grasse and is IFRA-compliant. Our candles are CLP-certified, which means the rules for classification and labelling have been followed properly.
• Ventilation. A fresh room is always nicer than a closed one, whatever candle you burn.

Frequently asked questions

Are scented candles harmful? Every burning candle puts fine dust into the air at home; that is why the Longfonds advises parents to consider other ways of making the home cosy. If you burn a candle, ventilate, keep the wick short and keep it out of a draught.

Is sunflower wax better than paraffin? We do not claim that for your health: sunflower wax also gives off fine dust when it burns. It is plant-based rather than made from petroleum, and it gives a clean, even burn. That is why we choose it.

How do I burn a candle as cleanly as possible? Let the first burn melt all the way to the edge, trim the wick to half a centimetre each time, and keep the candle out of the draught. There is more on that in our candle care guide.

Want a clean, even burn of your own? Discover our hand-poured candles in the candle collection, or keep your candle in top shape with the Candle Care Kit. Warm and soft is Reposea, fresh and light is Harmonea. Curious about the craft behind it? Read the history of the scented candle.