Better Homes and Graves

Hello. My name is Julie and I'm a candleholic.

You may be amused to know that autocorrect changes candleholic to Catholic, which is also appropriate.

Inspiration for this post came from the 1 1/2 hours I spent this morning scrubbing inky black soot from the bathroom ceiling and walls, courtesy of a cheap candle from Wal-Mart. I even scoured the worst spots with rubbing alcohol, but in the end the entire room will  just have to be repainted.

I've been a faithful candle consumer ever since the moment my mother let me keep a box of matches in my bedroom. Yikes, right? I was about 12 or 13 then, and had been burning our trash for a solid two years. I was given a couple square, sage green pillar candles for Christmas that year and was ridiculously elated.

From a young age I was taught the dangers and importance of fire; I can't count the number of times Mom would caution, "Don't breathe that smoke in! It's toxic!" We had a woodburner as the sole source of heat then at home, and it was a regular chore to head down to the basement to "throw a log on". Occasionally we'd sit down there on overturned 5 gallon pails with the burner door wide open, cracking mixed nuts and throwing the "shucks" in the fire. Every spring we burned off the pasture and ditches, standing watch with shovels in hand. Fire meant comfort and warmth, light and new growth. Fire was no stranger to me, and frequent use bred a healthy respect for the damage it could do. To this day most smoke smells are pleasant to me and bring about an aura of nostalgia. I'll save you the psychoanalysis associating my years of smoking to this fondness...despite all the earnings I received.

I was so spoiled the last few years by the soy candle factory in our town. They had an outlet store just a few blocks from home where I'd stock up every few months on the defective or discontinued candles. I kept a crate of candles in our closet, and usually had the appropriate scent on hand for each season. They never smoked and lasted so much longer than cheaper candles. Then the factory closed, and there was no more outlet store. Local thrift shops sold the remaining inventory at a higher cost and fewer options. I broke down and turned to Wal-Mart for my luminary needs. Candles were (and are) very much an essential part of my homemaking routine.

I kicked myself mentally for the sooty mess because I recently ran across an article that made a lot of sense, describing the dangers of scented candles, aerosols, and other scented products. The article can be found by clicking this link. Basically, if you can smell something molecules from that thing are entering your olfactory sensory neurons (your nose). Which is disturbing if you think about that while changing a particularly aromatic diaper. Anyway, while I've long known about hazardous cleaning products and removed all aerosol products from our home, my candle addiction is on a whole other level. Especially this time of year, when they provide such a calming and homey ambience. They can't be that bad, right? The article lists numerous disturbing health issues associated with fragrant products, such as DNA mutation, cancer growth, and asthma. Even depression made the list. After witnessing the damage done to our bathroom walls, I could picture how much of that we were breathing in and what it does to lungs. Most candles' scents are composed of harmful chemicals that we don't think twice about inhaling.

I'm resolving to try to eliminate unnaturally scented candles from our home. I have an essential oil diffuser on my wish list, and I'm going to research natural candle options...beeswax candles. If nothing else the switch might save me some scrubbing and painting.

Have you given up scented candles? What did you use to replace them? Or do you think there are dangers to everything in life and giving up scented candles is going overboard?

Update: December 2017: 
I'm happy to report that, while we still occasionally burn candles, most of the amazing smells in our home now come from baking food or essential oils. We are on our third essential oil diffuser (the first one quit working after our move, but I was not consistent about cleaning it). I've only ever bought cheap diffusers from Amazon, and they get the job done. I was (and am!) very hesitant to buy the super expensive diffusers the way things get broke around here! I'm working on my collection of essential oils, experimenting on blends, but my favorite remains lemongrass. If you haven't taken the plunge with oils and a diffuser yet I'm here to tell you: just go for it! You won't regret it!