WillowBoo Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I just noticed an ad from a fairly local business that reads they carry, "SOY-FREE" candles. What the heck... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judy, USMC Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Paraffin makers fight back!?!?!?! But I had the same reaction you did when I saw an ad about Wickless Candles the first time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairieannie Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Not everyone thinks that soy is a wonderful thing. There are many allergies to it, and many people who for other reasons feel that soy is dangerous and would never burn it in a candle or eat it or have it around them in any way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SliverOfWax Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 (edited) Soy was a fad that has had its 15 minutes. To put up a sign that my candles are soy free sounds, yep, like something I would do. Edited October 13, 2009 by SliverOfWax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 It's refreshing. I never understood the mystique.When I think of soy, I think of (1) vegetable oil and (2) processed fake-food products. Big deal.When American farmers grow a lot of something, we build factories to turn it into processed crap. Speeding on conveyor belts, oozing from extruders, gushing from pipes.The moral equivalent of Cheerios. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 When American farmers grow a lot of something, we build factories to turn it into processed crap. Speeding on conveyor belts, oozing from extruders, gushing from pipes.:laugh2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meconella Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Maybe it's just my nose, but most of the soy wax I've encountered has an unpleasant chemical smell - sometimes mild, sometimes strong. Scents dont cover it either. People should use and buy what they like, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck_35550 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 (edited) Say whatever you want but I had a call on the way to work this morning from a woman half way across the state who wanted to buy my parasoy blend candles. She had received one as a gift and everyone wanted to know where they could get one. She didn't mention a funny smell or being allergic; it just smelled good. Imgaine that.Steve Edited October 13, 2009 by chuck_35550 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somethingtoshopabout Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I'm new here and maybe shouldn't chime in on this but.. hey I have never been one to do what I should:lipsrseal lol. Soy is now all around us they cram it in just about everything these days. That said I don't think in moderation it is bad or evil. BUT I have to say I have an auto immune condition that can at times make me very sensitive to my enviornment and things in it.. I have been around candle and soap making my entire life. Learned everything I know from my grandmother. I have, since my diagnosis, always taken precaustions, full gear including mask for soap making, heavy duty gloves for messing with FO's etc. Never really had an issue handling plain old wax.In all that time and in the time I have been doing this strictly on my own (around 10 years now), the only time I have ever had a problem with my health that feel sure had to do with my work, was the one and only time I played with soy wax. With in a week I was very Ill many body chemicals were way out of whack. I spent 3 days in the hospital. Now granted by my own admission my system can be very touchy but wow, and no I am not certain it was the soy wax. But I havent had it in my home or touched it since. To each their own but I'll stick with parrafin thanks.Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck_35550 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 The problem with paraffin was the black soot. People didn't like the stuff on their walls or curtains and soy has a less noticeable soot. I started with the J waxes and got really frustrated with quality issues and poor performance. GL came along and offered an alternative to pure soy or pure paraffin and it has worked for me ever since. It soots and it often has quality issues (appearance in nature) but it always throws for me in most fo and wick combinations. Its just silly to villify soy or paraffin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SliverOfWax Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Oh, please! I was blending soy and paraffin long before GL was even a company.I don't get asked more than maybe twice a year if my candles are soy. On those rare occasions, I simply laugh and ask the questioner if they know that soy wax is processed with nasty chemicals. That shuts them up every time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somethingtoshopabout Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I think that is part of the problem most people seem to thing there is something more "natural" about soy. To be honest though I have no problem when I get a request for it sending the customer to a friend who makes soy candles. When asked why I dont carry it I simply tell them I have an allergy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radellaf Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 (edited) I've scratched my head at their popularity, too, but the advertising of them as "Natural" is what I blame.I've yet to find a good way to use it in pillars, but I have no problem with it in containers. I've made votives (which turn into containers), and whatever Illume does with it (they say they add beeswax) is great. They make it almost the consistency of vaseline and I'd love to duplicate their Sahara Sage fragrance...but I digress.What bugs me is the hypocrisy of calling them natural, or ecological. For one, the beans are factory farmed with petroleum derived fertilizer, and then the oil has to be hydrogenated. I can't be certain but, from looking into it a little, it seems that uses hydrogen that is probably derived from ... petroleum. I'd love to know if the fertilizer and hydrogen use as much oil to make as an equivalent amount of paraffin. You _could_ use organic beans and solar energy derived hydrogen, but I'm betting nobody does.I've also heard that paraffin makes carcinogenic combustion by-products as well as soot. I'd love to know, and suspect, that a badly burning soy candle probably makes the same nasty compounds.If I had a friend who was concerned about clean burning candles and liked fancy things, I'd get them a nice wick trimmer ( search on "Archipelago Wick Trimmer").I've made and bought a few truly maintenance free candles. A few. Edited October 13, 2009 by radellaf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairieannie Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 The problem with paraffin was the black soot. People didn't like the stuff on their walls or curtains and soy has a less noticeable soot. I started with the J waxes and got really frustrated with quality issues and poor performance. GL came along and offered an alternative to pure soy or pure paraffin and it has worked for me ever since. It soots and it often has quality issues (appearance in nature) but it always throws for me in most fo and wick combinations. Its just silly to villify soy or paraffin.Funny, I've been burning paraffin candles for years and years and never once had black soot on my walls or curtains.. I shudder to think of how you'd have to burn a candle to get the black soot in those places!! Also, like Sliver said, people have been blending the two for a very long time, annnnnnd the other thing she said is also true~~ Soy had it's 15 minutes... people may be snockered by fads for a little while, but sooner or later they realize that they've been had by a marketing ploy and they figure things out for themselves. Unfortunately, some candle makers are reluctant to give up the ghost on the whole deal and will be dragged along kicking and screaming as the soy ploy dies a wonderfully natural death! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candlebug Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 (edited) The thing that gets me are the ones calling soy candles natural or Green. Soy wax isn't made just by stomping on the beans and vines, like making wine in the old days, but is extruded out of the vegetable matter by a highly toxic to humans chemical called hexane. I may not have the spelling right on hexane.Then another chemical is then put through the wax to extrude the hexane out. How is this natural or classified as being Green???Anything that burns produces soot. Paraffin has a darker soot, soy has a grey soot, so harder to see. They all soot. Hehe and you won't see me drinking Soy milk either. Don't ask how that is made. JMO Edited October 14, 2009 by candlebug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillowBoo Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share Posted October 14, 2009 I like a combo personally of the soy and pariffin. Anyways, thought maybe it was a typo because I have never seen a candle advertised that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella1952 Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 (edited) Hype is hype and smells just like horsecrap no matter what it's advertising. For people who don't think, hype... I mean MARKETING... helps vendors sell their products by creating a false impression in the "mind" of the customer.I like soy wax candles. I like palm wax candles. I don't like hype. I don't call them "all-natural" or "pure" or "green" (unless I used green dye). They are candles made from vegetable wax, period. If people like 'em, they should buy 'em. If they don't, they should buy something else. Clever marketing does appeal to my twisted sense of humour and I hadda grin at the "soy free" come-on. Gotta love it!PS Do you know there is soy in your canned tuna (unless you read the label and pay through the nose for just plain tuna in water, no "vegetable broth" (contains soy)? It's a terrible additive that is an underlying cause of many health issues, such as hypothyroidism. The stuff is almost impossible to get away from! Edited October 14, 2009 by Stella1952 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 I've also heard that paraffin makes carcinogenic combustion by-products as well as soot. I'd love to know, and suspect, that a badly burning soy candle probably makes the same nasty compounds.That's been tested scientifically. As you suspected, the two waxes emit similar stuff at similar levels, as regards both soot and chemical compounds from incomplete combustion. Chemical emissions are negligible with either wax.There's also this old assertion that soot from paraffin is "blacker" than soot from soy. I think all you need is eyeballs to see that it's just a myth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck_35550 Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 I think all of this useless convo doesn't take into consideration the different types of marketing population. Upscale metropolitan or urban areas promote the latest, greenest, and most expensive trendy product. A woman with lots of money loves to show off by having expensive, specially made candles in her home for friends and guests. I've seen that first hand. Sell em those exclusive soy candles. I live in rural Alabama; do I need to elaborate? My customers do not, could not, would not care less about the ingredients. I use a parasoy because its reliable for my purposes of production. I never thought of it in terms of environment or helping American farmers...blech. Soy was cheap. Cheaper than paraffin. Still is cheaper than paraffin. Would have been even cheaper if that Bush fellow hadn't decided to use it for biofuels. There's a place for everything under the sun in the market place; there's just no sense in bashing any of it when everybody is out to accomplish the same goal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella1952 Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Apparently environmentalists and organic producers & consumers organizations are getting pissed about all the fraudulent "pure, all-natural, green, eco-friendly, organic" claims being made on labels & promotional materials and putting pressure on the FTC, FDA & USDA to enforce marketing laws..."The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) seeks to prevent deception and unfairness in the marketplace. The FTC Act gives the Commission the power to bring law enforcement actions against false or misleading marketing claims, including environmental or "green" marketing claims. The FTC issued its Environmental Guides, often referred to as the "Green Guides," in 1992, and revised them most recently in 1998. The Guides indicate how the Commission will apply Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices, to environmental marketing claims."Good for them! That should help clear the air better than "soot-free" candles - IF there is enforcement!! Of course, those agencies are woefully short on inspectors & investigators... now THERE'S some "green jobs" I could get behind!!! :laugh2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lsbennis Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 It's call "Green Washing" and its deceptive and misleading and has been going on for quite some time, not just with soy candles but with many other beauty and health care products as well.I must say that I do think a combination of soy and paraffin does make a great candle as far as I'm concerned! :rolleyes2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella1952 Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 "Green Washing"Gotta LOVE it!:laugh2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ring of Fire Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 I thinks it's a nice twist on the soy bullcrap marketing, LOL. What's this about vegetable broth stella? It is also listed on tuna cans packed in water, not just tuna packed in oil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debra Phelps Posted October 24, 2009 Share Posted October 24, 2009 I am allergic to soy milk, but I make a lot of soy candles with out problems. I also sell a lot more soy than I did parrifin. The people in our area really like the clean burn. I think I will stick with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CareBear Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 I like a clean burn too - and my paraffin candles burn cleanly. Tho it took the combined efforts of all of CT and some others to help me choose wicks and such!but I like the LOOK of soy - the opaque quality appeals to me. if I could get that look with straight paraffin someone let me know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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