Wax, wick, a jar and a flame- who knew there was a right (and wrong!) way to burn a candle!!
While we love the idea of simply lighting a candle and not giving it another thought till bedtime, if you want to get the most out of it, here are a few pointers.
Trim. The. Wick.
Trim. The. Wick. Every. Single. Time.
Seriously… Trim the wick. You want it to be about ¼”- any higher will give you a bigger (not better!) flame and soot.
Make sure you place your lit candle on a flat surface, away from small hands and paws.
Make sure your candle isn’t blowing in the wind- if the flame is dancing around a lot, try to move it to a different spot. A little dancing is ok, but if that poor candle can’t stop dancing it needs help. Dancing flames lead to soot, hotter-than-necessary jars, and your favorite candle that you just spent $16 on disappearing way faster than it should…
Try to keep your burn times to 3-4 hours at a time. While it won’t hurt your candle to go longer every once in a while, you get more bang for your buck when you keep the burn time to 3-4 hours.
When burning your candle for THE FIRST TIME be sure to let it burn 3-4 hours, NOT LESS. If your candle doesn’t get the proper time to reach a full melt pool (liquid wax goes all the way to the edges of the jar), you may shorten the life of your candle due to the dreaded tunneling (it refuses to melt all the way around the edges).
Lastly- whatever you do- don’t forget to blow out the candle!
I know this seems to take all the fun out of burning a candle (one more thing to remember, lol!), but I promise - once you do these things (or don't do them!) a few times, it won't take up any extra brain space, you will hardly notice, and your candles will burn better and last longer!
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