How many people buy pumpkin spice scented candles?! I know I did! There was a time when I bought every pumpkin spice fragrance emitter I could get my hands on. Just give me all the scents of fall baby. Then I started getting headaches and feeling sick to my stomach every time I had a candle burning or my tart melter on. So I had to deprive myself of artificial fall scents and had to resort to baking all, the, time. Thats not always a good solution for your hips.
I didn’t realize that there are volatile organic compounds or VOC for short that get emitted into the air while (and even before) burning a candle. This isn’t just an, “oh I am a tree hugging hippy and I think chemicals are stupid” kind of thing. I went into the brainbase (the research library 😜) and discovered that scented candles have been subjected to testing in the laboratory. One of the compounds that was emitted in the highest quantity was formaldehyde. What?1 Eww thats not good. That stuff is WELL known to be terrible. In fact they stopped embalming bodies with formaldehyde because they realized how toxic it was. Now we are releasing it into the air every time we burn a scented candles.
VOC’s are nothing new. Their impact on health and the environment have been studied for decades now. In fact, their existence has lead to a very new and unique way of diagnosing cancer and bacterial infections. Cancers and bacteria give of volatile organic compounds and can be detected by special equipment. In fact, we know that dogs may have the ability to detect early stages of cancer and its thought that its the VOCs they are picking up on. Its very interesting stuff. This method of detection is in the very early stages. It may turn into nothing but the idea is interesting!
Anyway, if you still want to have wonderful scents wafting through the air there are safe alternatives. I have found the best way to make your home smell wonderful is by diffusing essential oils. They are 100% safe, non toxic, and even IMPROVE your health. If you want to make your home small like the sweet offerings of fall you can diffuse a couple drops each of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and clove. They even have blends already made with holiday scents. Of course there is a whole world of essential oils out there, but we are talking about fall so I figured I would stick.
Not all essential oils are created equal. Some of them are synthetic and you are right back to the same problem that you have with candles. I have said this before but its really important to acquire therapeutic grade essential oils. If you want to swap out your candles for essential oils I would be more than happy to steer you in the right direction. Always do your research on the companies
from which you are looking to purchase!
Feel free to contact me with any questions!
Happy Oiling!