Scented candles are ways to warmth people and bring fragrant aroma in your home, it will help you relax while at home or after a long day of work, but wait, pets are also inside our houses. Have you ever questioned if scented candles bad for your dogs? For a fur parent, one may be concern on the wellness of their dogs. It’s like additional angelic babies that we take care. As we all know that dogs have a strong sense of smell. They possess up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses. And the part of a dog’s brain that is devoted to analyzing smells is about 40 times greater than ours.Well,Ronxs candle lighters help us better protect our pets’ health by lighting candles in a safe and non-toxic way. let’s see if it safe or not.
The dog’s noses compare to human also function quite differently. When humans inhale, we smell and breathe through the same airways within our nose. When dogs inhale, a fold of tissue just inside their nostril helps to separate these two functions. “We found that when airflow enters the nose it splits into two different flow paths, one for olfaction and one for respiration.
So, let’s talk about scented candles if it’s safe or not to our dogs, what are its benefits and what types of candles that maybe good or not.
There are different types of candle scents that truly attracts humans and also our pets, these are standard fragrance oils, essential oils, and natural oils. Standard fragrance oils are synthetic and therefore are produced in a lab using aroma compounds. It is manmade and are available in a huge and complex selection of scents. Essential oils are completely natural and are extracted from various parts of plants, including leaves, bark, and roots. They contain no additives at all and have distinctive, strong scents. Many essential oils are believed to have therapeutic effects, and when used in scented candles, they are an easy way for people to experience aromatherapy in their homes. Natural fragrance oils are made by extracting one single scented component from a plant. These components are known as natural isolates or several natural isolates blended together.
According to Henpicked in Home and Garden Time Off, that scented candles are more than just a nice fragrance. Other than being a source of illumination, candles have had the numerous purposes in the traditional and modern worlds, it can also benefit the health of human and pets.
Number 1 is the mind calming effects. In the study published in the Scientia Pharmaceutical journal in 2016 that the important role played by the sense of smell in impacting someone’s mood, productivity, and stress levels. This explicitly tells us that fragrant scent can help diminish our stress and helps our mood.
Number 2 is better sleep. A candle’s flame can be a great promoter of sleep health even as you age when lit some time close to bedtime. It helps quite the mind while giving you’re a digital break from blue light, which can impede your ability to fall asleep.
Number 3 is improved mood and energy. Some aromas are believed to help lower the body’s cortisol level while increasing the release of happy chemicals in your brain like dopamine and serotonin. These are natural supporters of a positive mood that also help elevate your energy levels, giving you a productive mindset.
Number 4 is better memory. According to a Harvard Gazette publication where experts discussed Science of smell, emotion, scent, and memory are all intertwined. Moreover, people are usually attracted to certain smells that remind them of something pleasant.
Number 5 is improved spiritual wellness. Nice scents such as jasmine, lavender, and peppermint can help improve self-visualization exercise or take yoga practice to the next level.
Based on research, scented candles contains paraffin wax which is derived from petroleum, coal or shale oil. When it’s burnt, paraffin wax release toxic compounds into the air, including acetone, benzene, and toluene- all known carcinogens which can aggravate a number of respiratory issues like asthma and heart issues.
Paraffin wax is a white colorless soft, solid wax. It’s made from saturated hydrocarbons. It’s often used in skin-softening salon and spa treatments on the hands, cuticles, and feet because it’s colorless, tasteless and odorless. If you have sensitive skin, paraffin wax may cause heat rash. Heat rash results in small red bumps on the skin that can be itchy and uncomfortable. If you have chemical sensitivity, you may develop minor swelling or breakouts from the wax treatment. That’s because paraffin comes from petroleum products.
Scented candles also have the same chemicals with air fresheners, it has Volatile Organic Compound, Artificial Fragrances, and Formaldehyde and post the same safety concerns but there is still no definitive study that links candles directly to disease.
Talking of the bad chemical in scented candles, which is contradicting to this new topic. There are also Pet safe alternative candles that we can buy. The alternative is purely organic and is made of 100% soy wax making them completely safe and non-toxic for everyone including humans, pets, and the environment. It is locally made available in the market to help both you and your fur baby and unwind like you are living the life. There are also different natural scented candles that you can buy, these are Coconut wax, or vegetable-based wax and had a 100% cotton wick that is unbleached.
In the following details, we will know more about the alternative candles that we can use. And ever you don’t know what to pick.
Soy Wax is a 100% natural wax derived from the vegetable soybeans. Soybean oil is extracted from the flakes and the leftover flakes are used for animal feed. It is made from environmentally friendly, renewable resources. This wax also burns slower than paraffin wax, meaning you get a candle that last longer. It also burns cleaner and results in less soot. Another reason to choose soy wax when it comes to candles is the fact that soy wax is an excellent fragrance carrier that does not require chemical amplifiers. The result is a well balanced true to scent candles
Coconut Wax is a colorless and odorless wax made from cold-pressed coconut meat or coconut oil mixed with soy wax. It is considered as one of the best and healthiest type of wax to make candles because it doesn’t produce as much soot as the other types of wax. It is also commonly blended with other natural waxes to produce candles that have better burn quality and aromatic throw.
Vegetable based wax is of plant origin secreted commonly in thin flakes by the walls of epidermal cells. It is obtained from certain palm trees.
Table below is the comparison of scented candles that contains Paraffin Wax versus the Organic Wax.
| ORGANIC SCENTED CANDLES | PARAFFIN SCENTED CANDLES |
| Most often made of soy or palm, rapeseed or coconut oil | Due to its low melting point, soft wax is often mixed with stearic acid (animal or palm fatty acid) to make it harder. |
| Wax with excellent, lasting scent and very low soot levels | Fine scent throw but has high soot level compared to other wax types |
| Exceptional burning qualities with a high melting point. | Easy to process and suitable for scented candles, but less sustainable and can even be unhealthy to breathe in |
| Difficult to process due to complex chemical composition. Properly done, natural waxes hold a very high quality | Petroleum wax is stable and is easy to use in production. |
| No animal products or animal testing |
Conclusion
So, for the conclusion, there still no proven study that scented candles are bad for dogs, but to avoid health concerns let’s use organic products. It is also a way to support the local sellers on your community.
