The Environment and You: Our Approach to Crafting
- Odd Sodds
- Oct 16, 2022
- 7 min read
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction.
The environment and you. These are the main reasons why we choose to craft from raw ingredients. These also both go hand in hand, one affecting the other. We have found that Over months of testing, your feedback has provided us with your valued opinions. Using natural, raw ingredients we aim to give you the best experience, while keeping our footprint on the planet to a minimum.
2. Why we always craft from raw: the importance of choosing natural.
Have you ever pondered the impact of your decisions?
Even though we're small, at Odd Sodds we have always factored the importance of our choices into the product research we do.
Being aromatherapy-based, and branching into cosmetics, for us it all starts with the raw ingredients. Choosing natural is one hundred percent our choice when it comes to crafting. We find that when we source natural raw ingredients, with each product we craft they are not only less damaging for the environment, but also for the user of the products.
Fancy an example?
3. Natural vs Synthetic
When sourcing the first batch of wax for our melts, we had no idea where to start. The internet as ever was full of conflicting information. We read many forum discussions between different creators online over the benefits of paraffin, soy and beeswax for melts. We immediately began wondering how different waxes would affect the user and the environment.
Did you know that some waxes are more synthetic and some are made from crude hydrocarbons or ground up beans? Then there's beeswax. Beeswax is a natural byproduct of the beehive and can be easily and ecologically sourced. Further down the rabbit hole we went… some wax is better for melting, some for burning and there are different effects on human health to consider, some good, some not.
If beeswax is so beneficial, why do people use other alternatives? Well, let's look back at soy and paraffin briefly. Soy wax is derived from soybeans. a plant. That sounds great on the surface doesn’t it? Plant-based beans and pods require processing with a high energy expenditure in order to be de-hulled and ground; not too dissimilar to the vegetable oils we use for cooking and food manufacture. Land is needed for planting, machinery and human labour is involved. This is potentially more damaging to the environment than the manufacture and filtering of beeswax. Why are they used? It’s convenient. It may be cheaper and ‘throws’ scent particularly well when compared to beeswax. One benefit of soy wax however, is that it cleans well with soap and water, whereas beeswax doesn’t.
Paraffin wax is derived from crude oils in various states, the oil content in each candle being inconsistent, especially earlier in history. Burning the candles then releases these fossil fuel fumes into the air. This is not only harmful to the environment, but also for you. Starting to be used in the 1860s, Paraffin wax candles provided light for much longer periods of time than beeswax. Paraffin candles are still widely available today in many retail outlets, with consumers potentially unaware of the damaging consequences of burning them.
Research can be overwhelming and confusing. Here at Odd Sodds, we noticed a trend. Many people praised synthetic products for their desirable effects, but there was less mention of the less desirable side effects. Few people had positive comments for beeswax, finding it messy to work with and noting it’s relatively weak ability to ‘throw’ scent.
At Odd Sodds, we don’t just take the easy path. We were resolved to follow the natural path. Beeswax doesn’t interfere with human physiology, and when it burns, it purifies the air. We love that it’s byproduct of a healthy, happy bee colony.
In other words, we decided to choose to benefit the planet and our customers instead of taking the cheap and easy route that could potentially harm either the environment or you.
4. What makes Odd Sodds scented candles so unique?
Unlike a large portion of candles we have seen around the market, we go as far as to look at each element of the candle separately: the container, the wax, and the wick - before bringing it all together. We have worked hard through our testing process to bring you a candle that we think you will love!
Let's start with the container, which for all our current candles is a recyclable aluminium tin. Ultimately these are a great way of making sure our tins don't end up in landfill.
Next up is the wax. When candles are burnt, particles are emitted into the air that you breathe. This was one of the main points of thinking for me when we decided on creating candles.
What were our main findings? Well, we decided to use a slightly different beeswax than we did in our melts. We therefore use wax that hasn’t been solar bleached for our candles so it can retain even more of the natural properties that were present when it left the hive.
So why do we use beeswax for our scented candles? The answer is simple. When beeswax burns, it purifies the air naturally. It does this by releasing negative ions, which then attach to positive ions in the surrounding air. Here’s the science bit! Positive ions include dust, mould spores and toxins, which are all natural contaminates. Additionally, keeping our products free of any unnecessary additives is something we are a huge proponent of, and it appears beeswax burns longer naturally than soy.
Finally, we have our candle wicks. We wanted to make sure we were using the best possible wicks for our products. We wanted to delve into what alternatives exist, if any and also dig into why people use the most common wick - cotton. Well I was blown away, more on this in a moment. Wherever you go, you will probably find that they use a cotton wick. But not us. We use a hemp wick, hand-braided to adjust for the optimal burn speed of our candles.
We have discovered that cotton may not be the best material to be used in wicks. Did you know that when you burn cotton it releases a compound called Acrolein? This compound has the potential to be harmful and irritating when it comes into contact with moisture or is inhaled. Hemp is a natural plant-based material that doesn’t release harmful chemicals when burnt.
Additionally, "the fibre yield of hemp per hectare is 200-250% more than that of cotton." In other words, the space needed for growing hemp is much smaller than that of cotton, which means much less machinery, less labour, less water and a more environmentally friendly source for our wicks. Growth time also factors into this and makes it even better than it already sounds. A crop of hemp can be fully grown within 4-12 weeks, whereas cotton takes between 21 and 25 weeks to grow.
Our testing found that hemp fibre burns more slowly than cotton and doesn’t produce any soot either. Hemp, therefore, produces a much cleaner and enjoyable candle in general. Sure, it may not look as visually appealing as a sleek bit of cotton, but when it comes to the health of the environment and the users of our candles, we would rather prioritise its function while still taking pride in how our product looks. If this has you interested, feel free to check our candles out here:
5. How we want to continue limiting our environmental impact.
Of course we want to keep making our products as environmentally and user-safe as possible. To continue to do this, we are looking into the possibilities of reusability across our products. A refill option has now been introduced for our 4ml air freshener diffusers, saving money and encouraging environmentally friendly re-use. As the refill bottles are less styled, they are more compact, meaning we can fit two 4ml refills into one 8ml refill bottle - this is great for anybody with an air freshener running low because that means per refill, the price you pay is much better value than the original air freshener. The refill bottle can be recycled when you are finished with it. Who would have thought saving the planet saves for you in return? This method of creating less waste much less often is one way we are looking into being environmentally aware going forward.
6. Wrapping it up.
Here at Odd Sodds, we have always put the environment and the customer first. We won’t stop here. We aim to continue to evolve and improve our products at every step of the journey. We believe that in caring about our planet and our health as individuals, we can have a profoundly positive impact on our customers experience. We love hearing what you think! Please share your experiences, thoughts and comments on this post. Feel free to join our community forums to interact with likeminded people.
All the best, and thank you for taking the time to support us on our journey, we really appreciate you. Sean and Emily, Odd Sodds.
Our Sources:
A comparative of Hemp Fiber and Cotton Fiber., Hemp Foundation, (05/12/2005): https://hempfoundation.net/a-comparative-of-hemp-fiber-and-cotton-fiber/
Discussion of waxes used for wax melts, credit to the forum users: SoapMakingForum., (2019 thread): https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/best-wax-for-melts.75659/
A Brief History of Candle Making., Parks Candles, (Date unknown): .https://www.parkscandles.com/blog/brief-history-candle-making#:~:text=In%20the%201850s%2C%20pioneering%20chemist,offered%20a%20high%2Dperforming%20burn.
Hemp vs. Cotton: 12 Reasons why Hemp is the Better Choice., Signature Products, (01/07/2022): https://blog.signature-products.com/hemp-vs-cotton/
Paraffin wax: Chemical compound., The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, (1998): https://www.britannica.com/science/paraffin-wax
Acrolein Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet., CDWYER, (15/06/2009): https://www.nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/0021.pdf
what EXACTLY is soy wax?, Candle Science., (Date unknown): https://www.candlescience.com/learning/what-is-soy-wax/
TOXICOLOGICAL PROFILE FOR ACROLEIN: Acrolein Relevance to public Health., ATSDR, CDC, (14/08/2007): https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp124-c2.pdf
The Truth About Beeswax Candles., Pathway ARTS, (Date unknown): https://pathwaysmv.org/the-truth-about-beeswax-candles-2/
Commenti