Few things were as shocking to me in adulthood as the price of good candles (though the cost of washing detergent is up there ― what’s with the pleasant odour tax, people?).
And it’s especially disheartening spending a hard-earned tenner on a candle knowing it might end up with the Wax Tunnel Fate of doom.
It wastes most of the candle, can sometimes cover the wick so it can’t be lit ― and honestly, makes a pretty piece of decor look a bit gross.
If, like me, you’ve lost too many good (and sometimes pricey) candles to the curse of unevenly burning wax, candle company The Wandering Bee has got our backs.
In a recent Instagram post, they shared a simple trick to keep your candles burning smoothly ― saving you money and mess.
How should I burn my candle?
“I know it’s really tempting to scrape the wax off [the sides of your unevenly-burned] candle if it starts to tunnel,” the creator of the video said.
But they warn to avoid this addictive habit at all cost, because “your candle will have a burn memory.”
A burn memory “means if it burns wrong on its first burn, it might continue to do so.”
It could have burned unevenly because you blew the candles out too early, or because of environmental factors affecting the wax.
Whatever the case may be, though, “if you scrape the wax out the side of the candle and dump it into the middle, it can just flood the wick ― which means you not only have messy fingers, but also a messy candle that may not relight, and you have to keep pouring the wax out of.”
So, not only have you faced wax-wasting tunnelling by now ― you’ve also rendered the remains of the candle unusable.
How do I fix my tunnelled candles, then?
Luckily, there’s a simply trick to save your scented candles ― and it’s pretty simple. “I want you to go and gran some tinfoil,” the candle expert shared.
Then, “make your candle like a little winter jacket,” they say, showing a foil-covered candle wrapped in foil with a slight lip over its top.
A roll of tinfoil can go for about 14p a square metre, making a 20cm-square area of tinfoil about 2.8p.
“Relight your candle and leave it burning for about an hour or two,” the video revealed. “Once all the wax is melted around the sides, you can take its fleece off and you will have successfully saved your tunnelling candle.“
Not bad for a matter of pennies, right?
You can watch their entire video below (it’s changed my life, or at least my candle’s looks).