When it comes to candles and diffusers, questions regarding health often come up. It is not a surprise as they can easily have ingredients which might affect your health in a negative way. Recently, the popularity of Crisco candles started increasing which brings forth the question: are they safe or toxic? If you are also wondering whether you should try it at home or not, keep on reading!
What are Crisco candles?
You must have heard of Crisco candles, or at least the brand itself. If not, here is what you should know. Crisco is a really well-known brand producing cooking products, such as shortening. Crisco shortening – the one you allegedly can make a candle out of – is made of vegetable oils with ingredients such as palm oil and soybean oil. Now the trend mentioned above is basically making a candle using this product as a candle wax. It became increasingly popular on the internet with several DIY descriptions and step-by-step guides.
Do Crisco candles work?
Now that you know what we are talking about, let’s see it they actually work. According to most descriptions, you would only need the Crisco can and wicks. You simply have to make a hole for your wick and slowly push it down to the bottom with the help of the wick tab. In theory, this sounds like something you could try. But there is one problem with this hack: the container itself imposes a fire hazard. As this product was not made for using it as a candle, obviously they haven’t paid attention to any fire hazard issues. Therefore, it can easily catch on fire, especially since it is made of cardboard. As part of this trend, most people suggest using this as an emergency solution in case of a blackout when you are out of candles or flashlights. In that case it is really a possible option, but it still comes with the risk of a fire.
Are Crisco Candles toxic?
Lastly, let’s see if using Crisco as an emergency candle is toxic or not. From that perspective, you don’t have to worry about using it as a candle. As it is a vegetable-based fat, it is not going to release toxins while burning. Therefore, from this perspective they are not at all dangerous to use. Comparing to paraffin wax which contains chemicals such as carcinogens, Crisco is actually a safer choice when it comes to ingredients and producing toxins. One more advantage according to people who have actually tried this DIY project is that it lasts really long. Some say it might last anywhere between 48 and 72 hours. That is a nice achievement!
All in all, when it comes to using Crisco shortening as a candle, I would only suggest doing that as an emergency option. Otherwise, using store-bought candles is the safe option and Crisco was not made for using as a candle, therefore has a higher risk of fire.
