How To Fix Soy Wax Frosting

Soy Wax Frosting

If you’re brave enough to start making soy candles, you’ve probably encountered the effects of frosting.

Those white, crystal-looking formations on the outside of your candle?

Yep – that’s soy wax frosting (or simply, frosting – it can happen to any number of wax types)!

It stinks to go back to a colorful candle you poured your heart into just to find a smear of crystals on the side.

So what causes this? Is it a mistake? Can you prevent it?

Unfortunately, frosting is almost inevitable with soy candles.

Frosting is normal. Soy wax mixed with oils naturally form frosting, especially when subjected to temperature fluctuations. The crystals form due to polymorphism – a condition where crystals inconsistently form in a substance. It is cosmetic and won’t impact how well the candle performs.

Crystal formations are almost impossible to avoid with most soy waxes.

The primary offenders are temperature and time. Soy wax continues to “harden” throughout the course of its life, meaning crystal structures never stop forming (even if you can’t see them).

If your soy wax candle looks grainy or shiny, it’s actually due to polymorphism.

Larger crystals produce the grainy appearance, whereas small crystals appear “shiny”.

Read more about polymorphism in scientific journals or publications.

The most recent publication blowing up in the candle making community is a thesis titled, Crystallization Behavior of Waxes.

Natural vs Unnatural Candles

Unfortunately, frosting is a normal, expected side effect of soy wax candles.

It also occurs in other wax types too, like palm wax.

Paraffin wax is a mostly inert substance with a more stable crystalline structure to lessen the effects of polymorphism.

You’re much less likely to combat frosting in paraffin wax.

Soy wax manufacturers, like Ecosoya and Cargill, sell “soy wax blends” that often incorporate additives to help resist frosting, among other things. Waxes like:

• Cargill NatureWax C-3 soy wax
• Cargill NatureWax C-6 soy wax
• Golden Brands 444 soy wax (AAK)
• Golden Brands 464 soy wax (AAK)

…all typically have additives in them to stabilize crystal structures, increase performance, allow more oils to reside in it, and more.

These “luxuries” built into the wax allow candle makers to use it without issues.

It’s an unpopular, and possible surprising, idea if you’re building your brand around natural candles.

If you think about all the steps to create soy wax, from the chemicals used to grow soy beans at scale, to the chemical stabilizers cooked into the product for usability, to the ingredients in fragrance oils, and finally to the manufacturing of the containers and wicks… it all becomes less “natural” than certain parts of the industry market it to be.

That’s not to say there isn’t some degree of sustainability in all of it.

After all, soy wax candles are a massive upcycling of soybean oil. Then again, even refined paraffin wax comes from a portion of oil refinement that would otherwise pollute the planet if not used for wax or food processing.

The most important takeaway is to recognize that “natural” has different levels that constitute what it really means.

If you use a very basic form of soy wax, you’ll witness more than just frosting in your candle.

It can be a struggle to find the right wick, working temperatures, and still manage a decent hot throw from it all, but it’s not impossible with a bit o’ moxie.

You have limited options in this fight against science

Manufacturers have already fought against the unstable and polymorphic nature of the wax to make them candle-friendly.

By the time it arrives at your workshop, there isn’t much else you can do to prevent soy wax frosting.

Consider the following strategies, if they fit your needs:

1. Cure in a stable environment

Temperature changes encourage the crystals to misbehave.

The wax has a chance to re-crystallize every time the temperature fluctuates. This is partially why there are many irregularities on the top of a recently-burned soy wax candle.

The melted wax hardened again, changing the formation of the crystals on top.

Allowing your newly-poured soy candles a chance to cure for two weeks in an area that doesn’t experience drastic changes in temperature and humidity will help.

There’s no silver bullet for frosting, but temperature is a big factor, especially in the first stage of a candle’s life.

2. Create candles with incredible consistency

There’s also a level of craftsmanship that can help frosting.

Frosting happens with more non-helpful additives, like fragrance oil and dye.

Obviously these are important, but they upset the already unstable structure of soy wax.

Although temperature is a critical factor in the forming frosting, every other component of candle making plays a role, too. Your choice of fragrance, dye, containers, and environment impact how likely frosting is to form.

If your target is to build a soy wax candle that resists frosting well, keep testing variations of your blend until you’re satisfied.

Part of this is keeping good notes, however recognize you’re no longer in control of the candle once it leaves your workshop.

Frosting may form during shipping, wholesale storage, or even in the customer’s care.

Maybe frosting is a good way to remind ourselves how much control we really have in life!

3. Hide the problem

Frosting always occurs in soy wax, but it’s not easily visible if the candle has no color or lives in an opaque container. It’s not the greatest solution, but it works if appearance is critically important to you.

You can mask the appearance by leaving the wax it’s natural color because it’s much harder to see frosting in a colorless blend.

Lighter pastels also make frosting appear less intense – your mileage may vary.

If you’re intent on coloring the wax but want to hide frosting on the edges, consider using a darker or opaque container. Frosted glass works well if you don’t want to use an amber jar.

There’s literally thousands of options if you pursue this route.

4. Modify your wax

If all else fails, you can modify your wax to make it more robust against frosting.

One of the better modifications is to blend your soy wax with paraffin. There are pre-blended mixtures on the market, such as IGI 6006, known to resist frosting tremendously well.

Adding paraffin also brings the benefits of stability, performance, and color-vibrancy to your candle that soy usually lacks in.

“Para-soy” blends continue to be very popular in small candle markets for this reason.

If you’re adamant about keeping a soy blend, you can mix in coconut oil or a UV inhibitor additive instead.

Your mileage may vary in this realm too, so be consistent and take good notes to figure out what works best for your standards.

You can temporarily remove soy wax frosting with a heat gun

As shown below, you can remove frosting from a soy wax candle, but it’ll only be temporary if the candle isn’t completely used up in a short amount of time.

Soy wax continues to harden and crystallize throughout it’s life – most of this hardening occurs in the first two weeks of it being poured.

The technique is simple with a heat gun:

1. Slowly heat the areas where frosting is present
2. Melt a small layer on the top of the candle to release the air bubbles trapped inside
3. Provide a somewhat consistent heat to the entirety of the candle to promote even cooling across the candle (to avoid creating more opportunities for frosting)

Conclusion

Fighting soy wax frosting is part of being a candle maker.

Mastering soy wax is difficult due to the large variations in the “natural” product that have to be accounted for.

Good chandlers use frosting to their advantage. Great chandlers build deep testing strategies to account for all factors, including frosting.

But you’ll never escape it.

Inspect a big-box store candle every once in a while and you’ll see that no one is immune to its effect.

Luxury candle makers often use a proprietary blend of waxes to achieve their look – the appearance is one the biggest selling points of a premium candle. Besides the name brand, they’re also charging for the enormous research and development budget they require to deliver their product.

At the end of the day, candle making is a composition with many movements.

The part where you combat polymorphism is sometimes difficult, disheartening, and defeating, but let your frustration instead breed determination.

Every difficulty is a lesson in how not to make a candle – let your struggle with frosting be your momentum into the next level of your candle making.