Turns out you've been burning candles wrong this whole time

Fact: there's a right and wrong way to burn a candle. Who knew?

Burn baby, burn
Burn baby, burn
(Image credit: REX FEATURES)

This hack could change everything (related to candles)

Nothing says ‘I am a sophisticated woman’ like a house littered with luxury candles. They're the epitome of luxury and one item that prove you're officially an adult.

Those fancy wax towers scream ‘I’ve made it and I know how to sit back, relax and enjoy that dreamy reality.’

And it follows that we all want to make the most of those wax torches, with some of them costing upwards of £40 a pop - not doing so would be foolish.

But here’s the thing: There’s something called candle tunneling that might be ruining all your candles. You are probably familiar with this problem, you know, when you blow your new candle out after an hour or so and find a soft hole, or 'channel' that has formed only an inch or two around the wick, meaning the candle hasn't burnt to the edge of its container properly? That's tunnelling.

How to avoid candle tunneling?

Basically, a candle’s first burn is very important. The size of the wax pool that forms when you first burn a candle dictates whether or not that candle will burn evenly to the edge of its vessel for ever after.

If you only light the candle for a short amount of time and a small puddle of wax forms your candle is essentially ruined. RUINED. Because it will never burn to the edge – and that is a waste and a great shame.

How to burn the perfect candle? The first time you burn your candle ensure that the pool of liquid wax that forms is the exact same size as the top surface of the candle.

That initial burn should take about an hour per inch diameter of candle. If your candle is three inches wide this will probably take three hours. Four inches wide, four hours etc.

From then on, your candle should burn evenly every time you light it.

Top tip: it’s good candle burning practice to have them alight for long stretches of time (4-ish hours) as often as possible, this ensures the candle burns out completely and evenly.

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