Richly Scented Candle

Richly Scented Soy Candle History

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Welcome to Richly Scented Candle World!  Today we’re going to kick things off with a history of soy candles, one of the mainstays in the world of scented candles.

Soy candles started in 1991 with Michael Richards. His company, Candleworks, produces beeswax candles. Soon after starting, Michael saw a demand for natural wax candles that was increasing. But this wouldn’t be cheap, because paraffin candles cost only 1/10th of their beeswax equivalents.

Trying to find a cost efficient substitute, Mr. Richards began experimenting with both planet and vegetable oils. These included exotic waxes like carnauba and candelilla and domestic examples such as corn and soybean; all of these he test over thousands of hours. By 1992, a combination of natural waxes and vegetable oils created the first vegetable wax candle, a predecessor of today’s Richly Scented Candle.

However, the next step would be finding a soft, malleable wax because the vegetable wax was too brittle. He tested even more plant oils including coconut, palm, and soybean. While doing all this research, he kept selling beeswax candles, and in 1994 combined beeswax and soybean oil as a cost efficient natural wax candle. The Body Shop, who was Candleworks’ primary customer, placed their first request for natural wax aromatherapy candles in 1995.

These were a blend of almond oil and beeswax for three months, but when almost oil started to become more expensive, Michael swapped almond oil for less expensive soybean oil. All this was done by May in 1995. Experiments in 1996 allowed Michael to eliminate beeswax altogether that fall. Hydrogenated soybean oil became the primary element in his formula, with other vegetable oils included for cosmetic purposes including the scent and texture.

He then developed both low melt soy wax for contained candles, and high-melt formulas for pillar type candles and other variants of the Richly Scented Candle. This advent allowed for edible birthday cake candle to be made by Purdue University’s Department of Agronomy. Candleworks supplied an inter to work with the University of Iowa in 1997 to test what he had developed, and this yielded a report entitled, “Increasing the Use of Soybeans in the Manufacturing of Candles.”

The next year a new type of lights, Harvest Lights, were unveiled at the Farm Progress Shoe in Indiana. For two years starting in 1999, Michael’s work was presented to the U.S. patent office under the title of “Soywax.” It was tested and proved to yield less soot, less formaldehyde, and a longer burn time. These tests included introducing other ingredients such as palm oil, fatty acids, and paraffin. In 2001, Michael sold the intellectual property rights to Cargill, who currently makes their soybean wax based on Michael Richards’ formulas. He is also active in marketing soy wax and for training other manufacturers on its use. His invention has created a new industry across the nation involving individual entrepreneurs and large manufacturers.

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