Regarding your comment about candles only burning down in the middle. There is a solution! This is called tunnelling. To prevent it happening so starkly, ensure that when you first burn the candle you burn it for a full 3 hours or however long it takes for the entire surface to melt. Subsequent burns , even if they are shorter, should mean the candle melts much more evenly. This has certainly been my experience.
The "natural" claim drives me nuts. Cyanide is a naturally forming compound of carbon and nitrogen. In some of its compounds it smells pleasantly of almonds. It is perfectly natural but I don't think that makes it something I want knocking around my house other than in some fruit seeds. "Natural" does not necessarily equal "Good" and is a massively over- and ill-used term.
It is so vexing that the one word doing the most damage on a label is the one you are legally not allowed to see behind.
Your framing that "clean was simply the absence of unpleasant odours" is quite interesting. The scented-clean myth is entirely manufactured, and that manufactured expectation is exactly what gives "fragrance" its cover. One word can be a blend of hundreds of chemicals, legally protected as a trade secret.
Have your readers found it practical to shift to fragrance-free products, or does the scent expectation feel too ingrained to actually act on?
p.s. building something called Mangood that tries to make "read the label" executable for men specifically. Scanner that flags phthalates and fragrance-hidden chemicals. Beta at mangood.app?ref=substack-awareness if curious.
Regarding your comment about candles only burning down in the middle. There is a solution! This is called tunnelling. To prevent it happening so starkly, ensure that when you first burn the candle you burn it for a full 3 hours or however long it takes for the entire surface to melt. Subsequent burns , even if they are shorter, should mean the candle melts much more evenly. This has certainly been my experience.
The "natural" claim drives me nuts. Cyanide is a naturally forming compound of carbon and nitrogen. In some of its compounds it smells pleasantly of almonds. It is perfectly natural but I don't think that makes it something I want knocking around my house other than in some fruit seeds. "Natural" does not necessarily equal "Good" and is a massively over- and ill-used term.
It is so vexing that the one word doing the most damage on a label is the one you are legally not allowed to see behind.
Your framing that "clean was simply the absence of unpleasant odours" is quite interesting. The scented-clean myth is entirely manufactured, and that manufactured expectation is exactly what gives "fragrance" its cover. One word can be a blend of hundreds of chemicals, legally protected as a trade secret.
Have your readers found it practical to shift to fragrance-free products, or does the scent expectation feel too ingrained to actually act on?
p.s. building something called Mangood that tries to make "read the label" executable for men specifically. Scanner that flags phthalates and fragrance-hidden chemicals. Beta at mangood.app?ref=substack-awareness if curious.
I also love ReWILD! Such gorgeous scents and the diffusers last forever.