You may be tempted to immediately light your candles but stop yourself right now!
Don’t rob yourself of all your hard work by lighting your candles too early. You won’t truly know how your candles will perform unless you allow them to cure properly.
Below we’ll go over how long it takes to cure your candles and all the benefits your patience will be rewarded with.
Let’s get started.
If you’d like to jump straight to how long you should cure your candle, click here.
The length of time to cure your candle will depend on the type of wax you’re using and will be anywhere from 3-14 days and possibly even longer. During this cure period, your candle will increase in stability and harden while spreading its fragrance oil evenly throughout the wax. Curing your candle will greatly increase the quality of cold and hot throws and can even improve the performance of your candle wick.
What Does Curing a Candle Mean?
Curing is the period of time between when you pour your wax and the first time your candle is lit.
After your candle wax has cooled, it may look as solid as it’ll ever get, but actually, it’s not.
That’s where curing comes in.
By simply letting your candles sit, you’re allowing the wax to cure. During this curing process, the candle wax will continually harden and increase in stability.
This will lead to a more stable quality burn from your candle.
How to Cure a Candle
Keep your candles in a dry and cool place. Depending on the wax, you’ll potentially be curing these candles for 2 weeks, so labeling each batch with dates and details will keep you organized.
Do You Cure Candles With Lids On or Off?
Put the lids on your candles once they have completely cooled. With the lid on, they’ll be easier to store and keep out dust or debris.
Benefits of Curing Candles
Fragrance Throw
I know you’re not just using fragrance for fun. Your goal is to have a candle with a great scent that can fill a room with a pleasant aroma. Well, curing may be your fragrance throw’s best friend.
During the curing process, your wax hardens, and as your wax hardens, it’s essentially pushing and distributing your fragrance oil throughout your candle wax. This will greatly improve the scent throw (both hot and cold throw) throughout the lifespan of your candle.
Candle Burn Quality & Testing
As a candle maker, you’ll spend a lot of time testing your candles.
But without curing, you’re most likely not getting the full picture of your candle’s performance.
If your candle has not cured, it will have a softer texture which requires less heat to melt the wax (smaller wick). As time goes by and the wax hardens, the candle wick will need to give off more heat to melt the wax (larger wick).
By testing a candle before it has cured, you won’t be getting accurate results for how your candle burns which may lead to incorrect wick sizing. The goal is to have the most accurate data before making any adjustments while testing otherwise, what’s the point?
The performance of your wick, fragrance throw, and safety measurements can all give different results based on whether you’ve lit your candle immediately or given it the proper time to cure.
Also, if you have any plans on selling or giving away your candles as gifts, they may not be lit for weeks or longer. It’s important to know how your candle will perform after sitting around for long periods of time.
How Long Do Candles Need to Cure
The cure times listed below are recommended cure times.
However, you may want to test different cure times depending on your fragrance oil or any additives you may add. The type of fragrance oil and how much you use can have an effect on cure times.
Use the recommended time as your baseline and increment up or down based on your specific candle project.
Paraffin wax will stabilize at a much faster rate than vegetable-based waxes like soy, palm, or coconut.
Gel wax is not technically a wax and can be used within hours, but if you add fragrances, it may be best to cure for 2-3 days. Check out our candle wax guide to learn more about various waxes.
| Candle Wax | Recommended Cure Time |
|---|---|
| Soy | 14 Days |
| Beeswax | 14 Days |
| Paraffin | 3 – 5 Days |
| Paraffin/Soy Blend | 5 Days |
| Palm | 10 Days |
| Coconut | 14 Days |
| Soy/Coconut Blend | 14 Days |
| Rapeseed | 3-5 Days |
Conclusion
Although it’s very tempting to immediately light your candles and get that instant gratification, in the end, you may be doing a disservice to all your hard work.
Whether getting a more accurate reading on how your wick is performing, ensuring your candles burn safely, or improving your fragrance throw, there’s no question that a little patience can go a long way in improving your candles.
I felt that impatience with curing too, and my way to get over that was to make more candles more often :). That way, I always had something to test and enjoy.