When it comes to the world of making wax melts, you are bound to come across one or more issues sooner or later. One of the most common issues you may come across is your wax melts turning white or white spots forming all across them as they cool. Feeling confused and wondering: why are my wax melts turning white? Find your answers in the rest of the article!
When you use natural, non-toxic materials such as soy wax to make wax melts, you might notice them turning white or forming white spots after cooling down. This effect is a natural byproduct of using natural wax, and most people refer to it as “frosting.” Frosting mostly occurs due to using incorrect techniques when making wax products.
Now you should have a basic idea about why your wax melts turn white or form white spots after cooling down. If you want to avoid this issue in the future, it’s best to learn exactly which incorrect techniques produce such effects.
In the rest of the article, I will discuss all the causes of frosting in greater detail, as well as how you can avoid this issue in the future.
What Causes Your Wax Melts to Frost?
Wax melts turning white or frosting is a completely natural effect if you are using soy wax. This effect is unique to using natural, non-toxic vegetable wax to produce wax products. Wax naturally re-crystallizes and attempts to revert to its original state, causing frost.
Ever noticed a white-ish coating covering your chocolate bar? If you use soy wax or any other type of vegetable wax to make your wax melts, you might notice this coating on top of your wax melts or around their sides. This white coat is what we commonly refer to as frosting. The following are all the possible reasons behind why you see frosting around your wax melts:
1. Type of Wax
The frosting on your wax melts or candles is the white crystalline layer that commonly appears on the surface of natural waxes like soy. One of the major reasons behind this effect is the natural effect of soy wax, or any other vegetable wax.
Frosting occurs when you use natural wax to produce a candle or wax melt and it attempts to return to its original state. This effect is a form of crystal growth unique to vegetable oils. Frosting indicates that you are utilizing 100% natural soy wax, and additives can be used to help prevent frosting,
2. Age
As wax ages, the chances of frosting appearing on them or around them increase as well. So, the longer you leave your wax melts out, the more likely it is that frosting will form around them.
It’s best to use up your wax flakes within a year. You can label your wax melts or candles with “Use within 6 months” stickers as well.
3. Temperature Fluctuations
High temperatures can alter the chemical state of natural wax. This causes variations in the texture and moisture content of any wax product as they cool down. This state transition eventually leads to frosting on your wax melts.
Temperature fluctuations are a major cause of frosting appearing on your wax candles or melts. Leaving your warm candles or melts in drafts or on solid surfaces may cause frosting as well.
4. Type of Fragrance You Use
Another common reason behind frosting is because of the type of fragrance oil you use. Some fragrance oils are thicker or more viscous than others.
So the type of natural wax you use may react differently to each oil as you move from one fragrance to the other. This causes frosting to appear on your wax melts.
Does Frosting Hamper The Performance Of Your Wax Melts?
As unintentional and undesirable frosting may be, it’s completely harmless. The white frosting that forms when your soy wax or any other type of vegetable wax is overheated is not harmful at all. As it is a byproduct of a natural process, it has little to no effect on the performance of how your wax melts.
Soy wax frosts quickly, and many buyers consider this one-of-a-kind effect to be a sign of quality and purity in your wax melts or candles. It won’t harm their burn quality, fragrance, or even the way your wax melts burn.
How To Avoid Your Wax Melts from Turning White?
To avoid frosting on your wax melts, you need to let the melted wax settle for a short while rather than mixing it vigorously. Before pouring the melted content into glassware, remember to preheat it.
There are many other ways you can avoid your precious wax melts from turning white or frosting. They are –
1. Avoid Mixing Vigorously!
No doubt, mixing melted wax can be quite satisfying. As a result, most of us may find ourselves mixing melted wax too vigorously when making wax melts. This practice can lead to frosting appearing around your cute wax melts.
So let your wax melt settle while it’s still warm. Frosting commonly appears on wax melts that are vigorously mixed in the process of making.
2. Preheat the Glassware
As I have covered before, fluctuations in temperature are a common reason behind frosting appearing on your wax melts. A good way to avoid this effect is to preheat your glassware before pouring melted wax into it.
By preheating all the glassware you use to make wax melts or candles, you reduce the chances of frosting around them. You can use an oven to heat your glassware. Preheat the glassware in the oven on the lowest setting. Heating the glasses to 100 degrees Fahrenheit works fine.
3. Keep Your Wax Melts Out of Direct Light
This may not be one of the major reasons, but temperature fluctuations may happen even if your wax melts are exposed to direct sunlight. And, exposing your melts to direct sunlight or fluorescent light can easily cause frosting.
So it’s always best to keep your candles or wax melts away from direct light or sunlight. If you want, you can print these instructions on your wax melts as well.
4. Try Out Alternate Wax Types
Natural waxes, such as soy wax, have a higher chance of getting frosting than paraffin ones. So, if you use paraffin wax to make your wax melt, you will face fewer problems. Different forms of sox wax are less likely to frost than natural soy wax. They are: Golden Brands 444 Soy Wax, Golden Brands 464 Soy Wax, CB-Advanced Soy Wax, C3 Soy Wax, and C6 Soy Wax.
However, there’s no guarantee that these soy wax variations will prevent frosting. Melts and candles made from these can still get a bit of frosting.
5. Avoid Temperature Fluctuations
One of the biggest reasons why wax melts get frosting is temperature fluctuations. An effective solution can be to pour the melted wax into a low-temperature environment when making wax melts. This prevents crystal formation as soon as the candle cools down.
Remember to modify your pour temperatures in 5-degree increments. This is the most effective method of molding wax melts. When cooling down your wax melts, make sure the room temperature is between 70 and 76 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place the melted wax on top of a wire cooling rack. This cooling rack helps to prevent excessive heat transfer that normally happens when you place wax melts on a solid surface.
Conclusion
If you’ve recently taken up the hobby of making wax melts, you may have noticed some turning white around the edges or on top. So you may be wondering, why are my wax melts turning white? In thisarticle, I answer all your questions and more.
I hope the article has helped you understand how you can avoid this issue in the future. Thanks for reading till now!
