Addicted to scented candles, a dangerous hobby many women do not know

April 19, 2022 11:16 GMT+7

Ms. Nguyen Viet Anh (37 years old, Ha Dong, Hanoi) said that she loves scented candles and flowers. For her, these are two hobbies that have been with her for 20 years, she can go hungry and buy less clothes and shoes, but scented candles and flowers are indispensable every day.

Every time she comes home from work tired, the mother of two seems to be relaxing in her bedroom space with a vase of flowers and a scented candle.

Ms. Viet Anh admitted that she was “addicted” to scented candles, she liked the feeling of sitting under the candlelight and inhaling the fragrance from the candle. Without this scent, I feel empty all day, missing something.

Not only Ms. Viet Anh, Ms. Le Thu Ha (Thanh Xuan, Hanoi) also said that she likes scented candles. At first, she liked the smell of candles to have a warm feeling in the house and the scent of candles to deodorize food after cooking.

After using it for a long time, Ha is also addicted, every time she is stressed, she burns a cup of scented candles and watches the fire burn from the candle with the scent of lavender to help her relax a lot.

Illustrated photo.

There are many varieties of scented candles on the market, ranging from a few tens of thousands to half a million dong. High-end scented candles are offered for sale from 400 to 600 thousand VND depending on the type. Even some scented candles are introduced to be portable from Europe and the US, costing millions of dong.

Scent products also vary from grape, apple, herb to chocolate. Many types of wax, scented candles are wrapped in transparent plastic, or in glass or plastic boxes with all colors of blue, brown, yellow, pink… eye-catching.

Playing scented candles is also considered as classy as using perfume. Ms. Viet Anh says a scented candle is as addictive as a perfume because it creates a sense of flight, a sharp scent with notes of basil, white thyme and lemon.

There are scented candles branded by Viet Anh that she buys for 2-3 million VND, which is normal. Some types are no different from high-end perfume lines, the scent is enough to make your whole house smell like no other scent can replace.

However, a recent study by the University of South Carolina, USA has found that scented candles when burned will release toxins and pollutants, which adversely affect human health.

It affects everyone, from young to old, but people who already have chronic health problems are at even greater risk.

Expensive scented candles are less toxic because they are made from selected ingredients such as beeswax and soy wax. However, many inexpensive candles are made from paraffin. Paraffin contains at least 20 toxins.

Ingredients such as trichloroethane, acetone, xylene, phenol, cresol, chlorobenzene… can cause cancer, lung irritation and damage to body parts including brain. Scented candles with added chemicals are also more harmful to health.

Assoc. Prof. Tran Hong Con – former lecturer of Chemistry Department, Hanoi University of Science, said scented candles are used a lot and are produced from very expensive flavorings. Therefore, people have changed the aroma of scented candles with organic chemicals with aromatic rings such as benzene and benzene derivatives.

Paraffin is normally non-toxic, but when combined with the chemicals that make up scented candles, it becomes a toxic compound.

Benzene is a chemical found in many fragrance products but on the list of potentially carcinogenic chemicals.

PGS Con recommends that it is best to limit the use of products with flavoring substances of unknown origin. Because many business people want to improve profits, businesses use chemicals to flavor this product.

Eye-catching colorants, combined with chemicals to help create fragrance, if exposed regularly, can affect the health of users.

K.Chi