Did you know I went to massage school? Yep, crazy Amy decided it would be cool to study massage while working full time as a teacher.
Looking back I don't know how I did it, but it was that experience that gave me my first thoughts about starting a business.
I remember the day my instructor gave us an A4 sheet of paper where we were supposed to draw our dream massage treatment center. I sat there with no idea of what to put on the paper. I had never thought about having my own thing nor had I ever been asked this question.
That lesson shifted something in my brain. I had to think about AND come up with what I would want, when I had never ever thought about it before. Wow! In case you're curious, I decided my spa would be in a small white house with a red door and I was going to call it "The Red Door Spa." If you're reading this and want to open a spa, feel free to use this idea. Maybe it already exists?
Fast forward to 2023, when I decided to start Honeywood Candle Company. Yes, I was searching for a candle in a scent I couldn't find, but any thoughts I had about starting a business came from massage school and then finally from working at Healing Hands Skin Therapy in Springfield, Missouri. Candles are indeed part of self care and are often found in therapy rooms and spas, so the connection brought everything together.
This means that I absolutely love, use, and have experienced the benefits of essential oils. I've also done some extra workshops in aromatherapy and the use of flower oils. Needless to say, I'm into it.
Which brings us to the ultimate question. Why then have I chosen to use fragrance oils in my candles instead of essential oils?
As a massage therapist we were always told that if you choose to use essential oils in your massage oil, then your massage oil must be kept at room temperature in containers that keep out light, like metal or brown glass. This is to protect the delicate parts of the oil that are therapeutic.
For me, it then seems strange to expect the same level of therapy from an oil that has been taken out of that protected container and then lit on fire. Both light and heat destroys the therapeutic quality of the essential oil, leaving you with scent.
Scent in and of itself is therapeutic. I have this little bottle of roll on perfume I made on a holiday in Indonesia. The perfume is gone, but whenever I'm having a bad day, I open that bottle and automatically feel better. Nothing like the power of scent!
If the therapeutic aspect of a candle comes from just the scent itself, then my goal as a candle maker is to find scents that will burn clean, safe, and smell in ways that make people feel more relaxed or happy.
Essential oils are from nature and nature is unpredictable. My brain automatically goes to wine. Every year, same varietals of wine can taste completely different depending on weather fluctuation. It make sense, at least to me, that the plants from which essential oils are derived would be impacted in the same way.
Unpredictability is not what I want in my candles if I want them to be safe. I want to know that what I share with my customers is as close as possible to what I tested myself, each time they light their candles.
So that brings me to what I do use. I use high quality fragrance oils. They are designed in reputable European labs to work perfectly for candles. They have been tested and approved by EU governing bodies (which is huge) and they are free from bad stuff like paraben and phthalates.
When I first started making candles I was reading articles about waxes and scents. In all honesty, you can find information to use or not to use anything and everything.
I had to make a choice. Based on my knowledge of essential oils I decided that high quality fragrance oils with a focus on finding scent notes that will give my customers a therapeutic experience is what works best for Honeywood.
Because I love essential oils, I hope to find a reason to incorporate them into my business in a way that makes sense to me, keeping the therapeutic part of the essential oil in tact.
Until then, I hope you enjoy and experience something therapeutic from your seriously scented, eco-friendly candles by Honeywood.
Which scent feels like therapy for you?
*Please remember, this is my blog, not a fully researched article. There are many wonderful businesses in the world creating products customers love, using ingredients different than mine, with legit reasons for doing so and I completely respect that. These are just my thoughts connected to my business. Hopefully what I share can offer something to ponder.