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According To One Expert, We’ve Been Lighting Candles The Wrong Way

Believe it or not, there's a lot more to candle owning than meets the eye.

I always figured candle ownership involved buying it, lighting it, and getting rid of it when the wax is finished. That sounds right...right?

Nope. In fact, I've been doing the whole lighting part all wrong. Thankfully, a TikTok user is here to save the day!

Candles are hard.

Unsplash | Joyce G

Between "tunnelling" (which involves your candle only melting in the middle, leaving the outside solid) and proper wick maintenance, I am in the dark about how to actually keep a candle going.

However, Sir Candle Man on TikTok has some tips to help all of us practice candle safety!

Let's learn.

"You are lighting candles wrong. I’ll show you the proper way."

Damn, alright! Let's let Sir Candle Man educate us so that we can be the best candle owners out there. Buckle up, and grab your wick trimmers.

We're lighting our candles wrong.

"Some of y’all just be relighting your candles when it looks like this. And what’s the issue, you might ask?"

Well, I'm gonna be honest. Before I saw this TikTok, I did not think there was an issue. Oops.

The wick you light needs to be trimmed.

"Look at that. We call that a mushroom wick from the last burn. So, what happens when you light it like that you might ask? I’ll show you and you’ll see why."

Boom, that's why.

"You see the flame is way too big. It’s gonna mess up the whole burn time, and also you’re gonna get a lot of smoke. You don’t want that.

So next time, trim that thing for a clean burn."

Doing this will extend the life of your candle.

Honestly, if the safety angle doesn't do it for you, how about this one? You'll get way more life out of your candle if the wick is trimmed correctly. If the flame gets too hot, it'll burn the candle faster.

People loved the tip.

Jackie Aina, the owner of the candle company Forvr Mood, was so happy to see some wick education being put out on TikTok. I know Jackie keeps her wicks trimmed.

You don't need a fancy wick trimmer, though.

Some people commented that they straight-up used their fingers to trim their wicks. That's fine, as long as you're cool with having soot on your fingers and bits of wick in your candle. Go for scissors at the very least!

You can watch the whole TikTok here.

Check out Sir Candle Man's whole video on the proper way to light your candle right here!

What do you think of this tip? Are you going to try it? Do you think Sir Candle Man should change his name to Candle Daddy? Let me know!