When lighting a candle, many people simply use their muscle memory and light the wick without a second thought. Candle lighting is a seemingly simple task, yet it has multiple techniques involved to properly and safely complete it. Here’s a guide on how to light a candle properly.
Step one: Move your candle
Check your surrounding and make sure your candle is in a safe location. This means it should be away from any flammable items and on a secure surface that won’t tip or get bumped.
Step two: Trim the wick
Trim down your candle’s wick if it’s too long. Anything over 1/8 of an inch is too long for a candle, as it can be hazardous. For this, you can simply use a pair of scissors.
Step three: Get a match
Get your match ready. If you have a safety match, strike it along the strip on your matchbox. If you have a strike anywhere match, strike it anywhere. Once lit, bring your match to the freshly trimmed wick.
Step four: Turn your candle
This step is crucial to safely lighting a candle without injury. Tilt your candle to bring the wick to the flame. Never bring the match to the wick, as fire will burn upward regardless of how you hold your match. You could burn your fingers or accidentally light your clothing on fire.
Step five: Light the wick aflame
Hold the flame on the wick until the wick has its own, independent flame. Now, you’ve lit a candle properly.
Step six: Put the flame on the match out
Now that your candle is lit, you no longer need your match. Either blow out the fire or gently run it under a stream of water. Make sure the match stick is no longer hot before throwing it in the garbage to avoid any hazards.
If you’re a candle fanatic, you may go through a lot of matches. You can purchase large matchboxes wholesaleso that you never run out of matches again.