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How to Clean Candle Wax From Glass: Boiling Water Method

I was suppose to post up a review on Peter Thomas Roth Skinstant Mask Magic today but I wasn’t satisfied with the batch of photos taken two weeks ago so I have to push Sunday post to today instead. Oh dang. This is just one of those days 😀

Anyway, I finally clean off the candle wax from my Ikea candle jar, which I’ve been wanting to do for months. Thank goodness my Copenhagen candle hit the bottom on the same night so I can tell you how I remove the remaining candle wax. There are a few methods found online but I settle with this particular method and it works like a charm for me. This is How to Clean Candle Wax From Glass, tested and proven by yours truly 🙂

How to Clean Candle Wax From Glass 1
The method that I’ve tried and works well for me is the boiling water method. If you don’t read the instruction properly before doing it, you will end up with oily, waxy mess like I did before this. It’s really simple. What I like to do prior is to place a plate underneath the glass jar so that I can easily carry the jar around. Then pour in hot water, fill up to the top brim. This time I left a gap on top because I did this demo in my room and I have to walk a bit to the kitchen.

How to Clean Candle Wax From Glass 2
The hot water will melt the candle and then the candle will float on top. Now, the amount of melting candle wax differs accordingly to the candle type. For the Ikea candle, all the wax from the bottom melted and floated on top. For this Copenhagen candle, only the wax around the glass jar melted and float to the top. The rest remains at the bottom. Then I took a knife, poke around the candle side and the whole thing just came off 😀

You ought to think about where to pour the melted candle wax to because you can’t just pour it into the sink. Once in contact with water, the candle will harden and this will clog the drain. So give it a thought first before doing this.

How to Clean Candle Wax From Glass 3
Next is to clean the candle wax residue from the inner glass – by using something that I never thought off at all. Baby oil. Whoever who thought of this is genius. Luckily I have a small bottle of Johnson’s Baby Oil around!

How to Clean Candle Wax From Glass 4
By just using baby oil with kitchen paper towel, just wipe all over the glass to remove any wax remaining on the glass. Everything will came off without much effort. Then wash the glass with a dish washing detergent or any other detergent that you preferred as long as it can remove baby oil.

How to Clean Candle Wax From Glass 5
And voila! There you have it. A squeakily clean glass jar ready to be reuse for something else. I finally can depot my Copenhagen Christmas Spice Candle into this jar 😀

How to Clean Candle Wax From Glass 6
I’ve successfully clean off two candle glass jar in two days time. The Ikea one (right) is far more easier than Copenhagen (left).

How to Clean Candle Wax From Glass 7
Hope you enjoyed this simple trick especially if you’re a candle lover. Do you have a specific method in cleaning remaining candle wax from glass jar? If yes, what is the method that you’re using? 😀

 



Comments (16)

  • I usually burn the IKEA tea lights in my room, but my mum loves to burn the ones in glass jars at the altar table, so I’ll definitely recommend her this! 😀 Thanks for the tip, Fiona!

    Reply
    • I bought Ikea’s tea light candles too. In fact I bought a few tea light holder but there’s no scent eventhough I light it around the room lol

      Reply
      • Maybe your room is bigger than mine. XD I prefer the vanilla ones though, compared to other scents, coz the vanilla ones seem to smell ‘stronger’ lol

        Reply
        • Hmmm couldn’t be because I place one everywhere in the room. Oh! Vanilla is stronger. Noted. I’ll try that next time 🙂

          Reply
  • I know of the freeze and hack-with-a-blunt-knife method.
    I’ll bookmark this post and try it at the demise of my next candle. Thanks!

    Reply
    • I know the freeze method too but I’m way too impatient for that lol. I need something fast 😀

      Reply
      • You are right – the freeze takes time but you know what, I always forget I have the jar in the freezer. It is quite a chore to clean up candle jars but the ones with the nice lids always make such nice vanity jars.
        I confess, the jar packaging of a candle is half the reason I might buy a candle.

        Reply
        • That’s quite true. One will tend to forgot about the jar in the freezer 😀 . It is quite a chore. I’ve kept my jar for months because I’m too lazy to clean lol. I tend to fall for candles with nice jar as well. We can reuse for something else which is good 🙂 So far I like Glasshouse candle jar.

          Reply
  • Owh I didn’t know baby oil can help with the residue. I’m definitely going to try it next time I try to clean my candle jars. Tq Fiona.

    Reply
    • I didn’t too 😀 . I found out from the internet that it helps. It really did works in getting the wax residue off the glass. Hope it works for you too! Happy DIY-ing 🙂

      Reply
  • Ooh lovely! I think I shall try this one. I have a couple of glass bottles that could do with some cleaning but I haven’t gotten round to it (mostly because I’m lazy LOL)

    Reply
    • Tell me about it. I’m so lazy with cleaning too lol. I love your candle collection. Although we can get Glasshouse from Luxola but there wasn’t any deal happening recently so I grab Yankee Candle Buy 1 Free 1 instead. Mainly for the jar haha!

      Reply
  • Thanks for sharing this life hack! 🙂 I have not climbed the slippery slopes of candles though it is tempting…Love it that you cleaned it so well that it’s sparkling clean and reusable!

    Reply
    • No problemo! Once you’ve started climbing the slopes of candles, you can’t stop. It just keeps coming and coming lol. Who will thought baby oil (not made from babies ya) is able to clean candle wax? That’s mind boggling hehe 😀

      Reply
      • Baby oil not made from babies!!! Hahahahaha, you got me in stitches with that quirky statement. Baby oil is super useful. I use it to clean the glue from road tax from my windscreen and also wipe off some stubborn dirt sometimes. I have seen some soy based candles from iHerb and Luxola…ahh, now you make me want to go shop for some 🙂 I would think lighting up for say 30 minutes at night would help to unwind after a long day at work and therapeutic. Only thing is choosing the right scent and my mum is against any scent as she perceives them to be artificial. If the scent is not right, I also run into having a room of uncomfortable air quality…thoughts and thoughts and thoughts…

        Reply
        • I never thought of using baby oil to remove road tax glue! I usually use cellotape to remove the glue. Hold on to Luxola purchase. Wait for their 30% / 40% / scratch & win if you want to buy anything haha. This year Luxola is not generous with their discount anymore. That’s my favourite thing to do too after work, with a cup of coffee if it’s Friday night 😀 . All my candles now are quite Christmassy. I just ordered Yankee candles for Buy 1 Free 1 🙂

          Reply

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