The warning that made so many pregnant women clear Bath & Body Works candles off their shelves was written for factory workers. It came from a Safety Data Sheet, a form that covers raw fragrance and wax in bulk, long before any of it is poured into a jar. Screenshots of one line, “suspected of damaging fertility or the unborn child,” spread across social media. Plenty of expecting moms did the cautious thing and threw their candles out.
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Then the fact-checks arrived and said the sheet was being misread. That part is true, and it is where most people stop. A fact-check answers a question about a document, and it says nothing about what is in the jar on your dresser. That question is still on your mind at night, when your nose picks up every smell in the house and the label just says “fragrance.” It is also why we pour our 100% beeswax candles by hand in New York City and name what goes into each one.
Why your worry still makes sense after the fact-check
Pregnancy changes how you smell the world. Many women find that scents feel stronger and harder to ignore. A candle that was pleasant last year can bring on a headache or nausea now, so it is fair to want to know what your nose is picking up.
The concern about candles also has real roots. Research has shown that burning paraffin wax releases benzene and toluene. Studies have also found formaldehyde in paraffin candle smoke. All three are volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which are gases that come off a material as it heats or burns.
Then there is the label. In the United States, candle and home fragrance makers do not have to list the parts of a proprietary scent blend. The single word “fragrance” can stand in for a mix of chemicals you will never see named.
One group of chemicals comes up again and again in that hidden mix. Phthalates are compounds some makers use to help a scent last longer and spread farther. Environmental health groups have raised concerns that they can disrupt hormones, which is why they draw so much attention during pregnancy.
Your question is reasonable, and it deserves a better answer than a screenshot. That answer starts with what the viral sheet got wrong, because clearing away the noise shows you where to look.
What the viral safety sheet got wrong, and what it pointed at by accident
A Safety Data Sheet, or SDS, is a standard industrial form. It tells factory workers how to handle concentrated raw materials, such as a drum of undiluted fragrance oil or a vat of hot wax. The hazard lines describe the risk of handling those materials at full strength, every working day.
A finished candle is a different product. The fragrance is diluted into the wax, and you burn it in a room under the directions on the label. Fact-checkers made this point after the posts spread. Bath & Body Works states that its candles go through safety testing and meet industry standards when burned as directed.
So the screenshot was a misreading. Still, it sent a lot of people to look at ingredients, and that instinct was a good one. The real question lives in two places on a candle label, the wax and the fragrance. The wax comes first, because it sets the floor for everything else.
The wax, which sets the floor for everything else
Most mass-market candles start with paraffin, either alone or in a blend. To see what paraffin is, follow crude oil into a refinery. The oil is heated and split into parts, from fuels at the light end to thick oils at the heavy end.
When those heavy oils are cleaned up to make lubricants, a waxy solid is pulled out of them. That solid is paraffin. It is the leftover from making other petroleum products, which is a polite way of saying paraffin is petroleum waste. Burning it is where the benzene and toluene come from.
Soy wax is a step up, since it comes from a plant. The catch is that many soy candles are blends, and a label that says “soy blend” does not have to tell you how much of the blend is paraffin. Soy candles can also carry the same toxic fragrance as any other candle, because the wax tells you nothing about the scent.
Beeswax comes from a hive. Bees make it to build their comb, and beekeepers collect it as a byproduct of harvesting honey. It is filtered and poured with no chemical processing, and people have burned it as candle wax since around 5,000 BCE. Beeswax also has the highest melting point of any candle wax, so it burns slower than paraffin or soy.
| Paraffin or paraffin blend | Soy blend | MBur 100% beeswax | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wax | Petroleum byproduct from oil refining | Plant wax, often blended with paraffin | Single-ingredient beeswax from honey production |
| Wick | Varies by maker | Varies by maker | Wooden wick, two on the 12 oz size |
| Burn behavior | Lower melting point, burns faster | Soft wax, burns faster than beeswax | Highest melting point of any candle wax, burns slow and steady |
| Soot | Known for black soot and smoke | Less than paraffin, more if blended | Clean burn with a trimmed wick |
| Fragrance | Often an undisclosed blend | Often an undisclosed blend | Phthalate-free fragrance |
| Dye | Often colored with chemical dye | Often colored with chemical dye | No chemical dye |
| Where it is made | Varies | Varies | Hand poured in New York City |
Now picture where you actually burn a candle these days. It is probably 10 p.m. in your bedroom, a pillow under your knees and the door half open while you wind down. That small room, at that hour, is where the ingredients matter most, because it is where you breathe the longest.
For that room, our Do Not Disturb beeswax candle is the one we built for the end of the day. Its notes are Pear, Bergamot, Peach Blossom, Amber, Jasmine, Vanilla, Sandalwood, set in 100% beeswax with wooden wicks. It reads soft and warm, a scent that stays in the background of a bedroom.
Wax is half the label. The other half is a single word that tells you very little, and that brings us to the real answer.
So, are Bath & Body Works candles safe during pregnancy?
Put the pieces together and the answer is fairly calm. The viral warning was a misread industrial form. Bath & Body Works says its candles meet industry standards, and health agencies note that normal, occasional household candle use has not been shown to pose a proven risk to the body.
What you cannot get from the label is a full answer to “what am I breathing?” Popular three-wick candles are widely described as paraffin blends, and the fragrance blend does not have to be disclosed. You may burn one and feel fine. You just cannot check it line by line.
If you want a candle you can check, look for two things on the label. The wax should be a single, named wax, and the fragrance should be stated as phthalate-free. A candle with both lets you see what goes into the air of the room where you rest.
Your doctor or midwife knows your pregnancy best, so follow their guidance on candles and scent, especially if you have asthma or strong nausea. For a plain overview of the research, Cleveland Clinic has a guide on whether scented candles are bad for you.
A candle has more parts than wax and fragrance, though, and some are easier to check than others. Here they are in order.
Five parts of a candle, ranked from the one you already checked to the one nobody checks
We ranked these by how much attention they usually get. The first is the one everyone looked at during the viral scare. The last is the one almost no one checks, because the label gives you nothing to read.
1. The safety sheet
You have likely already read about this one. The SDS describes raw materials in a factory, so it tells you little about a finished candle in your home. You can set it aside and look at the candle itself.
2. The wick
Older candles sometimes used wicks with a lead core. Modern commercial candles use lead-free wicks, such as cotton or paper cores, so this part is mostly settled. MBur uses wooden wicks, with two on the 12 oz size, which give a soft crackle and an even flame.
3. The dye
Color in a candle comes from dye, and a chemical dye adds one more compound to what burns. Beeswax has its own golden color straight from the hive. That is why MBur candles use no chemical dye at all.
4. The wax blend
This is the first part you can see with your own eyes. Soot is tiny bits of unburned carbon, and it shows up as a black ring inside the jar or dark smoke when the flame flickers. Paraffin makes more of it, so a candle that blackens its glass is telling you something about its wax.
5. The fragrance
Nobody checks this one because there is nothing to check. “Fragrance” on a label could include phthalates, and you only know it does not if the maker says so in writing. MBur uses only non-toxic, phthalate-free fragrance oils, and every candle page lists its full set of notes.
Once you know these five parts, choosing a candle gets simple. You can turn them into a short checklist.
A clean candle checklist for any store or website
Use this before you buy any candle for the months ahead. If a label cannot answer a line, treat that as your answer.
- The wax is a single, named wax, with no unnamed blend.
- The fragrance is stated as phthalate-free.
- There is no chemical dye.
- The wick is lead-free, such as wood or cotton.
- The maker tells you where the candle is poured.
Every MBur candle checks each line. The wax is 100% beeswax, the fragrance is phthalate-free, the color is the wax itself, and the wick is wood. Each one is hand poured in New York City.
Now picture a different room. Your sister is hosting your baby shower in your living room, and the couch is full of people you love. For a room like that, our Room Service beeswax candle, our bestseller, is the scent people pick when they host. It is soft and polished, a white tea and floral scent built around the feel of a hotel lobby.
One customer put it in words that fit this topic closely.
“I love these candles. No headache or feeling nauseous like the Bath & Body candles with all the extra chemicals.” Jason H., on Room Service
Every body reacts in its own way, so read one review as one person's story. What his words point to is the same thing the checklist does, a candle where you know what is burning.
How to burn any candle more cleanly while you are expecting
Good habits matter as much as good wax. Burn candles in a room with moving air, from an open window or a running fan. The EPA has a helpful guide to indoor air quality at home if you want to go deeper.
Trim the wick before every burn. A wooden wick should sit at about 1/8 inch, and a cotton wick at about 1/4 inch. A short wick keeps the flame small and steady, which means less smoke.
Keep each burn under four hours, then let the room air out. Clear any match ends or debris out of the melt pool, since they can make the flame smoke. Always blow the candle out before you fall asleep.
On the first burn, let the wax melt all the way to the edge of the jar. Beeswax has a high melting point, so this can take a little longer. That first full melt helps the candle burn evenly for the rest of its life.
The questions that come up once you decide to switch
“But I have burned Bath & Body Works candles for years and felt fine.”
Many people have, and that fits what health agencies say about occasional use. Pregnancy is simply the stretch of life when people most want to read every ingredient. The better question is which scent you will want for the months ahead. If your old favorite was warm and sweet, Do Not Disturb sits in that family, with Vanilla and Amber in its notes.
“Strong scents make me queasy right now.”
That is common, and your doctor's advice comes first here. Choose a softer scent and burn it in a room with air moving, in shorter stretches. Customers describe Do Not Disturb as lovely and not overpowering, which is the profile to look for when your nose is on high alert.
“Which size goes in which room?”
The 12 oz size has two wooden wicks and burns 80+ hours. It belongs in a bedroom you light most nights or a larger living room. The 5 oz size has one wooden wick and burns 40 hours, which suits a small room or a bathroom you use less often.
Frequently asked questions
Do Bath and Body Works candles have lead in the wicks?
Modern commercial candles use lead-free wicks, so lead is not the open question. The wax and the fragrance blend are. If you want a wick you can see, Do Not Disturb burns on wooden wicks in 100% beeswax.
Can candle scents make pregnancy nausea worse?
They can. Your sense of smell is sharper during pregnancy, and heavy scents are a common trigger for nausea and headaches. Pick a soft scent, keep air moving, and follow your doctor's guidance. A gentle blend like our Do Not Disturb candle stays in the background of a room.
Are essential oil candles automatically safe while pregnant?
Plant-based and pregnancy-friendly are two separate questions. Some botanical oils, rosemary and peppermint among them, appear in pregnancy cautions, so ask your doctor about any oil you are unsure of. Neither Do Not Disturb nor Room Service lists either one, and every scent in our beeswax candle collection shows its full notes on its page.
How long can I burn a candle while pregnant?
Keep each burn under four hours, in a room with fresh air, and let the space air out between burns. For a long afternoon of hosting, light Room Service for part of the gathering and give the room a break before you light it again.
The candle for the room where you rest
The viral warning about Bath & Body Works candles came from a factory form, so you can let that fear go. The open question is the wax and the fragrance, and only a candle that names both can answer it. For the months ahead, choose a single wax and a phthalate-free fragrance you can read on the label.
For your bedroom, choose Do Not Disturb in the 12 oz size ($65). It is the candle for the room where you put your feet up and let the day go. It has two wooden wicks and burns 80+ hours in 100% beeswax with phthalate-free fragrance, so it carries you through many evenings in the room you use most.
“I love the scent of this candle. It is lovely not overpowering. It's soothing fragrance more than covers my bedroom and bathroom.” Dawne Forrest, on Do Not Disturb
If you are clearing out your candle shelf now, replace the bedroom candle first, because that is the one you will light every night from here to your due date.
Choose Do Not Disturb in the 80-hour size for your bedroom, because it is the candle you will reach for at the end of every day.
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