Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Buttnaked Candles’ soy-based candle not only burns without much soot, but the liquid wax can also be poured from the container and be used as a lotion.
A good lotion is hard to find.
So when Pizitz Middle School teacher Pam Weaver realized that her favorite brand had changed its formula, she decided to take matters into her own hands.
Weaver, who teaches seventh grade science, said she has struggled with eczema for years, and had only found relief from a lotion that came from a beekeeper in Dadeville.
When the formula changed and no longer helped, she said she decided to see if she could engineer he own.
“I thought, ‘OK, if they can make a lotion that helped my eczema, then I can make a lotion that helps my eczema,’” she said.
After researching online, she said her idea eventually morphed into a candle that would melt into a lotion.
“I really just kind of started playing around,” she said.
Weaver said it took a while, but she eventually found the best combination of oils that are solid at room temperature but are absorbable by the skin.
“It’s just a really good ratio,” she said.
The candles, which are soy-based and burn at a lower temperature than other varieties, are used by burning the candle for 15-20 minutes, then either dipping a finger into the wax or pouring some into your hand.
Then, Weaver said, just apply like any other lotion from head to toe.
“It’s just a nice all-over little body lotion,” she said.
Because it is hard to make just one candle, she said she ended up pouring multiple at a time, and giving them to friends as gifts.
Eventually, she was invited to bring her candles to a craft show, and thus her “part time gig” took off.
Weaver said that while she understands why most people are skeptical about using candle wax as a lotion, most everyone she’s heard from have had nothing but success stories.
One woman, who Weaver said had skin issues as a side effect of a medication, reached out to her to reorder after finding thecandles helped.
“That feels good, to have a product that’s appreciated by someone,” Weaver said.
As far as the “Buttnaked” brand, Weaver said that came from her husband when the two were trying to come up with a catchy name for her company when she began selling at craft shows.
Weaver said she was reluctant to use the name at first, fearing it might cause some pearl-clutching and keep markets frominviting her back.
But her husband argued, Weaver said, that the name makes sense, because most people apply lotion in-the-nude, or close to it.
For more information about Buttnaked Candles, visit Weaver’s Facebook or Instagram accounts at @ButtnakedCandles, or emailbuttnakedcandles@yahoo.com.
