Why We'll Never Use Soy Wax

The Ugly Truth About "Natural" Soy Wax

Visit almost any modern candle shop or website and you’ll likely see "natural soy wax" plastered across labels like a badge of honor. The candle industry has successfully convinced consumers that soy equals sustainable.

So many “luxury” candle brands loudly say things like “our wax is plant-based and environmentally-friendly”.

But reality couldn’t be further from the truth.

Soy: Industrial Farming That Causes Deforestation

Soy wax is made out of soybean oil, which is made out of soybeans.

Soybeans are grown primarily in massive monoculture farms in Brazil, Argentina, and the US Midwest. Brazil accounts for about 40% of the global soybean production.

Have you heard about the massive fires raging in the Amazon rainforest that hit global news from time to time? They're mostly caused by industrial farmers that are clearing the rainforest to grow — soybeans.

But that's not where the tragic soy story ends.

Soy is an annual monoculture crop, which means that it needs to be replanted every single year. Think about how resource-intensive that is.

90%+ of soy produced globally is also genetically modified (GMO) and its production depends on heavy pesticide and herbicide use.

Because it's a monoculture, soy production depletes soil health and devastates biodiversity. It also displaces indigenous Amazonian communities and wildlife habitats.

Honestly... instead of throwing soups at paintings, climate activists should really be throwing away their soy sauces.

How Soy Wax is Made

1. Soybeans are harvested, cleaned, cracked, and de-hulled.
2. Oil is extracted using hexane solvent or mechanical pressing (requires ~6kg of soybeans for 1kg of wax).
3. Oil is refined, bleached, and deodorized.
4. Hydrogenation — the oil is chemically treated with hydrogen gas and a metal catalyst (typically nickel) to saturate fatty acids and turn liquid oil into solid wax.
5. Catalyst residue is filtered out.
6. In many cases bleaching agents and other additives are used to make the wax look smooth and uniform.

The truth is, when we were beginning our candle making journey we tried out many ingredients, including soy wax. After digging deeper and learning about the bad and the ugly of soy wax, we said "No, thank you."

At CocoBee, we chose to blend beeswax with coconut wax for reasons that go far beyond marketing buzzwords.

Beeswax is the king of waxes. Completely natural, made by bees, used to make candles for millennia.

It's a hard wax, however, that doesn't lend itself to be easily infused with scents that so many of us love when we think about lighting a candle. That's why we landed on our signature blend of 70% beeswax and 30% coconut wax.

Coconut wax adds a soft and creamy texture to our candles and helps with scent throw that makes your candle smell amazing.

But, is coconut wax any better than soy wax in terms of its environmental impact and "natural" label?

Coconut: Small Farms, Long Lives

Coconut wax, similarly to soy wax, is made out of coconut oil, which is made out of coconut meat.

Coconut palms are perennial trees that produce for 60-80 years — planted once, harvested continuously.

80%+ of production is grown on small-scale family farms in the Philippines, Indonesia, India, and Sri Lanka. Coconuts are also NOT genetically modified and are often intercropped with other plants, supporting biodiversity.

They're resilient to droughts, floods, and high winds and have lower pesticide requirements compared to annual crops like soy.

Mature coconut palms also absorb significant CO2 throughout their long lives, helping with removing carbon from the atmosphere.

Winner: Coconut wax—by a landslide. Perennial trees on small farms vs. industrial monoculture that clears rainforests? Not even close.

What about coconut wax processing?

How Coconut Wax is Made

1. Coconuts are harvested from mature trees.
2. Coconut meat is cold-pressed to extract oil.
3. Oil is refined.
4. Hydrogenation — same chemical process as soy (hydrogen gas + catalyst) to solidify the oil.
5. Catalyst is filtered out, wax is cooled and packaged.

So, both soybean oil and coconut oil require processing to turn it into wax. However, coconut oil is more commonly cold-pressed (gentler extraction) vs. hexane solvent extraction often used for soy.

Environmental Footprint: The Full Picture

Factor	Soy Wax	Coconut Wax
Deforestation	High—major driver of Amazon clearing	Low—small farms, perennial trees
Carbon footprint	High (deforestation + global shipping)	Lower (carbon sequestration + regional production)
Pesticides	Heavy use (especially with GMO crops)	Lower use
Biodiversity	Monoculture destroys ecosystems	Intercropping supports diverse species
Renewability	Annual replanting required	Continuous harvest for 60-80 years
Farming scale	Industrial mega-farms	Predominantly small family farms
GMO	~90% genetically modified	Non-GMO

Winner: Coconut wax — significantly lower environmental impact across nearly every metric.

Performance: How They Burn

Soy Wax:

• Softer wax, can be prone to tunneling
• Good scent throw when properly formulated
• Burns cooler and slower than paraffin
• Can develop "frosting" (white crystalline layer) over time
• Affordable and widely available

Coconut Wax:

• Creamy, smooth texture
• Excellent scent throw — one of the best for fragrance diffusion
• Burns slower and cooler than soy
• Cleaner burn with less soot
• Luxurious appearance (no frosting)
• More expensive and harder to source

Winner: Coconut wax — superior performance, especially for scent throw and burn quality.

Why CocoBee Uses Coconut Wax (Blended with Beeswax)

We could have chosen soy. It's cheaper, easier to source, and consumers already recognize it as "eco-friendly." But we didn't start CocoBee to follow the crowd — we started it to create candles that genuinely align with our values.

Our signature blend: 70% beeswax, 30% coconut wax

• Beeswax is truly natural — bees make it, and it requires minimal processing. It supports pollinators, burns longer than any other wax and purifies the air as it burns.
• Coconut wax gives us the smooth texture, excellent scent throw, and sustainable plant-based component we wanted — without the deforestation, GMOs, and industrial monoculture baggage of soy.

For our Moisturizing Candles, coconut wax is a key ingredient because of its skin-nourishing properties — along with mango butter and jojoba oil it melts into a luxurious massage serum that hydrates and softens your skin.

The Bottom Line: Not All "Natural" Waxes Are Equal

Soy wax isn't inherently evil. It's plant-based, biodegradable, and better than petroleum-based paraffin. But the candle industry's marketing has created a halo effect that doesn't match reality.

Another inconvenient truth is that many candles labeled as "soy" are actually blended with paraffin or other waxes to improve texture and burn performance.

Manufacturers aren’t required to disclose the exact percentage of soy vs. paraffin, so unless the candle is 100% soy-certified, there’s no way to know what you’re really burning.

If you care about:

• Rainforest preservation
• Supporting small farmers over industrial agriculture
• Avoiding GMOs
• Reducing your carbon footprint
• Candle performance (scent throw, burn quality)

Then coconut wax is the clear winner.

And when you combine coconut wax with beeswax — as we do at CocoBee — you get a candle that's not just better for the planet, but also burns longer, smells better, and supports the pollinators our ecosystems desperately need.

Transparency Over Greenwashing

We won't pretend that coconut wax is "100% natural" straight from the tree. It requires hydrogenation, just like soy. But we believe you deserve the full story — not just the parts that sound good on a label.

When we say our candles are sustainable, we mean:

• No deforestation
• No GMOs
• No industrial monoculture
• Support for small-scale farmers and beekeepers
• Ingredients that give back to the planet (beeswax supports pollinators, coconut palms sequester carbon)

That's the CocoBee difference. Not marketing spin — just honest ingredients and a genuine commitment to doing better.

Ready to experience the difference? Explore our collection of beeswax and coconut wax candles, handcrafted in Ljubljana with ingredients that honor both people and the planet.