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Paraffin vs. Natural Waxes

Paraffin vs. Natural Waxes

Although paraffin is ultimately derived from organic material, natural waxes have come to mean those from plants, insects and animals. While there are advantages to using these “green” waxes, they cannot be used interchangeably with paraffin. Each type of wax, paraffin or natural, serves its own purpose.

Read on to learn more about each type of wax and how they are different from one another.

Paraffin Wax

Paraffin wax is derived from crude oil. It is typically lighter in color, odorless and comes in a variety of melt points. The supply of paraffin wax comes from domestic sources as well as sources from overseas. Paraffin wax is available in different packaging forms, such as slabs, pastilles and bulk.

Paraffin wax is used in a variety of different applications. Some common uses for paraffin wax are listed below:

  • Candle making
  • Paper coatings
  • Food coatings
  • Lubricants

Paraffin Wax

Natural Waxes

There are a wide variety of waxes that fall into the natural wax category. Check out this glossary of wax terms to learn more about a variety of natural waxes. Some of those waxes include soy, palm, bees, carnauba, fats and more. Natural waxes come in a variety of colors and odors. These waxes can be less expensive than paraffin wax, but depending on exactly what natural wax you are looking for, they can be very high priced too. Natural waxes have a wide price range. Natural waxes can come in many different packaging formats.

Each natural wax has its own unique properties and is used in a large variety of applications.

As you can see each type of wax serves its own unique purpose. Paraffin wax and natural waxes each have their own properties and they cannot be used interchangeably.

Natural Wax

Learn more about different types of waxes in our Waxipedia.