This Instagram-Approved Hack Will Keep Your Candles Burning For Longer

Burning candles in your home adds a little extra ambiance, and it's a great way to enjoy your favorite seasonal scents all year long. The problem with some candles is that they don't burn down properly, and you're left with a bunch of untouched wax on the sides when the wick has burned down to nothing.

If you're tired of wasted wax, there's an Instagram-approved hack out there that seems to work well for getting even the most stubborn candle to burn down evenly. All you need is a piece of aluminum foil and a candle that's inside a candle holder. What happens next is pretty impressive, and you can see it in action in this Instagram video.

Once you try this trick, you'll never have to worry about scraping old wax chunks from the sides of your candle holders again or having wicks burn down, leaving most of the candle behind.

There are theories as to why some candles burn down the middle leaving a giant ring of wax in its wake. It could have something to do with wick placement or length, and there's a chance that different types of wax melt down differently as well. The writers over at Better Homes & Gardens tested the hack out and found that it worked at varying degrees, depending on container shape and what substances the candles are made from.

While the hack may not work perfectly for every candle, it does seem to work alright for most. And to understand how it works, you can imagine wrapping a potato in aluminum foil and baking it in the oven. The aluminum foil captures the heat from the oven and evenly distributes it around the potato so that it cooks thoroughly. With your candle, the foil is helping evenly distribute the heat around the circumference of your container, allowing for a more balanced melt.