Everything’s Brighter When You Turn On Your Love-Light: Or How to Clean Candle Soot Off Your Walls

Image Credits: “A row of tea candles” by Markus Grossalber is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

I burn a lot of candles. I enjoy the ambient lighting, but I also have other light sources as well. Some of the lighting I currently have in my room are, Christmas lights, a Himalayan salt lamp, sea-glass lamp and wooden branch wrapped with LED lights. But I also have a few candles burning as well.

The low lighting and glow have a special quality to them. A warmth that brings me peace and ease. The flicker, the way the light changes and softens everything it lights, it’s all very soothing to me. I also have a long history with them, as my love of candles started when I was a teenager.

Love Spells

When I was in my early teens, I was into witch-craft. Living next-door to Salem MA was most likely the catalyst for this interest, but a good friend of mine had joined a coven, and brought me along for the short lived ride. But for whatever reason, I got it in me that I wanted to cast a love spell. Looking back I think it had to do with my past home being so neglectful.

Nobody talked to one another, because we didn’t have much to say aside from cutting, critical judgements of each other. But also because we were too scared. I wanted to feel loved and connection, but I didn’t know where, or who to turn to. So, naturally, I cast a love spell 🙂

Friends & Connection

I was introduced to witchcraft by a friend of mine, as I said above, who had recently moved to my hometown after getting in trouble in his hometown. I was also roaming the streets of my hometown, looking for trouble. So we were two peas in a pod.

I told him I wanted to cast a love spell, so we gathered our supplies from “The Witch City” as it’s been nicknamed for obvious reasons, and went to the woods in my neighborhood, where I used to play with my childhood friends, for one last visit.

I don’t remember the exact details of the ritual, but what I do remember is that it was at night, there was snow on the ground, and as I was walking away from the place where we cast our spell, I remember looking back and seeing the halo of light cast from the candle flame, reflecting off of the snow covered field. The cozy scene has been with me ever since, and one that still brings me peace. As I walked up that hill, I knew then that that moment was special and would be a warm memory that would travel with me through the years.

Candles in the Present

Fast forward 20 years and I’ve since stopped practicing witchcraft or believing in spells, but I am burning more candles now than I ever have. It started out with me buying scented candles from a local department store.

I used to burn three at a time, all different scents. And I burned them constantly. I was trying to create a cozy environment, where I could feel safe like the night I cast the love spell. But I was going a little overboard. Not to mention that this was an expensive habit. $30-$40 every three weeks adds up. Roughly $600 a year. As Melba would say, “is no bueno”.

I’ve recently switched to a more sustainable habit of one large pillar candle and 1-3 tea lights (I’ll be switching to bee’s wax candles when I finish burning these), but what I hadn’t realized is, that burning candles, especially scented candles, will build up a film of soot on your walls over time. I noticed this one day when I was cleaning a spot of the wall and the difference in the shade of paint from where I cleaned, to the rest of the room, was markedly different.

The Clean Up: Is This a Good Idea?

I hadn’t realized how dark the room looked until I wiped that spot off the wall. But the first time I cleaned the walls, I did it quickly. This left streaks on the wall that were just as bad as the dark shade of soot. And the more I burned candles, the quicker the soot built up. So recently, I decided to put cleaning my walls on my to-do list, and shortly after doing so, when I walked by the spot on my wall that I wiped clean, on a whim I started cleaning the whole wall. This was a bad idea :/

I started with the wall I cleaned the spot from initially. Spraying it with an all-purpose cleaner, and wiping the wall with a cotton rag, using broad strokes. For anyone who’s ever tried to clean soot this way, you know what happens next.

I ended up with a wall that had large streaks of dark soot, contrast against the bright orange paint. This was frustrating. I wasn’t getting very far, so I decided to turn to the internet for some guidance.

Looking for Help

The source I landed on was the “The Spruce“. A website I go to often, that is dedicated to all things home and nesting. There I discovered that the best cleaner for soot was something called TSP, or Trisodium Phosphate. I looked for this product at my local hardware stores, but quickly found that not only was it not sold in stores locally, but is highly toxic and banned in many states. Including MA, where I live. I thought about ordering it online, but I asked myself, “do I really want to buy a product that’s so bad for the environment and toxic to humans that it’s banned in 16 states?” The answer is a resounding No.

So, I decided to use the alternative method, which was a mixture of degreasing dishwashing detergent, water, a sponge and some elbow grease. This, however, was very difficult. I think the project took me most of the day, six to eight hours, and without much progress. I also had to wash and rewash the same spot upward to 5 times to remove the soot completely. This is where I reconsidered the project, and decided to opt for calling in back-up.

I searched for a company that specializes in cleaning projects like this, and I read on The Spruce’s website that most companies only charge between $100-$900 to clean up this type of material. The average job costing $300. I decided that my time is worth more than the cost of paying someone to clean it for me, and the days of pushing myself beyond what I’m capable are behind me. So I started the search.

Too Much, Too Much

I looked for local cleaning businesses and found one that I recognized, and had pretty good ratings. I gave them a call, set up a time for an estimate, and waited for them to appraise my situation. I was excited about the prospect of having my walls professionally cleaned, and thought that since it was only one room, it would be on the cheaper side…

The appraiser came, and later that day called to let me know that he had emailed me the estimate. I waited till the next day to check the quote for the job, the morning I started this article, and the quote read $2,200… As my friend used to say, “that’s bonkers”. That’s also a hard no for me. Not to mention disappointing. So I decided to do the job myself, only in pieces.

Hey Google, How Do I Clean This?

I did another Google search, to see if there is anything else I can use to clean the soot off of my walls. TCP was still the first recommendation. But there are other options as well.

I came across a “Reddit” article on the subject, and there was one comment that said to use shaving cream and a damp Magic Eraser. I was surprised, because, come on, shaving cream? But I did some more research, and there are loads of ways people use shaving cream to clean a variety of things and surfaces. So, I went home and tried it for myself.

The Cleaning Begins

So, armed with this new knowledge, and the tools for the job, I made a plan to clean up my mess. I told my dad about it, and he said he’d help. I think he agreed solely because of the novelty factor of cleaning walls with shaving cream : ) But nonetheless, he agreed, and we picked a day and dove in.

When the day came to clean, I moved my furniture, did an initial brushing off of the walls, readied my tools, and we started to clean.

The Steps

1. Brush the walls clean: The article I read on The Spruce said that the first step to ridding your walls of soot is to vacuum them, to remove any particles that are loosely clinging to the walls. I didn’t vacuum my walls, but I did sweep them. This removed the miscellaneous debris on surfaces, making them easier to clean.
2. Scrub a small section of wall with a “Magic Eraser”: The next step was to take a small section of wall, maybe a square foot, and scrub it with a dallop of shaving cream on a damp magic eraser. That type of sponge is especially adept at taking up soot, which is essentially grease from the candle wax, mixed with carbon from the wick and impurities, like scents. This is why it’s essential to burn candles from clean wax and sparing with the scents (I’ll talk more on that in a later post).
3. Use a damp rag to wipe away the soap and loosened soot: Once you’ve scrubbed the area you’re cleaning, it’s important to wipe the area clean, so as not to let the soap and streaks of carbon re-soil the area you’re working on. Plus you don’t want to leave shaving cream on your walls 🙂 A microfiber cloth is recommended here, as it is super absorbent, and wrings out clean and easy. It holds very little soot in the fibers of the cloth, as compared to a cotton rag.
4. Wash, rinse, repeat: This is especially important for when you are cleaning wooden surfaces, like trim and doors, but sometimes you need an extra pass on walls, depending on how long the soot has been there. For some reason the soot sticks to wood surfaces more so than walls, and takes a bit more scrubbing to take up. Here you need to be patient, and use a little more elbow grease, but it will lift eventually 🙂

Some Tips:

Use half of a sponge at a time. This way you have a little more control over the sponge while you are scrubbing the smaller patches of trim, like the thin strip of molding where the wall meets the ceiling.

You will also need more sponges than shaving cream. This was counter intuitive to me, seeing as how my usual soap:sponge ratio has always been, I use more soap than sponges. But the magic erasers also magically disappear after scrubbing a large portion of wall. They flatten and pill, turning into small, rice sized pieces. Especially around trim work if it isn’t smooth.

Rinse often. The more you rinse, both sponge and rag, the less likely you are to transfer soot you picked up, and distributing it elsewhere in the form of streaks on your cleaned wall/woodwork.

Use the magic eraser. I started out with a plain sponge and it worked… Kind of. I had to scrub and wipe five to six times more than with the magic eraser, and used exponentially more elbow grease. As Melba says, “is no easy”. And it’s been said before, but work smarter, not harder.

Why It’s So Important to Clean Your Walls

Some context, I lived in an apartment where we watched a lot of movies, one being “Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas”. There’s a scene in the movie where the hotel room that Thompson and his attorney were staying in was flooded, with garbage and various debris floated around the room. Our apartment started to resemble the scenes from that film. Life imitates art, but also no bueno. Our apartment never got to that level of chaos, but it could have been cleaner, to be sure.

So, “why clean your walls?” It is a pain to scrub every square inch of your room. But I’m a firm believer that the state of your physical surroundings reflects and influences your internal state. Something that my dad calls, “pride of place”. But also, if you neglect your space, and fill it with garbage like I did in my 20’s, you’ll probably feel like garbage.

So for me, cleaning my walls is a way to take care of myself. Having a clean, bright and well ordered space is important to me feeling as though I’m not steeped in chaos. I can relax that much more deeply knowing that, everything may not be perfect, but I haven’t neglected the corners of my life. And neglect, in all of it’s forms, is something I’d like to avoid 🙂

Love Spell Complete

I think what was possibly the most unexpected outcome from cleaning my walls was, that I not only showed myself that I was worth the space I lived in being clean and cozy, but it also brought me and my father closer together. We both have had trouble building and maintaining close bonds with each other and people in general in the past. And it was in this collaboration that we not only learned to work together, but also trust each other a little more.

Offering to help me and showing up, are two things our family had been historically bad at. We ran from whoever was brave enough to be vulnerable enough to try and build that connection. Because one of our defenses was to viciously, verbally attack the person showing kindness or vulnerability, and mistaking kindness for weakness, thwarting our attempts to connect.

But us staying with, and helping each other, collaborating, knowing we could be abused, but then choose not to abuse each other, was a way to build trust. We had built a layer of trust, like removing the wounds of soot that accumulated over time, knowing that we could rely on one another a little bit more. And that is one aspect of what love is really about. Showing up, knowing that you could be hurt, but trusting the other person to not hurt you. I’d also like to add, forgiving the person if they do hurt you, because it’s not a one shot.

It’s inevitable that we will hurt each other. But with patience, practice and forgiveness, we can find our way back to a loving and kind way of being. So in a way, the candle from the love spell I casted so long ago, showed me that love is about showing up and being vulnerable, even if you’re scared. And like the saying goes, “sometimes you just have to do it scared”.

So friends, if you have to clean soot off of a wall. I feel you. But know that you don’t have to go it alone. There are more than likely people in your life that are ready to help. Try reaching out. It isn’t easy being the first to take the plunge if you’re not used to it. Whether it’s because you feel like a burden, or have just been let down too many times by others, know that there are people, good people, willing to help. And if you don’t have kind, reliable friends to lean on, maybe it’s time to reevaluate your relationships.

I hope this helps, and know it isn’t easy, but definitely worth it : ) In my next post I’ll take a look at the benefits and drawbacks of burning candles made from different types of wax, and how to get wax out of clothing. I’ll leave you with the inspiration for the title of this post, and until next time, peace, and Namaste 🏔️🌙💙💜