Wax play. Perhaps you've heard about it or stumbled upon it without even realizing what you were doing. Spilled some wax on your hand lately? Thought it might be fun to drizzle a little prayer candle wax on your arm to learn how it feels on your skin? Yep. That's wax play and it's a pretty popular thing to do in the BDSM world as well as the romantic/vanilla world, too.
There are plenty of candles available here on Fleshbot so let's look at them (and other available candles you can get anywhere).
Wax play is basically using melted wax to provide a sensation on the skin that's warming and stimulating. There's a few tricks to make your wax play enjoyable as opposed to causing third degree burns, which is known to happen.
When it comes to wax play, THE most important thing to know is the temperature of the wax and there are many ways to determine this. First, one rule of thumb is to avoid expensive wax such as beeswax as it burns at a much higher temperature than others. Avoid beeswax at all cost and just let the bees have their fun with it.
Soy wax, which is what the majority of the romantic and massage candles are made of, melts at a low temperature and will do no harm, even if you pour it close to skin. Paraffin, used for wax hand dipping to keep hands soft and supple, is the lowest melting temperature but is not often available for wax play. You can, however, buy parafin wax chunks to play with but they tend not to be available in jarred form (more about paraffin in a moment). Coconut oil is also a low temperature melt and is often blended with other types of oil to create a candle.
To start using a candle, cut the wick down to about 1/4" inch (if it isn't already) and light it up. The wax will melt around the wick and the candle can be used to create beautiful lighting for your encounter. And that's when the fun begins.
When playing in the BDSM world, it's fun to threaten your subbie with the idea of dripping hot wax onto their body. You can "adjust" the temperature of the wax by increasing the distance between the pouring candle and the skin because the wax will cool slightly as it slices through the air.
Soy and coconut waxes both burn at a low temperature so once it's lit and melts in the tin, it's easy to pour or drizzle onto the recipient. The warm temperature feels great on the skin and when heated, these two waxes become an oil which also makes for a great massage or skin conditioning oil.
Paraffin wax, while melting at a low/medium temperature, does NOT melt into the skin so you have to pick it off when you are done. Things to consider when you use paraffin are 1) is the skin hairy? (TRY A CURRY COMB - it's your only escape), 2) when I pick off the wax, where is it gonna go? (SHAG RUGS SUCK!), 3) "oh shit, it landed on fabric" so think before you start flinging paraffin or any non-soy or coconut oil based candle. You'll have to remove the residue when you're done.
Speaking of removing residue, if you get soy wax or coconut oil on fabric, you'll need a good stain remover to take it out. My favorite one, which works amazingly, is SoiLove, which is in a 1970's throwback bottle but lemme tell ya, the shit works. Smells like lighter fluid and will get out massage oil out of just about everything and even red wine out of a white shirt. Don't ask me how I know that.
Go ahead and try wax play. It can be hot and sexy - literally and figuratively!