For us candle addicts, we all know the importance of trimming our candlewick. This trick helps us preserve our candles and lengthen their lifespan so we can keep on burning. If you don't know when or how to trim your wick to perfection, follow our candle care guide. But for those of you who may have gone a little siccor crazy, here are some ways you can bring your wick back to life. 

How to Fix a Short Candle Wick

If your candle wick is already too short, and you want to know how to fix it, you can try one of these methods depending on how far gone it is (literally).

Your wick won't stay lit: Burn it down or out!

Try lighting your candle for a prolonged time of at least 30 minutes while keeping a careful eye to see if the flame flickers out. If your candle wax doesn't burn off enough on its own, carefully blow out the liquified wax and use paper towels to soak up the melted wax. Be careful as it can get a tad messy. You can also pour it out into a disposable surface or plate. When it has cooled, dispose of your excess wax. 

Then, relight your candle and burn it for at least another hour. You can keep a careful eye or check-in periodically to see when your wick looks long enough. If you blow the candle out too early, you could cause tunneling to happen, so make sure the wax has time to evaporate evenly and your candle top smooths out. Once your wax has reached the sides of your candle container, you can blow out the flame and leave the wax to cool around your new long wick.

Your wick won't light: Make space for your wick!

A heat gun is a great way to not only make space for your wick but to solve your tunneling or other candle troubleshooting issues as well. If you own one, begin to melt the wax around the candle wick carefully while removing the wax using our instructions above. 

If you don't own a heat gun, you can also soften your natural candle wax using a match, candle lighter, or hairdryer while you scoop out the warm, pliable wax with a spoon or a butter knife. As a last resort, try popping your candle in the oven for 10 minutes at 300 degrees to soften the wax, allowing you to scoop out any excess liquid. 

PSA: Do NOT put your candle in the microwave as it may catch fire. Most candles commonly use metal tabs to hold their wicks in place at the bottom of the container. 

Your wick is buried in wax: Take it out! 

Your wick can get buried from actually under trimming your wick. It seems counterintuitive, but if your wick is too long, it can curl under the melted wax and get stuck once dried. If your wick got stuck in your wax and is not exposed, don't lose all hope. Using one of the methods listed above, melt the wax around the wick using your heat gun, candle lighter, hairdryer, or oven. Once enough wax has melted, you can use tweezers to pick the wick out of the liquid wax. Try to be careful as the wick can be fragile and break, especially if it is a natural cotton wick.  

Once you have picked out the wick, straightening and centering it back in place, allow the wax to harden. If your wick is not staying straight or in place, you can grab a twist tie to rest the wick on while you bend it in place around the candle. 

Trim the wick before lighting the candle next time to prevent this problem from happening again.

If you follow our candle care guide, you can prevent your wick from being out of place, out of reach, or out of sorts again. Once you finish your candle, you can follow our guide to removing candle wax from a jar, and learning new ways to repurpose your containers!