Who says men don’t like the finer things in life like great-smelling scents and the relaxing glow of a tiny, flickering flame? Thirteen-year-old Hart Main of Marysville, Ohio thinks that if these so-called girly candle things were just catered toward males, they could enjoy them as well.
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Like most guys, Hart first thought candles were completely unnecessary because of their disgustingly sweet odors. Then, he came up with his epiphany: What if you could make candles that smelled like things that men enjoy?
Mancans was born out of that idea. These no-fuss wax blocks with wicks are housed in a used Campbell’s soup can, and they all smell like something the grimy, sweaty, good old fashioned American male can enjoy. Hart has sold over 500 candles, the first proceeds of which went to his new racing bike.
“There were a couple friends that didn’t believe it until they went to the web page,” Hart tells NewsFeed. “They still said it looks fake, and then I brought in a couple candles. They were surprised. A lot of them want jobs.”
The eighth grader isn’t allowed to make the candles, since his mother is afraid he’ll drip hot wax on their hardwood floors. However, he picks out the scents personally because, according to him, his sister and his mother don’t have the greatest nose for what a man would buy. Hart divides his smells into three categories: Things men can eat, things men like and things men can do. The result is a peculiar group of olfactory experiences including sawdust, gear head, new mitt and bacon. His favorite is the fresh cut grass candle.
“It reminds me of playing baseball on Saturday morning,” he explains, adding he’s going to sponsor his own baseball rec team thanks to Mancans’ booming sales. “I wish I could play [baseball] all the time.”
As for the men who still frown on the idea of scented candles? “They obviously haven’t tried Mancans,” Main argues. “There’s no other scents like these. They don’t know what a man-scented candle is because they’ve never owned a man-scented candle.”
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