Sugaring hair removal (aka sugar waxing) sounds like it will be a painless little process which would be sweet indeed. To be sure, it is a bit less painful than waxing and, if you do it yourself at home, a bit less messy too (because sugar wax dissolves quite easily in water) but it certainly isn’t painless.

You can buy sugar wax kits in the shops (many of the usual hair removal ranges will have what you need or you can look at the sugaring products produced by those who specialize in natural beauty items) or if you prefer to make your own, here’s a sugar wax recipe:-

Just use regular sugar, for sugar waxing

Making Sugar Wax

Sugar Wax Ingredients

2 cups of regular granulated sugar
1/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of lemon juice

Method

Gently heat all the ingredients in a saucepan until the mixture starts to bubble and then use a sugar thermometer to continue heating until the mixture reaches 250 degrees Fahrenheit then pour it into a jar and allow it to cool enough so that it doesn’t burn your skin before using.

If you think it is about right you can test a small piece on the inside of your arm so that you know if it is oK to use or not before you go slapping it all over your legs or face.

If you decide to buy your sugar wax rather than make it (probably a good idea in the beginning until you get the hang of things) carefully follow the instructions in your sugaring wax kit to heat up the product. It is very important not to apply the wax to your skin when it is too hot. (Anyone who has been burned when making toffee or fudge will tell you that for nothing). Similarly (as mentioned above) if you make your own sugar wax make sure it is not too hot.

How to Apply Sugar wax

You apply the concoction just like any other wax, smoothing it on in the direction of hair growth with a wooden spatula then applying a fabric strip to the wax before pulling it off in one quick movement against the direction of hair growth and as close to the surface of your your skin as you can. If making your own kit make sure the fabric strips are not stretchy and can be easily pulled without tearing. Plain cotton from old sheets is ideal.

Then you repeat the whole painful operation until your whole leg or whatever is done.

You will get extremely sticky with either waxing or sugaring but with a sugaring wax you can wash any sticky residue off yourself (and even carpets and furniture) much more easily. The sugar dissolves in water whereas wax needs a specialist product to remove it. Nevertheless I would start any sugar hair removal without putting down plenty of old towels across all surfaces.

One thing which strikes me as strange is that sugaring hair removal is not used more in beauty salons. You’d think someone could do a marketing job on it or something and give it a trendy name and we would all be going for sugaring rather than waxing in the blink of an eye.