Sugar Waxing - Hot Trend or Hot Mess?

From shaving to hair removal cream, there’s a few different ways to de-mammoth our bodies, each method bearing their own pros and cons.

Out of all the options, shaving is undeniably the most arduous process with undesirable effects. Not only is it time-consuming and expensive (just think about how much you’ve spent on razors since puberty), the effects are short-lived and the process is irritating to the skin. I’m talking about those nasty razor bumps, ingrown hairs, dark marks, and accidentally ripping chunks of skin from around your ankle - yikes!

Seeing as hair removal creams reek of rotten eggs and literally melt your hair off (not good for your skin), the only other option left is waxing. Well, and epilating, but I’m not quite ready to splurge on an expensive epilator just yet. Waxing may be the most painful, but it’s the most desirable method of hair removal as it pulls the hair straight from the root, meaning slower regrowth, smoother skin and NO RAZOR BUMPS! However, going to the salon to get a wax can be a pretty pricey affair, and I’ve never found home waxing kits to be that great either.

But hey - it’s 2017 and there’s a beauty DIY for everything - including a homemade wax known as sugar wax. I’ve been watching the beauty gurus of YouTube go crazy over this for a while now. Also known as Persian waxing, this method of hair removal has been in use since 1900 BC. There isn’t really much difference between sugaring and standard waxing, except sugaring is a 100% natural way to remove hair, meaning you don’t have to worry about putting any nasty chemicals on your body. If you struggle with ingrown hairs, razor bumps and dark underarms, sugar waxing could help combat all those problems.

Furthermore, it’s totally inexpensive and super easy to make yourself.

OR IS IT?

Before I continue I just want to say that I really wanted to write a positive review of this DIY. Although I found the process effective, it was quite long and frustrating. You may try this DIY and find it works really well for you so please don't be put off by this!

Things you will need:

2 Cups of Sugar

1/4 Cup Lemon Juice

1/4 Cup Water

1tsp sugar

The recipe and method seemed fairly easy. I mixed 2 cups of brown sugar (most people use white), ¼ cup of lemon juice, ¼ cup of water and 1tsp of salt. I melted the sugar on medium heat for 8 minutes, whilst stirring constantly. I’ve heard a lot of debate over how long you should keep the wax on the heat for - some say for exactly 8 minutes, whereas others claim that you need a thermometer. I ended up following a tutorial by a pastry chef (sorry gurus, I needed cooking advice), who suggested getting a bowl of ice water and testing the sugar by dipping it into the cold water to see if it would harden. Around boiling point, the sugar began to bubble. I turned down the heat slightly to make sure that the sugar didn’t boil over.

Gauging whether or not the sugar wax concoction was ready was difficult, but after roughly after 8 minutes of heating, I transferred it to a pyrex bowl. Take care if you are to use a normal glass bowl, as the hot liquid could shatter it. The wax will be VERY HOT, so whatever you do, do not touch it straight away.

After cooking there are two options for the waxing process - soft wax and hard wax. Soft wax means waiting less for it to cool (around 15-20 mins), applying it to the skin with a knife like normal wax, and then sticking some fabric on top and ripping it off. Hard wax involves waiting longer for the wax to cool more, then gathering the wax into a ball. You can then apply it to the skin, pulling the top back slightly to create some grip, and then rip it from the skin without the aid of fabric.

I decided to go for the soft wax because I’m impatient and was eager to try my creation straight away. I also felt like I would get better results this way. This is where it started to get messy - really, really messy.

I am not exaggerating when I say I got wax on my wall. My first attempt at pulling away the wax with my homemade fabric strip ended up on my WALL. It just flung! Of course, something like that had to happen to me. If you don’t believe me here’s a picture.

This will not please my landlord...

Things started to improve after I cleaned up my sticky wall. I found the pain to be completely tolerable - much less painful than any home waxing kits I've tried. Although I could see hair coming off onto the wax strip, to my discontent I could still see a few remaining hairs chilling on my leg. Disappointed, I kept going over and over the same spots with the wax strip to try and get a silky smooth finish.

Meanwhile, everything was getting sticky. My hands, my phone, the handle on my knife. My desk was covered in wax and I was starting to get an increasingly frustrated with the stick-fest I had created. I finished my legs and moved onto my underarms. This set me over the edge. For some reason, I found it really hard to apply the wax to my underarms. I felt like the wax was too runny and that I would have been better off with a hard wax for this part of my body. Then, when it came to ripping off the fabric, the curved shape of my armpit just made it awkward, meaning I couldn’t rip it off as smoothly as I could my legs. Lots of hair was missed and my armpits were unbearably sticky so I gave up, had a stress cigarette, showered, and called it a day. 24 hours later I’m still finding sticky patches in my bedroom.

Maybe I made the wax wrong, or perhaps I’m just a messy and impatient person. In fact, I know that I am a messy and impatient person, so if you’re like me, perhaps this DIY isn’t for you.

Regardless of all the trouble I had, the sugar wax did do a decent job, but my inner perfectionist is yelling in frustration knowing that I failed to remove all that I could have. After this traumatic event, it’ll probably be awhile until I attempt to sugar wax again. Despite my slightly negative review, I do think that sugaring is an effective and natural way to remove hair when done correctly. After All, this method has been used since 1900 BC so it must work for some people out there. If you’re patient and willing, why not give it a go and let me know what you think of this method!

For the meantime, I’ll be returning to my trusty razor.