SUGARING vs WAXING
HAIR REMOVAL
Sug·ar·ing
/SHo͝oɡəriNG/
noun
a method of removing unwanted hair by applying a mixture of lemon juice, sugar, and water to the skin and then peeling it off together with the hair.
History of Sugaring
Sugaring, sugar waxing or Persian waxing is a method of hair removal that has been in use since 1900 BC.
Historically, sugar was confined to the regions surrounding Persia until the first millennium AD. As a result, it is speculated that honey was the first sugaring agent. Sugaring was also known as sukkar or ḥalawa in the Middle East, as ağda in Turkey, and as moum in Iran.
About Sugaring
Even the most gentle of wax grabs both skin and hair. This allows for the wax to grab all of the hair at one time with one pass. Sugaring wax only grabs the hair and this makes sugaring less painful than waxing..
Sugaring paste is made of natural ingredients, usually of water, sugar, and lemon. The lemon is added for acidity to break up the sugar molecules. The water in the paste helps moisturize and condition your skin while it is applied.
With regular wax, there is risk of the wax drying out and making it more difficult to remove so you wax a section of skin, remove wax, and then move onto the next section. With sugaring hair removal, you can apply the sugaring paste to a large area without risk of it drying or hardening. Then you can take your time removing the sugar in smaller sections.
Regular waxes, especially soft waxes have to be applied hot otherwise you end up with too much wax with each application. This can result in the wax strip or cotton strip grabbing onto the wax and not the hair. Even with regular hard wax, you need for it to be very warm so that it remains pliable while you apply it on your hair.
Sugar paste has a much lower melting point temperature than many regular waxes. So you can keep the temperature of the sugaring wax much lower and still apply and reapply.
Traditional sugaring paste leaves no residue. With some pre-made sugaring pastes you may notice a small amount of residue, but this can be washed off. Unlike regular wax, sugaring requires no pre or post treatment oils to help with the sticky residue. If you apply too much sugar in an area or have difficulty getting it all off, you can just wash it off with water and start again.
With regular wax, you find that if you miss hairs, a second pass with the wax leaves your skin red, irritated, and resembling chicken skin. With sugaring paste, you can apply and remove the paste as many times as you need with little irritation. While sugaring should take no more than two passes to remove the hair, if you need a few applications to remove hair in a curvy or joint area, then sugaring is a great gentle option.
Waxing
Hard wax or Soft wax
A form of semi-permanent hair removal which removes the hair from the root. New hair will not grow back in the previously waxed area for four to six weeks, although some people will start to see regrowth in only a week due to some of their hair being on a different human hair growth cycle
History of Waxing
Waxing originated in Egypt, it is possible that body waxing was practiced even earlier in Egypt dating back to 3000 BC. Most areas of concern were legs and underarms.
During the Roman empire, men liked their legs smooth. Methods of hair removal ranged from cocoa shells to resins and at times extreme to include bat’s blood for waxing eyebrows. For beauty conscious Romans waxing the entire body was common. In their political campaign, especially Nero and Popeii, waxing was evident; it included the waxing of chest, underarms, legs, arms, upper lip and nose.
About Waxing
There are a wide array of brands and types of wax out there, but all of them fall into two main categories: hard wax and soft wax. Soft wax is what you usually think of when you think of body waxing. Soft wax is applied with a waxing spatula before being removed using a muslin strip or fiber strip. This wax is best suited for larger areas such as arms, legs, chests and back.
Taking more skill to use, hard wax is a little different. It is thicker and applied warm with a spatula. Once the wax hardens, it is removed without the use of a strip. When waxing the face, hard wax is generally used. Additionally, it is my professional opinion that, when it comes to sensitive skin such as the bikini, Brazilian or underarm area, hard wax is also the best option. It attaches itself only to the hair, not the skin, reducing discomfort and minimizing the possibility of irritation.
Hard wax:
-
leaves no sticky residue;
-
is less painful on the face;
-
effective at grabbing coarse hair;
-
is used warm so helps the hair follicles open up.
But…
-
it can only be used in smaller applications because it breaks;
-
it is usually a costlier service.
Soft wax:
-
grabs fine hairs so is good on large areas of the body;
-
less expensive than hard wax on large areas of the body;
But…
-
it cannot be applied to the same area twice because it removes live skin cells;
-
isn’t great for removing hair growing in different directions.