EXPERT SECRETS | DIY Sugar Wax

{Image from this etsy shop where you can buy sugar wax if you don't want to make it. We are not affiliated. I just like the way they look. Let me know if you buy the wax!}

Hello lovely reader. If you have questions after reading this post, see my follow up post on DIY Sugar Waxing with answers to the most common questions asked... leave a comment if you have more questions... we'll answer it!AND We'll be putting together a video for you as well so you can see it in action! Stay tuned. We'll post here when the video is live on the site.

DO YOU ever make your own beauty products? I do, when the mood strikes or I'm bored out of my skull and don't have anything else to do (not often)... hair oil, greek yogurt and avocado face mask, calendula toner (with flowers from my garden, natch), lavender water, baking soda and coconut oil facial exfoliant... 

My favorite, though, is homemade sugar wax or DIY sugaring (whatever you cal it).

It's so quick and easy, dirt cheap (you have all the ingredients stocked in your pantry already, swear), non-toxic, hurts less than both strip and hard wax, and rinses clean off, so you don't have sticky spots on your skin when finished; it doesn't clog your pores (Hello?! It dissolves in hot water), and if you have a spill, it's super easy to get off the floor/carpet/clothes (unlike regular wax).

My little sister (the boxer-nail tech-college student) gave me this recipe after a moment of insipration struck while watching the movie Caramel.

Sugar Wax Ingredients

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup lemon juice

Seriously. That's it.  [I'm as liable to drizzle it over a slice of cake as I am to use it as a depilator.]

MAKE IT

Simmer all ingredients in sauce pan on medium-high heat until amber, but don't scorch.

Cool until you can handle the wax without it being too runny or sticky.

USE IT

• Clean yer skin where you're planning to wax. For real. Unless you want infections or spots or any number of things.
• When the sugar wax has cooled to the non-runny/sticky point, scoop about an 1/8 of a cup out of the pan and start to work it between your fingers until it has a bit of a pearly sheen to it and a texture like taffy (you'll know what I mean when you do it). This makes it pliable and easy to work with, which you need since you use the same piece repeatedly.  
• Rinse off hand you're not using to wax (you'll need that to hold your glass).
• Take a sip of wine/beer (you poured yourself a drink, right?) and make sure you've got the TV tuned to 30 Rock. 
• Get comfy on the couch with your sugar wax in one hand, drink in the other. 
• Load sugar wax onto thumb or index finger on non-drink hand.
• Next, apply the wad of sugar wax directly to hair, smoothing and smooshing it away from you in a bit of a ribbon in the opposite direction of hair growth (unlike traditional wax products).
• Then quickly (no sitting around) pull the sugar wax off your skin in direction hair grows. Be sure to work closely to the skin, not pulling the wax up and away from the skin.
• Keep doing the same thing all over using the same ball of sugar wax. This amount works for one full arm or one half leg (depending on how hirsute you are, sister).
• Take sip break.
• If necessary, repeate waxing in the same area (unlike with regular wax, this stuff doesn't irritate or pull off your skin).
• Sit back and marvel at your amazingly smooth skin.
• Decide what you're going to do with the $50 you saved on that salon leg wax.
• Pour a second drink to celebrate your clever DIY skills.

Frankly, that sounds like a better night, to me, than a night on the tiles... 

My age is showing, isn't it?

Comments

[kayla]

Can i use this for my face ? I was going to try this today but I wasn't sure.

[Caryn]

This was cool. But had a couple of drawbacks...first, watching an episode of 30 Rock before while you work. You better have Netflix, cause it's more like 3. For one leg. Second, don't let it cool in a jar with a spoon inside. Because you just have to heat it up to get the spoon out. (Not in the microwave!) Third, the picture here depicts fabric strips and sticks. USE THEM! It's incredibly messy. But I do have to say that as you use a glob of the wax, it gets easier to work with and is less sticky.

I didn't find that it got all of the ha*ir (maybe the finer stuff is harder to latch on to? or maybe I need more practice, I'm not giving up!) and it was a pain doing the back of my leg so maybe if you and a friend get together with a pitcher of margaritas it might go faster.

And an important tip: If you have a candy thermometer, you should let it cook to HARD BALL stage, about 260 degrees. That made it perfect enough to get all the yucky dark hairs.

[Jessica Teas (née Gearhart)]

Caryn, awesome feedback! So true about the spoon inside if you don't want to leave it in there, you had better not let the wax set around it! The pic is grabbed from Etsy but I'm going to swap this one out with another one from Etsy with just a jar of wax and a link to the Etsy shop that makes it as then people can buy it if they don't want to make it.

I've never had luck in the hard ball stage and find that firm ball is best but if that's what worked for you that's great... keep doing it that way.

Email me or comment iif you have any questions. Always happy to answer!

[Tessa]

If I made my wax a week ago but its too soft can i just cook the same wax again to make it stiffer?

[Jessica Teas (née Gearhart)]

Oooh, Tessa, good question. I think if you cook it on a low heat and make sure it never gets to hot some of the water should evaporate off, making it a bit stickier and the right consistency to use. The key is to keep an eye on temperature. Sugar turns to hard candy when it reaches a certain point on the thermometer... if you can keep the temperature warm enough so it evaporates excess water but not so warm that it moves the sugar mixture along to the hard (or beyond) ball stage, you should be good. As always, I say tinker away. It takes a few times to get it just right! But it does work... women across the world have been using this exact technique for centuries! Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions. Am always happy to help. xox