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So, I got it into my head yesterday to make sugaring wax/paste and de-nude my pits. (Sorry if that's a little TMI!)
Well, it was an experience, let me tell you! Messy would be the key word. MESSY! And, I don't know how many candy makers I can count amongst my LJ pees, but I have mad respect for you guys. Sugar burns so fucking easily (and not just the tips of my fingers), like the sugar burns easily.
The recipe was a simple one. Not that I actually noticed that anyone had a particularly complex recipe. It was made up of:
1 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp white vinegar (most recipes called for lemon, but the consensus was that any acid would do).
Dump all the ingredients into a pot or a skillet, depending on the recipe, and cook it down. There's a sweet spot after the sugar caramelizes, but before it burns that results in a perfect sticky, tacky hair remover. In all other directions there is only disappointment and great heartbreak.
My first batch was a DISASTER! Burned into a black-red mess. And it smelled. What does smelly sugar indicate? Yeah, you guessed it. I burned it! I was optimistic though, and I thought, "hey, maybe it just looks and smells bad, but maybe it'll still work."
It didn't.
It was only sticky in the very brief moment between me prying it out of the pot and trying to mold it into the "hard candy ball" that indicates you've successfully achieved sugar paste. Sugar paste, unlike sugar wax, doesn't require strips. You get to just slap it on and rip your hair out by the roots. Unfortunately, this particular mess didn't adhere to anything. All it did was kinda get onto everything and then harden into glass at the bottom of the pot.
Thankfully, sugar is water soluble (cause it's like food, yay)! I re-heated the pots contents, scrapped out what I could, and then soaked the pot until the sugar dissolved into some pretty questionable looking water.
I was about to throw in the towel and then decided to give it another whirl because I Am NOT a quitter, and I still had hairy pits!
The second batch was ... actually a success. After, of course, I did the one thing that the girl in one of the videos warned me not to. I touched the sugar on the back of the spoon to check the consistency and ended up with a blister on my left index. I know. I know. Kids! The key to the success of this batch turned out to be in just undercooking it. I stopped just short of what I thought the perfect color and consistency should be. And lo! It continued to thicken and darken after I took it off the fire.
There's a couple of methods for cooling it down, but I opted to let it cool in the pot and then I dipped the bottom of the pot into cool water.
The legs of an old pair of jeans were cut down into strips and voila! My pits are hairless!!
The biggest issue? Besides not burning the damn sugar! That successful batch of sugar wax was so sticky which is so obvs, but man, trying to get it from the pot to my pits without it getting everywhere in between was not easy. Again, thank gods it's water soluble because nothing gets damaged that way. It'll dissolve off with a suitable application of water.
It's also not as painful as you may think. If anyone has tried sugaring before (and I used to do it way back when in college, but I only did my legs), sugar wax adheres to hair without sticking to the skin, so it's much less painful than traditional wax. Except for the awkwardness of trying to stretch the skin in my armpits and make a clean yank of it, it was all tolerable. But then, too, I've been getting waxed (brazilians to clean up the good girl. sorry TMI) for years.
So, would I do it again? If you had asked me yesterday, it would have been a resounding no! But today, in light of my smooth, hairless armpits at a fraction of the cost (I usually spend around $20), I am seriously contemplating giving this another whirl in a couple of weeks.
Dude, I am such a crunch beauty girl these days. I make my own hair cream, body butter, bath scrub, face scrub, face masks, and I've made flaxseed gel for my hair. Now I've made sugaring wax! WTH?! A diminished budget can really drag out the creative, yo!
Well, it was an experience, let me tell you! Messy would be the key word. MESSY! And, I don't know how many candy makers I can count amongst my LJ pees, but I have mad respect for you guys. Sugar burns so fucking easily (and not just the tips of my fingers), like the sugar burns easily.
The recipe was a simple one. Not that I actually noticed that anyone had a particularly complex recipe. It was made up of:
1 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp white vinegar (most recipes called for lemon, but the consensus was that any acid would do).
Dump all the ingredients into a pot or a skillet, depending on the recipe, and cook it down. There's a sweet spot after the sugar caramelizes, but before it burns that results in a perfect sticky, tacky hair remover. In all other directions there is only disappointment and great heartbreak.
My first batch was a DISASTER! Burned into a black-red mess. And it smelled. What does smelly sugar indicate? Yeah, you guessed it. I burned it! I was optimistic though, and I thought, "hey, maybe it just looks and smells bad, but maybe it'll still work."
It didn't.
It was only sticky in the very brief moment between me prying it out of the pot and trying to mold it into the "hard candy ball" that indicates you've successfully achieved sugar paste. Sugar paste, unlike sugar wax, doesn't require strips. You get to just slap it on and rip your hair out by the roots. Unfortunately, this particular mess didn't adhere to anything. All it did was kinda get onto everything and then harden into glass at the bottom of the pot.
Thankfully, sugar is water soluble (cause it's like food, yay)! I re-heated the pots contents, scrapped out what I could, and then soaked the pot until the sugar dissolved into some pretty questionable looking water.
I was about to throw in the towel and then decided to give it another whirl because I Am NOT a quitter, and I still had hairy pits!
The second batch was ... actually a success. After, of course, I did the one thing that the girl in one of the videos warned me not to. I touched the sugar on the back of the spoon to check the consistency and ended up with a blister on my left index. I know. I know. Kids! The key to the success of this batch turned out to be in just undercooking it. I stopped just short of what I thought the perfect color and consistency should be. And lo! It continued to thicken and darken after I took it off the fire.
There's a couple of methods for cooling it down, but I opted to let it cool in the pot and then I dipped the bottom of the pot into cool water.
The legs of an old pair of jeans were cut down into strips and voila! My pits are hairless!!
The biggest issue? Besides not burning the damn sugar! That successful batch of sugar wax was so sticky which is so obvs, but man, trying to get it from the pot to my pits without it getting everywhere in between was not easy. Again, thank gods it's water soluble because nothing gets damaged that way. It'll dissolve off with a suitable application of water.
It's also not as painful as you may think. If anyone has tried sugaring before (and I used to do it way back when in college, but I only did my legs), sugar wax adheres to hair without sticking to the skin, so it's much less painful than traditional wax. Except for the awkwardness of trying to stretch the skin in my armpits and make a clean yank of it, it was all tolerable. But then, too, I've been getting waxed (brazilians to clean up the good girl. sorry TMI) for years.
So, would I do it again? If you had asked me yesterday, it would have been a resounding no! But today, in light of my smooth, hairless armpits at a fraction of the cost (I usually spend around $20), I am seriously contemplating giving this another whirl in a couple of weeks.
Dude, I am such a crunch beauty girl these days. I make my own hair cream, body butter, bath scrub, face scrub, face masks, and I've made flaxseed gel for my hair. Now I've made sugaring wax! WTH?! A diminished budget can really drag out the creative, yo!
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no subject
Date: 2013-09-24 01:30 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-09-24 01:46 am (UTC)From:ROTFL!! That would be awesome! I'll have to check next time!
I started waxing as a matter of health necessity, actually. My rampantly curly hair was resulting in a lot of ingrowns which then led to painful sebaceous cysts in the most inappropriate and uncomfortable locations. Shaving only makes it worse. My doctor actually recommended that I take up waxing. It is .... a daunting and surreal experience the first time, cause, yeah, some random chick is all up in the goods. I have a regular lady that I used to go to and it totally makes a difference by person. My friend Cynthia prefers her aesthetician go in take care of business and keep it quick and impersonal. I, on the other hand, am all like, you are all in my Kool Aid; we need to be friends. I want my aesthetician to talk to me. Seriously, let's chat. It has actually become one of my favorite things to do. Really relaxing because for an hour (underarms, good girl, eyebrows) someone is focused on me and nothing else. I am totally the raison d'etre!
Ha!!
no subject
Date: 2013-09-24 01:49 am (UTC)From:<3
no subject
Date: 2013-09-24 06:39 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-09-24 06:40 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-09-24 03:47 am (UTC)From:I actually own a candy therometer which would likely be perfect for what you're doing.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-24 06:41 am (UTC)From:I'm actually interested in trying laser hair removal. i have a couple of friends who did it and after four-six sessions you're not supposed to have to ever go back. That would totes be for the win!
no subject
Date: 2013-09-24 05:19 pm (UTC)From: