Why Sugaring is Better Than Waxing

You’ve probably heard of sugaring, and maybe you’ve even considered it. Maybe you’ve waxed before and had a bad experience, or maybe you’re just looking for a more natural alternative to your normal waxing. So what the heck is sugaring and why do we recommend it over waxing? Sugaring is a form of hair removal that dates back to ancient Persia. Sugaring paste is made with just three ingredients: sugar, lemon, and water. Those three are mixed together to form a warm, honey-like paste which is then applied to the skin and “flicked” off in the direction of the hair growth, leaving you smooth and hair-free!

We’ve met (and created) many sugaring converts in our day. In fact, most people who try sugaring never go back to waxing! We at The Portland Girl certainly prefer sugaring to waxing, and here’s why.

It’s all natural.

While wax can contain resin, beeswax, weird oils, and...who knows what else, sugaring is just those three ingredients I mentioned earlier. Water, sugar, lemon. All stuff you can buy at the grocery store and so safe you can eat it. (We’ve tried! It’s SWEET!) No added chemicals, fragrances, preservatives, or any other weird ingredients or irritants on your beautiful skin!

No burns.

Because wax is a resin, it must be heated to high temperatures to be smoothly applied to the skin. This has led to many a burn for many a client (pretty much every sugaring convert has a horrifying waxing story to tell us about the “time they got burned”.) Wax goes on very hot and is pulled off when it cools. As if waxing wasn’t painful enough, right? Sugaring paste, on the other hand, is heated at a much lower temperature, so you don’t feel like you’re pouring hot candle wax all over yourself. The paste never gets hot enough to burn you in the first place, so there are no risks of unfortunate burning!

It’s better for your skin.

Because wax is a resin (and cannot penetrate your skin which is mostly made up of water), it can remove live skin, not just dead skin. Sugar, on the other hand, is water-based and penetrates more deeply into the follicle (rather than sitting on the surface). It will remove your hair (even very short ones) as it gently exfoliates only your DEAD skin.

Leads to permanently hair-free skin.

Over time, hair removed by sugaring will stop growing back, which means you’ll need less and less hair removal and become more naturally hairless! Why? Science! Because sugar is water-based and able to remove shorter hairs, we are more likely to be able to remove hairs in the anagen phase of hair growth. This is the most effective time to remove hair because you are stripping the follicle of its internal root sheath. Over time, enough stripping of this substance causes the follicle to shrink and die, which is good because then the hair does not grow back.

Less painful.

While sugaring can still be painful (we ARE removing the hair), most clients find it to be less painful than waxing because the heat of the natural paste is much less traumatic and irritating than most waxes.

Fewer ingrown hairs.

When waxing, practitioners pull the hair out AGAINST the direction of growth, which can cause a lot of hair breakage. Hair breakage is annoying because it will cause hair to grow back quickly, (often in weird directions). Sugaring, on the other hand, removes hair IN THE DIRECTION of hair growth so that there is less breakage, fewer ingrowns, and more lasting results.  

Easy to remove.

Wax can leave a difficult-to-remove residue that requires harsh chemicals to remove, while sugar comes off with a quick swipe of water!

More Sustainable.

And last but DEFINITELY not least, sugaring is a much more environmentally-friendly alternative to waxing. We don’t use sticks and strips and sugar is biodegradable. Just add water and it will break down into nothing! AND, the same ball of sugar can be used over and over on the same client so we use much less product in the first place.To give you a visual, At The Portland Girl, we see back to back sugaring clients for 9 hours a day and we only fill up a tiny wastebasket to halfway full. This is VERY different than the waste that is typically generated with traditional waxing which would likely fill up a larger kitchen-sized trash can after a 9 hour day of waxing and NONE of it is biodegradable.

Is Sugaring for You?

We offer sugaring services for everyone, not just women! Check out our different packages for her, him, and them here.

When you try sugaring and experience the difference, you’ll never go back to waxing. Enjoy being hair-free the all natural way!