Sugaring vs. Waxing

Sugaring 101: All you need to know

Sugaring paste consists of  sugar, lemon (or citric acid), and water. This paste is gentle, malleable, and supple. It’s all-natural and edible and is gel-like. It’s applied at room temperature without needing any sticks or strips (though some salons or experts might use strips).

Sugaring paste is applied against the hair growth while being removed with hair growth. This differs from waxing.

The pain level of the sugaring process is considered to be low to moderate. The most severe side effects you can get include minimal irritation and minor bumps.

You need to give your skin 24 hours for recoup. It includes avoiding sunbaths, hot baths, exfoliation, or anything that includes heat, friction, or irritation.

Sugaring is considered to be better for sensitive skin.

Sugaring is ideal for Brazilian or bikini hair removal, underarms, arms, and legs.

Waxing 101: All you need to know

The waxing mixture is made up of beeswax, oils, resin, and few other additives. Hot wax is applied with the hair growth and removed against it. Depending on the person, the pain level can range from fairly moderate to severe.

It’s also common to have a bunch of side effects as a result of waxing, though these are temporary. Primary among the side effects are irritation, bumps, and ingrown hairs.

The recovery period is usually 24 hours for smaller regions and a minimum of 48 hours for full body waxing treatments. Recouping includes avoiding anything that can irritate or heat your friction, the same as sugaring.

Hard wax hurts less than soft wax.

Waxing is effective on almost all body parts, including large or small regions.

Differences between sugaring and waxing

There are several major differences between sugaring and waxing.

1. Sugaring only pulls the hair without disturbing the skin surface at all. On contrary, the hot wax used during waxing attaches itself to the hair as well as the skin. Removing the hot wax consequently pulls the skin cells as well.
2. Sugar mixture or paste is much more malleable, soft, and flexible than hot wax. This enables sugar paste to get down to the bulb of the hair more efficiently.
3. Sugaring is better if any part of your body is heat sensitive. Unlike waxing, sugaring is done at room temperature.
4. It’s easy to get red patches and skin irritation after most types of waxing, including Brazilian wax. This is not common in sugaring.
5. With waxing, you run a higher risk of ingrown hairs. The wax mixture can easily lead up to hair breakage instead of root-level removal, which is the perfect recipe for ingrown hair. This isn’t the case with sugaring.
6. Sometimes, your skin can be sensitive as a result of antibiotics, hormone replacements, Accutane, topical creams, or hormonal birth control. Waxing isn’t recommended in these cases. Sugaring can be used.
7. Given your technician is experienced and you have pretty normal pain tolerance, sugaring will be categorized as a low pain hair removal technique while waxing will be moderate to severely painful.
8. Sugaring is easier to clean up when compared to a wax treatment thanks to its water-soluble nature. You don’t need to worry about residue, which also makes it a better home-based hair removal technique. Sugaring is also more sanitary because generally, the technician will not be going back to the pot to get more paste. One “ball of sugar” will suffice in most cases.
9. Sugaring is also faster than waxing because unlike wax, it needs no time to let it harden. When going for larger surfaces, both processes tend to take quite the same amount of time. However, for full legs or full body hair removal, waxing will be faster.

These were all benefits of sugaring over waxing. However, waxing also has a couple of benefits over sugaring apart from being more cost-effective.

1. Waxing is often  preferred for thicker, longer, and coarser hair. In this case, sugaring will take a lot more time than waxing. However, once your hair has thinned it’s typically better to still go for sugaring for all the benefits mentioned above.
2. Waxing is faster when covering larger areas such as entire legs, arms, or the back. Speed also depends on the technician and your hair qualities.

Users typically report that sugaring gives better and longer-lasting results. There’s also less redness afterward. You can call sugaring a less painful and gentler choice between the two.

For first-time full body hair removal, a wax treatment might be a better alternative. But if it’s not the first time or not a large area, it’s typically better to go for sugaring. For example, sugaring your brow is better than brow wax. If you have the time, even full body sugaring is highly recommended over waxing.

Which one should you go for?

Admittedly, sugaring is generally considered to be less painful than waxing. Why? Because the mixture used in a sugaring service isn’t as adhesive as the one used in waxing. As a result, the removal of the mixture is much less painful.

You’re highly likely to have a better experience with sugaring than waxing. The key distinction between the two methods is that the sugar paste is much gentler for your skin. Hot wax – not so much.

How to get prepared for sugaring vs. preparation for waxing

Preparation for both techniques is largely the same. There are only subtle differences.

As a general rule of thumb, make sure your hair is ¼ inches. That’s like 12-14 days of hair growth. Trim your hair beforehand if they’re longer than that. Exfoliation is recommended a few days before your appointment. Wear no creams or lotions on the day of the appointment. Don’t have alcohol or caffeine before the treatment. These are more general tips and apply to both techniques.

For sugaring, you might or might not exfoliate or tan your skin the day before the appointment. That’s not true for waxing. Strictly avoid tanning, exfoliation, hot baths, etc. which can make your skin very dry or sensitive. It will only go on towards making the whole waxing process much more painful.

You might need to take over-the-counter pain relief 30-40 minutes before the appointment in case of waxing. It’s not required for sugaring at all unless it’s your first time and your skin is super-sensitive.

Sugaring vs. waxing: the different processes

Both techniques differ in how they play out during the session.

What to expect during a sugaring session?

Sugaring needs no heating. It’s great for exfoliation. Sugaring is hypoallergenic, easy to clean up, less painful, good for sensitive skin, and great for fine or medium hair. Sugaring isn’t very effective for thick or coarse hair and reapplication might be needed for larger areas. Doing sugaring at home is more difficult than waxing at home.

Sugaring is essentially rolling a ball of sticky paste on the portion of the skin that you want the hair removed from, usually multiple times. Over several repetitions, it gently removes your hair from its base without ever damaging the skin cells or breaking the hair – a risk you have to take in waxing.

1. The technician will gently clean the area designated for hair removal. A layer of talcum powder will be applied to the region. It makes the hair stand up.
2. Taking a ball of sugar paste, the technician will spread it against the hair growth. Lightly tugging in the direction of the growth, the technician will then continue to remove hair quite painlessly.
3. It’s normal to apply the sugar paste multiple times in the same area to achieve better hair removal.
4. The sugar paste doesn’t stick to the skin. The cleanup afterward will be very simple. The technician will commence cleanup with a simple water-based cleaning or wiping process.

What to expect during a waxing session?

Waxing is great for removing thick, coarse hair from larger areas quickly. It’s cheaper and more common. Heating is needed. The adhesive nature of hot wax can easily lead to pain, skin irritation, or even burns. Waxing requires strips that aren’t eco-friendly.

Waxing is essentially applying a paste that slowly hardens and adheres to the skin cells and hair – then literally ripping it away as fast as possible for maximum effectiveness. Two rounds of waxing on a sensitive patch of skin can be severely painful.

1. There’s a pre-waxing treatment that precedes the main one. The main utility this serves is preparing your skin for the irritation to follow. Application of these oils or powders during the pre-wax treatment will alleviate some pain during and after the main process.
2. A thin layer of wax will be applied in the direction of hair growth. This will let to set for a while. Depending on the area, wax, and technician the duration to let it set and harden might vary.
3. A paper (for hard wax) and cloth (for soft) will be used to remove the entirety of the hardened wax strip at once. This removal will be done against the direction of hair growth. Hair is prone to breakage in this step.
4. Wax will not be applied more than once (or twice in some cases) because it can lead to further irritation.
5. Once the wax process is done, the technician will apply a lotion or serum that soothes and cools the skin. It’s also good for ingrown hair prevention.
6. Any residue is then cleaned up with a cleanser.

Wrapping up

There are many similarities between sugaring and waxing. They’re both suitable for all hair types and can cover the hair length of ¼ inches to ½ inches, though it’s common for sugaring to even remove smaller hair, around 1/8 inches.

In many cases, it’s also normal to have a similar result and for a similar period. The second appointment on, both sugaring and waxing become much less painful.

Body hair removal done for cosmetic reasons needs to be gentle and irritation-free. Sugaring is highly recommended in this case. For example, hair removal bikini or chest is done purely for cosmetic purposes, and sugaring might be the way to go.

It’s easy to get any of the body hair removal techniques done. All you need to do is search “hair removal near me”. For example, if you’re in Toronto, a simple query like “wax Toronto” or “sugaring Toronto” will suffice.

In the end, which one you choose depends on your preference. Pain tolerance, hair type, hair length, previous experiences, etc. might play key roles in deciding your preference.

It’s possible for you to like waxing because it’s quicker for larger areas and you can easily tolerate the pain, while your skin isn’t very sensitive and the redness goes away within a few days. But when you try sugaring, you’ll find that the benefits and painlessness outweigh your familiarity with waxing.

On the other hand, one might choose sugaring purely based on the fact that it’s 100% organic and environment-friendly.

Whichever method you choose, know that the more important consideration is which salon or technician you choose for the service. At The Beauty House you can find trained and friendly technicians that you will give you the best hair removal experience.