Sugaring Versus Waxing

Waxing is waxing, right? Guess again. Waxing and sugaring are both waxing methods, but they work a little differently. All types of waxing are best handled by a professional to avoid burning yourself or tearing skin.

Hard Waxing

Hard wax is applied to the skin hot and then cools to grab your hair. It can’t be applied in long strips so it’s better suited for smaller areas like facial hair. Similar to sugaring it only grabs the hair and not the skin. As a result many people agree that it hurts less than soft wax.

Soft Wax

Soft wax is probably the first image that comes to mind when thinking about waxing. It involves heated wax, wax strips and some sort of application stick. Because wax strips can be long, they are used on larger areas like your legs. A lot of the pain of this method comes from the wax holding on to the skin as well as the hair. If your aesthetician is not careful, this can result in slight bleeding when the wax strip pulls out your hair.

Soft wax is pulled in the opposite direction of hair growth, unlike sugaring which is pulled in the same direction of growth. Going the opposite direction is more likely to cause your hair to break and not be pulled out of the root. 

Sugaring

Sugaring is an ancient, natural, hair removal method done with sugar-based wax. It pulls out your hair from the root without latching on to your skin and many believe that it not only hurts less than waxing but also lasts longer.

The mixture is placed directly onto your skin without the need for strips and heating equipment. Because of this and the ingredients in the mixture it’s more gentle and favored especially among people with sensitive skin.

With all methods exfoliating two to three days afterwards regularly helps toward preventing ingrown hairs. Follow up each waxing visit roughly every month. Waiting longer can make the next waxing experience more painful than it need to be.