Deciding whether you'd like to remove your body hair or leave it au naturel is easy. The hard part comes after you've made that choice, when you're presented with a world of hair-removal options, none of which sound particularly appealing. Waxing, threading, lasers, and good ol'-fashioned shaving are all perfectly acceptable methods, but if none of them are really doing it for you, there's one more technique you should consider: sugaring.
Sugaring uses a mixture of melted sugar, lemon, and hot water to pull hair out directly from the root. Unlike waxing, the sugar-based formula doesn't have to be heated, and there is no double dipping. What makes sugaring so different from other hair-removal methods is that its only tool is a ball of sugar rolled continuously over the skin, against the direction of your hair's growth. When the sugar is torn off the skin, it removes the hair in its natural direction, so the results are long-lasting and reduce the risk of ingrown hairs.
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The sensation of sugaring is often compared to that of waxing — just minus the scalding hot temperature. Additionally, sugaring requires a specific hair length for a successful removal (about 5-7 days of growth post-shaving). However, unlike waxing, you don't have to worry about scarring or potential burns, because the sugar paste can't adhere to your actual skin cells. In fact, sugaring even works to gently exfoliate the surface of your skin — leaving it not only hairless, but silky smooth.
To get a closer look at the hair-removal process, we tapped esthetician and sugaring specialist Danielle Correia, owner of Sugaring L.A., to show us how this under-the-radar treatment works. Click the video above to see sugaring in action.