If you don't already know, sugaring is an ancient hair-removal technique that involves making a wax out of sugar, lemon juice, and water. Because it's all-natural, cruelty-free, and free from harsh chemicals that irritate the skin, it's making a comeback. It's also rumored that you don't have to shave My friend AJ and I saw a video on YouTube about it and decided to try it ourselves. Here's how it went:

We followed the recipe in the video to make the wax:
- 2 cups of white sugar
- 1/2 cup of lemon juice
- 1/2 cup of water

and we doubled it, for two people. We added all that to pot and let it boil until it turned an amber/brown color, then poured them into mason jars to let the wax cool down.

While we probably did get a little impatient with letting it cool, when it became a tacky/paste-like consistency we decided it would be okay to start waxin'! In the video, the girl seemed to be using a butter knife to apply the wax to her legs and armpits, so we started off with that. Instead, while I was peeling the sugar wax off, I realized that skin was coming off with it. I got second-degree burns from the metal conducting the heat of the wax. They are still healing almost 2 weeks later.

#NOPE

So we looked up some other ways to apply the wax and one of the most common ways we found was with a popsicle stick. Coincidentally, we had two popsicles sitting in the freezer and mine was, fortunately, able to serve a dual purpose as an ice pack!

The popsicle seemed to do the best job as far as applying the wax, and we found the best method was to rub ice cubes over the wax until it hardened and was easier to rip off. This project was m-e-s-s-y and there's really no way to avoid getting the sugar wax everywhere. Probably about five minutes after the above picture was taken, my leg was completely stuck to the side of the toilet and AJ's to her cloth storage cube. We were able to get the wax off the cube using our icing method and lots of patience, but as far as getting it off the toilet, we had to re-heat it with a blow dryer and scrub it off. It also hurts like HELL, even more so if the wax isn't completely hardened which is why the icing technique is the way to go.

Honestly, as much as I really hate to say it, sugaring worked too well. After two weeks, where my hair would typically start growing back there is still nothing there. Maybe it is all it's cracked up to me, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to say it was all worth it. If you're thinking of trying it, I'd say go for it. Just be prepared for a lot of cleanup afterward as we're still finding sticky bits all over the apartment. But hey, beauty is (a) pain!