Sugaring: Is it as hard as it seems?

I want to give you the news that sugaring is easy, but I would be misleading you with a false idea of this popular service. The act of hair removal with golden goop seems simple enough but if you’ve tried sugaring you know how intimidating it can be. As professionals, we expect ourselves to be amazing at something right away. Like a right of passage, but if any failing occurs we tend to say or think, “well providing that service isn’t for me.”  I feel that it is safe to say that sugaring is not easy, but it’s something you can learn. Dedication and attention to learning is the ultimate key to the door of success with this hair removal service. I won’t insert a statistic on the number of estheticians who take a sugaring class and then that’s the end of the road for that career endeavor. From an educator point of view and my own experience, I can tell you there are very few who continue on. 

So what the heck, why is it so difficult???? Well let’s start with the fact it’s 100 percent different from waxing. If you are a proficient waxer you have to re teach yourself a few things:

• Apply sugar in the opposite direction of hair growth.
• The removal is in the direction of hair growth.
• Body position is opposite.
• Sugar has 3 ingredients: water, lemon and sugar.
• Sticks are not required for application.
• Nitrile gloves are a must.

Is the process somewhat the same?

There are big differences between waxing and sugaring functionality during the service. Sugar is generally cooler (temperature wise, haha) than wax, and there are different sugar pastes that have different consistencies to accommodate different areas of the body. The pulls tend to be quick and short with sugaring. (especially while learning). Though sugaring may not be considered as methodical as waxing, there is a method that should be used. Sugar exfoliates predominantly on the surface of the skin so you can go over an area multiple times. 

OMG! Maybe I shouldn’t be an esthetician….

That’s totally a thought I’ve had more than once while getting sugar stuck on someone, causing a bruise, getting sugar on every finger and on my clients socks.  

 I learned to sugar about 6 years ago, my training wasn’t as I expected and I didn’t walk out feeling confident. This is the reason I can relate to the struggle. I have taken more training since then to improve but the work done at home and on models is the reason I have evolved. Sitting and learning the flick motion will create a fluid movement in the treatment room. Practicing on yourself (upper thigh or leg) is a way to have a stress free environment to mess up, get stuck, but more importantly learn. Removing hair is not the goal during this time; learning your technique and building confidence is. You have to tell yourself you may not be amazing at this at first, but you will be eventually. 

I recently did my first male sugar brazilian, so let me be the first to say it gets so much better and so much easier! WITH PRACTICE! You will feel so proud of yourself.

You may be wondering why even offer this service? People are searching for sugaristas daily and finding that there aren’t as many options as there are for waxers. You could potentially have an entire business built from sugaring and charge the price of being a sought after provider. Your sensitive clients can be candidates, if waxing has not worked for them. (Less ingrowns are reported from sugaring.) There are no harsh chemicals in sugar paste, if you like the idea of a really clean products. Sugaring is considered to be more sanitary because you have less products to use, meaning less items to touch or drip.. It is also more sustainable for that reason. Less mess because sugar is water soluble and doesn’t leave residue. I encourage you to stick with it, give yourself grace and don’t be afraid to mess up! 

Start Learning, here are a few of our free offerings around sugaring.

• Alexander’s Aesthetics presents Sugar of the Nile Sugaring Demo
• The Sugar Show Podcast: Getting Schooled with Tiffany Montalbano and Shannon O’Brien from Love2Sugar.
• Introduction to Love2Sugar: An Online Sugaring Certification program
• Love2Sugar Facebook Group

Alexander’s Aesthetics has partnered with iSugarUniversity to bring you an ONLINE Sugaring Course as well. We have different in person ways to learn as well. Check them out here on the events calendar!