Ingredients: 2 tsp brown sugar (from Whole Foods bulk bin), 1 tsp honey (purchased in bulk from Whole Foods in my own container), 1 tsp water. You’ll also need a knife or something flat to apply the wax and some cloth strips for peeling it off.
1) Combine ingredients in a microwavable container. I used a Pyrex measuring cup. You could also use the stove instead of microwave, but you’d need a very tiny pan.
2) Cook mixture in the microwave (or on the stove) until it bubbles and turns brown. This part was challenging. If you don’t cook the mixture long enough, it stays too soft and sticky to work. If you cook it too long, it turns into hard candy. I experimented with two different batches until I got it right. I believe I cooked it for about 30 or 35 seconds.
3) Let cool. This is also important. You won’t know if you’ve cooked the wax long enough until it cools down. If it’s too thick, dilute it a little and try it out.
4) Brows, get ready for some waxing!
5) Apply wax to only the part of the brow you want to remove. I didn’t have a little spatula (except I actually did — in the Sally Hanson kit — I just didn’t realize it was there until too late) and didn’t think to use a knife, so I used my finger. Not recommended. You’ll see why
6) Apply cloth strip to waxed eyebrow. Press and smooth in the direction of the hair growth. I cut some strips from an old raggedy pair of flannel pajamas that were no longer wearable. I realized in hindsight I could have used some of the reusable organic cotton rounds I got a while back. Why? Because unlike actual wax, sugar wax dissolves in warm water, so I could just rinse them off and reuse.
7) The moment of truth. When you’re ready, rip the cloth off of your eyebrow in the opposite direction of the hair growth. And…CRAP. Not what I intended.
Um… this is what I mean by dangerous. The stuff really, really works. Don’t mess around. Be careful where you spread it, and make sure it’s only coating hair you actually want to remove. Do not follow my example and end up with a big chunk of missing eyebrow right before the BlogHer conference!
Turns out, the situation was not as bad as I thought. I went ahead and waxed the other brow, much more carefully, and then came back and attempted to clean up the bad situation with a bit more waxing. And then I filled in the missing bit with a Dr. Hauschka eyeliner pencil that I rarely use and forgot I even had. The pencil is wood with what I believe is a metal cap. I know, sometimes plastic disguises itself as metal. But this cap also sounds like metal when dropped on the floor. So I’m pretty sure it’s not plastic.
8) Here is the completely unretouched AFTER picture: after waxing, tweezing just a tiny bit to clean up strays, and filling in the gap with a little bit of eye pencil. Not too bad from a distance, right?
So how does sugar wax feel compared to actual wax? Pretty amazing, actually. Ripping off the sugar wax didn’t hurt nearly as much as ripping off paraffin wax. And hours later, my eyebrows just feel soft and smooth… probably from the honey because I didn’t put on any cream or lotion afterwards. There was much less redness too. Overall, I’d say this experiment was a success.
By the way, have you ever noticed how weird eyebrows start to look when you stare at them long enough? Or how weird your own face looks after while? My next post will not include so many photos of my face. I promise.
