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Sweet Torture Otherwise Known As.... Sugaring

I once had a friend from the Middle East. My first experience with waxing was watching her mother wax herself with a gum-like honey thing in her kitchen. She would lick this solid amber looking brick and then heat it and stretch it gradually over the burner on her stove. When the wax was the right consistency she put it on her thigh and ripped the hair out.

I asked her how I could get one of those little bricks of wax and she gave me one. I felt so cool because I knew she had probably brought it back in her suitcase from Syria. It was like some kind of foreign treasure to me. I was so excited at what I thought was this NEW depilation innovation. I went home and had no clue what to do and was afraid of burning my hand. I threw it in the garbage and that was that.

So fast forward 20 years:

I've been researching home wax or sugaring recipes for hair removal and have found some interesting stuff. Sugaring was invented by the Egyptians and they have a very specific recipe called Halawa (this means SWEET in Egypt) that has been cooked up and used since biblical times.

What would Jesus have waxed?

The ancient "queens of the Nile" such as Nefertiti and Cleopatra used such preparations pre-wedding. Egyptian culture today still says women must wax off all of their body hair and stay waxed if they are wed. We waxers know these things.

I decided to provide a recipe for the Halawa with instructions. Keep in mind that the wax is hot and to make sure it is the right temperature and consistency before making contact with your skin.

This is a very old, very famous Egyptian recipe for wax that is completely natural and extremely effective. It is basically caramel, right before it reaches the crystallizing stage (so it also tastes great). It is relatively simple to make, but take care to observe the caramelizing of the sugar, because the window for the wax to be just right before burning is very small. Do not be frustrated if you burn a batch; even experienced makers do this all the time. The best thing to do is to watch is continuously once the color changes to golden brown. You can eat it or you can use it as Hair Removal.

The recipe:

Ingredients for Halawa Sweet, AKA Sweet, Egyptian Sugar Wax, or Hair Removal

1. Two cups of water
2. Three cups of sugar or three cups of honey
3. Two teaspoons of lemon juice

Procedure

1. Place all ingredients in saucepan. Bring to boil.
2. When its color changes to golden brown, lower the heat and continue to simmer.
3. Keep a careful watch on the color. Once it starts to change to brown, turn off the heat.
4. Allow to cool a little, then pour small quantities onto heavy duty plastic, of the cereal bag type. Plastic that is not heavy duty will melt. It is not a good idea to use a plate, as you will need to peel it off something pliable after it cools.
5. When it becomes cool enough to handle, pull a piece off the plastic and pull and stretch it. This will immediately cause it to change color, from a clear golden brown to an opaque gold. It should be easy to stretch and pull. If it is too hard, you have left it on the heat for too long and must make a new batch. If it is too liquid, it has not been heated enough and must be heated once more, or a new batch made.

It is now ready for use! Don't forget to spread the wax against the direction of hair growth and rip it in the direction the hair grows.

The trick is in knowing when to turn the heat off, and may take a few batches until mastered. One test is to take a drop on a spoon and hold it between your thumb and finger (cool it under water first!). It should stretch between them. If its too liquid to stretch, continue to heat, and if it stretches but is brittle, discard and repeat, reducing the time you leave it on the heat.

An easier, although more expensive, alternative is to use just three cups of honey and a few drops of lemon. Simmer for a few minutes until the color changes then continue from step 4.

So do we eat it or rip out our pubic hair with it? I know I know... the decisions difficult, but we can agree that the bikini wax has less calories.

Please leave your results in the comments section. I would love to hear how this worked out for you. Also I have included a great you tube video that shows it being used so you can understand the technique.

Enjoy!

Things That Make You Go Ohhhhh!

In every spa there's wax, and where there's wax, there's wax cleaner. There are two types; one for the skin and one to clean the equipment. Whats used on the skin is a soothing blue oil which removes the stickiness. Keyword: Soothing. We label this "Skin Cleaner". Whats used on everything else is the industrial grade stuff that could clean grease off garage floors. This is not to be used on skin ever. We label this "Wax Cleaner".

Also state law says if we are buying wax cleaner or oil in bulk, the container we pour it into must be labeled accordingly. We estheticians never confuse the two.

I had just given this client a Brazilian. I cleaned the area and removed all the residual wax, or so I thought. I leave the room to get tweezers (because the one I was working with was dull).

I come back to my room with them. My client's in the fetal position in tears.

She tells me she decided to use the bottle labeled "Wax Cleaner" because she still felt sticky in some areas.

She's asking me why its burning.

Pimp My Chalupa

We are always looking for new things to pimp. Who thought that vagina's would be one of them?

When I worked in San Francisco I was was exposed to many types of "Designa Vagina's". Some wanted shapes, some letters. Others wanted to bling-bling the "thing".

I remember one stripper who always wanted a heart (which I thought was kinda lame actually). Oh and by the way I got the vibe that she was actually a five dollar hooker. Come to think of it anyone paying $5 for a hooker might think heart shaped pubic hair to be a bonus.

There was also the crystal gem application which was really fun and does look cool for special occasions. Every year on Valentines Day we did hearts and on the 4th of July lots of American Flags.

I do think having all the hair ripped off your crotch to apply the flag is definitely patriotic.


Like this Story? Read The Gucci G-Spot

Wax On. Eyebrow off.

There comes a time in every estheticians career where we give our client a botch wax job. I know you are thinking that this can't happen with a really skilled high level esthetician but I am here to tell you that it can. We have our moments.

I mistakenly ripped this clients brow off and still to this day I have no idea why. I can tell you that when wax is applied it can spread into un-chartered territory. I know this. I did this.

After I ripped her brow off I sat there and stared at her for probably 5 minutes. I pretended to be tweezing, shaping and cleaning off residual wax. While I was doing this I was thinking of ways to leave her for a minute just to get some air. I finally told her that I had to grab a tweezer because the one I was using was dull. She had no idea that she looked like a Chemo patient. I could see that she was completely relaxed with her eyes shut listening to my Norah Jones cd. I left the room to talk to my boss who is like the most fabulous eyebrow guru of San Francisco. Lets just say she was very California about it. These people do not stress about anything. I am jealous.

Lucky them.

The end result was the client got a year of eyebrow waxes, free make-up and a brow brush to fix the mistake. That's some serious swag. Truthfully I regret making the suggestion to give her all this stuff because after that she came back. I got such heartburn every time I saw her. I was hoping she would actually go away forever and take her crappy eyebrow with her.

Every time she came in after that I felt like such a loser.

The Gucci G-Spot

Why does everyone think I can do this? I can guarantee you this photo has been retouched. If not then I need to meet the esthetician who did the wax job so I can kiss her shoes.

After this ad hit everyone came in asking me for weird shapes and hair color down there. The reality is that a wax like this would cost you about $250 as opposed to the normal 70 bucks. This would take about 2 hours to do if you want it done perfectly. To be honest I don't have that kind of patience.

One woman actually came in asking me for the initials of some guy she was dating. I talked her out of it. Ladies don't do this! Nothing says psycho-stalker like monogrammed pubes. Not only will he not be appreciative but you'll soon find yourself single in the "Self-Help" aisle of Barnes and Noble.

If your considering this please just find yourself a hobby..

A True Sex And The City Moment

I just had a memory of my first business, which was actually starting a business, out of my apartment in San Francisco.

I had a huge 4 bedroom apartment so I though why not make 1 room a waxing room and bring my clients here? The intention behind this began because my current spa decided to renovate the building with us in it and my clients were asking for referrals. They did not want to come to me during the renovation! I can't blame them as they had to come see me in a dual room, that was divided by a sheet, and disrobe for their Brazilian wax. I felt like such an idiot for working in this place at this time. It was so ghetto.

I thought if they are willing to not come back because of this situation then they might as well come and pay me personally (in my clean home free of brawny construction workers). To do this I had to purchase a massage table and all the waxing equipment. Now unfortunately I had forgotten one thing but I did not yet know what it was.

I needed to do a test run obviously and I was looking for a model. Hmmm who should I ask?

So I have this friend who lives downstairs named Lana. She is my Seinfeld and I am her Kramer and its a funny story how we met.

When Rachel Met Lana:

My old spa name used to be Savana (I seriously will name my first child this I love it so much). We do make up fake names in spa's I know your wondering.

At this time Lana lived down stairs from me. She makes an appointment to come and see me not knowing I work at this spa ( remember my name is also not Savana in real life and this is who she has the appointment with). I actually run into her and am kinda meeting her for the first time when she naturally asks me where I work and what I do. I tell her I am Brazilian waxer at 77 Maiden Lane Salon and Spa. She tells me she just made an appointment there for a Playboy Wax which is what they call it on the west coast. We east coasters call it a Sphinx Wax like the hairless cat. Get it? The funny thing is she happened to make the apt with Savana so I had to explain who Savana was. I asked her if she cared that I was going to see her Chalupa and she said no. So it was on.

Ok so I digress. Lets go back to the original story. So I decide to set-up my massage table in my kitchen and we are laughing our asses off at the fact that I am waxing her butt crack in it. Hey its the largest room in the apartment and a perfect place to try out my new waxing table. Besides its mid day so none of the other roomies will be home...or so we thought.

Long story short. Someone did come home and wanted to know why the kitchen door was locked and it was one of my male roommates. It was at that moment that we also realized that I had forgotten a special oil to remove the wax. There is typically a residue left on the skin after the job is complete. Lets just say the olive oil in the kitchen cabinet did not make the cut.

We never did get around to explaining why the door was locked.....

The Day I Waxed A Neanderthal

I will never forget this for as long as I live. I was an esthetician still and I was working in Ridgefield, Ct. I had to wax a woman who was supposedly getting married. I say supposedly because at the end of this story you will wonder what her deal is.

I noticed right away that she was very masculine and she had a very square jaw manly European type face thing going on for her. She was beyond oily skinned (we estheticians notice these things) she was greasy.

She had to get undressed obviously as this was a bikini wax. Now before I come back into the room I provide my clients with a towel to cover themselves up because sometimes as I open the door other service providers are walking by. This was not a Brazilian wax so she was able to leave her panties on.

When I removed the towel and got ready to wax her I noticed that on the front of her panties she had a little sachet of some sort hanging from a safety pin. I am thinking is this some pre-wedding ceremonial thing? A air freshener? What? Please write me if you can figure this out because I will take it to the grave otherwise. I seriously even to this day will be walking down the street and just pause and think..whaaat was that???

Her undies were also.. Ahem not sanitary shall we say. I did not realize that women could actually wear the same ones for a week. I'll leave the rest to your imagination. Thank god for latex gloves.

Ok so I know you are waiting to hear what actually happened during the wax and why I think she is a Neanderthal visiting from some B.C year sooo...

As I waxed her for the first time I could not remove the hair and by no fault of my own (I solemnly swear.. I am a pro speedwaxer). She had hair that was so thick that I could see the cuticle of the hair with my naked eye. This is not normal. Her hair looked like bad hair implants that bald men sometimes get. It was plug like. I tried to wax the same area 3 or 4 times in a row using different waxes and it did not budge. This is almost never recommended but this woman had oddly thick skin that I had never seen before as well. Her skin did not even get irritated.

I stared at her crotch like it was Narnia.

I never removed a single hair and am still convinced to this day that she is a cave woman..