When Cold Wax Gets Passed Off As Sugar Wax
As leaders in the at-home sugaring world, we took it upon ourselves to help you, our beloved customers, get your sugar bearings.
NOT ALL SUGAR WAXES ARE MADE EQUAL
The first thing you need to know is that real sugar wax is applied by hand and is reusable - as in, the same lump of wax can be reused on yourself multiple times. If a product comes with strips and spatulas, and it’s applied like a conventional wax, it’s not a sugar wax. That is actually called Cold Wax. Though there is sugar in the ingredients, the method is not truly considered sugaring and most of these are just jumping on the sugaring trend bandwagon.
Cold waxes, inappropriately named sugar wax, tend to be on the cheaper side of the scale. They usually range between $8 and $15. And since it’s not reusable it’s really only good for one, maybe two sittings. You’ll usually be able to remove the hair from one full leg and maybe a couple of smaller areas.
The mechanism of how the hair is removed is very comparable to conventional waxing.
COLD WAX BENEFITS
The benefits of using cold wax are:
- You don't get burned, because it's also applied at room temperature
- You don't need a warmer, because at room temperature it's ready for use
- Clean up is easy because it is usually sugar based (check ingredients)
In most cases, both for the benefit of your skin, wallet and the planet, cold wax is a better choice than any of the conventional waxes.
HOW DOES COLD WAX COMPARE TO SUGARING?
Though similar in ingredients (sometimes) real sugaring wax and cold wax are worlds apart.
Though cold wax isn’t pricey, you run out of product very quickly and need to replenish after every session, whereas reusable sugar wax like the Glow Goop usually gives you 4-6 months of hair removal from one jar.
On a cost basis one jar of Glow Goop that is $36 does the same amount of hair removal as at least 8 jars of cold wax which in equal part would cost anywhere from $65 - $120.
Aside from the not-so-obvious savings, sugaring wax leaves you hair free for longer.
The hand application, where the sugar wax is applied against the direction of hair growth, and removed in the direction of hair (opposite of traditional waxing) causes less breakage of the hair, usually less than 10% and thus longer regrowth times.
Whereas you tend to have over 30% breakage with waxing, which is why you see regrowth in as early as 2 weeks.
A SKIN THING
But the biggest benefits of sugaring are not that of saving money or getting more smooth-time. The big benefit is in the skin. All conventional and cold waxes take off more skin than hair, which is the root cause of ingrown hairs, bumps, irritation and ultimately damage.
Sugaring is quite the opposite. Reusable sugar waxes in most cases, only stick to dead skin and hair, not living skin. So you don’t get over-stripped, damaged or any of the other problems that generally accompany hair removal.
Sugaring is actually really good for your skin. Not only are you removing hair, but you’re also lifting off all the dead skin to reveal your best glow, and stimulating the skin to regenerate healthy fresh skin cells.