Different Types Of Sugar Wax
As sugaring is becoming a more popular choice of hair removal, people are mastering the at-home sugaring technique, while more and more brands are wanting to get into the sugar wax market.
Not all sugar waxes are equal, and consistency plays a major role. If a product requires or comes with strips and spatulas, it’s not sugaring wax, and you can learn more about how some products get passed off as ‘sugar wax’ here.
To give you an idea of what you might find the sugar wax world we’ve rounded up the most common types:
The 3 common types of sugar wax are soft, medium and hard/firm. The “hardness” of the wax usually correlates to the type of hair you are sugaring and your skin type.
1. Soft Sugar Wax
Soft sugar wax is light in color and, like the name suggests, soft and runny - kind of like honey.
It’s typically used by beauty professionals because it doesn’t hold its shape and requires at least 40 hours of training to get to beginner level.
Pros typically mix it with a medium or firm wax to use on the larger areas, like legs, because it’s easier to spread.
Soft sugar wax melts almost instantly so it’s almost never heated for treatment, and if you’re new to sugaring you don’t want to start here.
Soft sugar wax works better with coarser hair because it doesn’t have enough density to grip the finer hairs.
2. Medium Sugar Wax
Medium sugar wax is a little darker in color, inching towards orange. It's going to hold its shape more than soft wax but will still be quite soft and requires many hours of training.
Medium sugar wax is typically used by sugaring pros to modify consistency by mixing it with another type of sugar wax.
For example, as beginners begin to master their technique, they’ll mix Medium with Hard to soften it. While seasoned pros might mix Medium with Soft to give their mix some body to get the finer hairs.
When sugaring areas where hair is rooted deeply, like underarms and bikini, you need more density to grip the hair and Medium sugar wax is ideal.
3. Hard Sugar Wax
Hard sugar wax is exactly what it sounds like; hard and amber in color. It must be warmed up prior to use and takes more effort to apply. But it also holds together better than the other types of sugar wax.
Sugaring professionals use Hard sugar wax for its density to get the finer and shorter hairs, and they typically only use it on smaller areas, or where hair is extra stubborn.
Hard sugar wax is rarely used on its own in a salon setting because it will slow down the treatment time, but it’s a great consistency for beginners to learn sugaring with.
You might be wondering ‘What type of sugar wax is the Glow Goop?’
Our Glow Goop sugar wax is unlike anything else on the market, and therefore in a category of its own. We call it an adaptive formula, meaning it has characteristics of each type of sugar wax, making it the ideal formula to remove ALL types of hair with.
What is Adaptive?
Our Glow Goop sugar wax is made to adapt its consistency to the skin’s temperature as well as ambient temperature.
You can harden it and soften it very easily, which makes it ideal for beginners. For example, in the warmer months you probably won’t need to warm it up at all because it’ll be soft enough to scoop. And if it gets too soft, just pop it in the fridge for a few minutes and it’ll harden in no time.
The adaptive nature of the formula also allows the sugar wax to soften when it makes contact with your warm skin.
If you have a fridge and microwave or hair dryer you don’t need anything else to get the perfect consistency.
The Glow Goop is basically painless?
The best thing about our wax... it is virtually painless. Because of its dense consistency the Glow Goop only adheres to hair and dead skin, so it's not pulling on your live skin cells. Less pull = less pain.
Unlike most of the other sugar waxes on the market, you don’t need to be a licensed professional to use it, and you certainly don’t need hours of training. Just check out our How To Sugar page and our Youtube channel and you’ll get all the training you need for each body part.
The Glow Goop consistency is probably close to that of a Hard sugar wax, to start with but it softens quickly on application. It’s so easy and safe, a 10 year old can use it. Yeah it surprised us too, but we now have many pre-teen customers.
Our recommendation for sugaring newbies is to start hard. If you can make a dent in it with your finger and scoop out a lump - with some effort - that’s a good place to start. It might seem counterintuitive at first but just remember that the sugar wax will soften just as soon as it makes contact with your skin.
Have you tried sugaring before? Either with our Glow Goop or another type of sugaring wax, let us know your experience! Send us a note to hello@sugarsugarwax.com