Hi y'all
I just read the leg waxing post a  few threads down and while I do want to try that epilator thingy I don't have the money right now  so I have to stick to waxing. After many tries I finally figured out sugar waxing and I must say its the way to go if your going to wax but it is a bit trickier than regular waxing. I went through a half a pound of sugar before i got it figured out. So heres how i do it.
___________________________________________________________
you need sugar, lemon juice, honey, A LOT of cloth strips about 3 x 5 inches (needs to be non stretch cloth). something to spread the wax with( i use a wood spatula that came with a store bought wax kit its like a tongue depressor the Doc uses)
____________________________________________
1-pour a cup of sugar into a microwave safe bowl
regular sugar  is stickier but brown sugar works ok and is easier to see when you put it on.
2- add lemon juice a little at a time while stirring till all the sugar is damp(not wet just damp)
3- add 1 tablespoon of honey to every cup of sugar
4- microwave  for 1 to 2 mins watch it when its bubbling really good its ready
5- let it cool just a little bit but not to much maybe like 5 mins

NOTE: you want to move as fast as you can when doing the steps below.
You can burn yourself doing this so be careful test a tiny spot or two first and make sure you have the technique down-- you want a thin coat of wax on your spreader no thicker than 1/8 inch and NO GLOBS

6-at this point the stuff will be to hot to put a glob on your skin but it cools really fast in the air so what I do is dip the spatula in the wax let any globs drip off and very very quickly spread it on my skin in the direction of hair growth flip the spatula and make another pass this coats a 2 x 4 in area. You want the sugar to be a VERY thin layer and the hotter is is the easier it is to get it on thin.
7- Now lay a cloth strip on the wax and quickly smooth it down in the direction the hair grows. Just one pass remember moving fast works way better.
8- Pull the strip against the direction of hair growth. Do not pull up and away from skin grab both corners of the strip  and hold it against  you while pulling very fast. you should have little sugar left on you skin. If your strip comes off but the sugar stays on your skin and is kind of liquid you need to heat the sugar mix a bit longer.
9- repeat till all that nasty hair is gone. One of the nice things about sugar waxing is that since it does not really stick to the skin you can go back over places you missed even several times with out hurting the skin like regular wax does.
10- Clean up you and everything with warm water and soap.

HINTS:
pop a couple of ibuprofen a hour before you start if you have a low pain tolerance especially the first time waxing.
Soaking in the tub  before waxing seems to  make the hair come out easier
if the mix gets to thick to spread just microwave it again for 10 to 15 seconds and go back to waxing.
If there is any sugar mix left just pop it in the fridge and save it for next time.
Waxing really does get easier each time for me the first time stung  pretty bad but was tolerable the second time I barely felt it.
Each time the hair regrows there seems to be less and its finer and comes out easier at least it seems to.

*hugs*
K

I made that recipe to economize because cooking up your own epilation sugar is very cheap.

I'm not very satisfied with the results of that particular recipe. The reason is that it came out kind of granular, not perfectly smooth like the commercial preparation I'd been using (Parissa). I think to get a smooth sugar preparation you would need to do it on the stove with a candy thermometer, and cook it precisely to "soft ball" stage. I tried that recipe once, but mixed the proportions wrong and it also turned out a bit granular. All the sugar has to melt thoroughly. I will try again until I get it right. I didn't get as good results with the posted recipe, because I noticed regrowth came back almost immediately, in a couple days, whereas with a smooth sugar preparation it stayed away for weeks.

Hypatia
It sounds like you just didn't get it hot enough for long enough. There will be no sugar grains  left if it is heated long enough but be careful since if you over heat the hair will not stick to the sugar. I took me a lot of tries to get the heat time right and since all microwaves are different this might take a bit of tweaking to get just right but it does come out looking just like the store bought stuff for me. Heating it on the stove with a  thermometer would be a much more precise approach for sure. As far as regrowth goes if you pull the hair out completely the  regrowth time should be the same for sugar wax, regular wax, or a epilator. The only things I can think of that would change that would be if the commercial product has something in it to slow hair regrowth like some shaving creams have it in it or if your hair is breaking off instead of being pulled out root and all. If you try it again I love love to hear what your results were.
*hugs*
Katie

sugar??? sugar removes hair??? cool.

It's an ancient Middle Eastern tradition. For history buffs, sugar was first introduced to Europe by the Arabs in the Middle Ages, one of many Arab contributions to Western civilization. Epilation sugar is sometimes marketed under the name of "Persian wax." I saw it sold in Iranian-American groceries for years before it became more widely distributed.

I tried this! I got the granular mix first, read the post about heating it more, did that and it looked good. I just couldn't get it on my leg... it was so hot! Burned myself a little. I waited a few more minutes, tried again, too hot. Tried again. By the time I could get the stuff on my legs it was thickened and wouldn't spread. How do you do it without burning yourself? o_o;

As I understand it, you have to cook it exactly to the soft ball stage. No more and no less. Get a candy thermometer.

Dizzy
I use a wooden tongue depressor type thing (like a extra wide Popsicle stick) I dip it into the sugar and pull it out fast. The stick will be coated with a thin layer of the sugar ( make sure there are no big globs just a thin coat ). If its still a little hot for you just wait a couple of seconds before wiping it on.  I wipe one side on then flip the stick and wipe again. this coats a 2x4 inch area. As quick as I can i slap the cloth strip on it rub it down once in the direction of hair growth and pull it off the opposite direction.
Also some one on another forum told me if you add more honey it will  not thicken up as fast but i have not tried that yet.
While this method does take a little bit of time to figure out I have found it works as good as the store bought stuff for me and is way cheaper.
Katie