When it comes to having a Brazilian done, there are two schools of thought. One lot swear blind that sugaring is superior to waxing, while the wax lovers swear that their method works better. Since no one was willing, or able to agree with the other, and since I apparently have no life, I decided to use myself as a guinea pig, all in the name of (unpaid) research for this article.

First of all though, if you are new to body sugaring, simply put, it is a method of hair removal that originated in ancient Egypt (yes, even Cleopatra used to get herself sugared), and utilises a ball of sugaring paste that is made with three simple ingredients – sugar, lime and water. Sugar(ed) even offered me a taste of the sugaring ball, which I have to say was absolutely delicious.

The 100% natural and water-soluble sugar paste is directly applied to the skin and flicked off, removing the hair from the roots. This results in slower, finer, softer and lighter regrowth over time. It is said to be less painful than common waxing methods and together with your unwanted hair, also removes dead skin cells, leaving the skin soft and smooth.

As the sugar is applied at body temperature, scalding is never an issue. Hair is also removed in its natural direction of growth, resulting in far less breakage and fewer ingrown hairs.

My First Visit To Sugar(ed)

Sugar(ed) is the first and only professional body-sugaring (hair removal) studio in Singapore, and living in the North, popping down to their Upper Thompson location made the most sense for me. The studio is shoe-free, so I would advise that you wear something that can be slipped on and off with minimum fuss, unlike in my case, since I decided to wear my Doc Martens, that required a bit of wrestling and exertion.

After you inform the staff that you have arrived, I would advise you to make a quick trip to the ladies to empty your bladder and freshen yourself down there. When your sugarist is ready for you, she will take you to a room, provide you with a hand towel and a single-use towelette for your lady-bits and give you instructions (ie- take off your bottoms, clean your lady-bits, lie down on the bed and cover your nakedness with the hand towel)

The actual session was smooth, pleasant and fun. While we chatted away, my sugarist cleaned and powdered my pubic area (to speed up the drying process) and used a wooden spatula to scoop out a ball of sugar, which she then proceeded to roll around in her gloved hands, before expertly rolling it onto my hair and flicking it off.

If you are scared of pain, or nervous about having a Brazilian done for the first time, let me reassure you that it really isn’t an ordeal at all. While the actual process itself is less painful than waxing, if you have a good rapport with your sugarist, you will be too busy chattering away with her to register the fact that your hair is being pulled off right in front of you.

After removing every single strand of hair, she sprayed a gentle alcohol-free toner onto my skin, gently tapped it in and I was good to go! No soreness or redness at all.

The Consensus

Unlike Brazilian waxing, sugaring is more efficient at removing shorter hair, but you still need to ensure that your hair is at least 1/16th of an inch long before you come back for another appointment. Having tried both waxing and sugaring, I think as far as I, and the internet are concerned, sugaring is actually far less painful than waxing. Apparently this is because sugaring pulls less on the skin, while still effectively removing the hair. This also means that you will have a lot less irritation and redness.

I went to the Upper Thompson branch and my sugarist was amazingly skilled and cheerful, and had me smooth as a baby’s bottom in less than 30-minutes (the actual process is allocated an hour). I barely felt anything more than minor discomfort in certain more sensitive areas, as we chatted on about our love for cats (and yes, it was that sort of conversation).

The Brazilian cost me $70, and also included a mud mask, and my skin felt and still feels so silky smooth that I just can’t help admiring it (sorry TMI).

Sugar(ed) has four conveniently located branches: Sugar(ed) at Bukit Timah, Sugar(ed) at Katong, Sugar(ed) at Upper Thomson ad Sugar(ed) at River Valley and for more information go here.

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