Sugar Wax Experiment

I would have used my own legs for this experiment but they were not hairy enough. I could have let them grow out but I'm way to impatient. So, that being said my son (the 18 year old) let me borrow his skinny hairy legs. So sweet right! I found the recipe on thebirdandtheberry.blogspot.com. Which by the way is a really cool blog! The ingredients are simple and right in your kitchen. I'm so excited cause this wax project is wicked cheap and if your an avid waxer it will totally save you some dough! On to the ingredients....

- 2 cups Sugar -

- 1/4 cup water -

- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice -

You want to add all the ingredients in a medium saucepan. Turn on medium high heat until it starts to boil, once boiling turn down the heat a smidget and add a thermometer, continue to stir so it doesn't boil over. Once the temp is up to 250 degrees remove from heat. Please I can't stress this enough, LET IT COOL! This is boiling hot sugar and will cause major damage, so handle with care.

Once off the stove I poured the wax in a thick glass jar. Don't use anything too thin or it may crack on you. So at this point while we are waiting to cool I will go over some prices. Your typical wax in the drugstore can be purchased for somewhere around $8-$20. If you choose to get it done in a salon or spa you're looking at prices starting around $15 all the way up $100 or more depending on what's being waxed. The prices for the ingredients in this homemade wax is as follows:

1. Sugar 5lb bag bag is $2.60 (you're only using 2 cups)
2. Lemon $0.30
3. Water 1/4 cup even though it's paid for in your bill, today let's just say it's free
4. Wax removal strips $4.80 for a box of 500
5. Tongue depressors are about $5 for a box of 500
6. Or you can use an old cotton Tee shirt and cut into strips....free

That puts us at $7.70. That's counting a full bag of sugar and numerous wax strips that you're not going to use all at once. I would say for this batch it only cost about half of that so around $3.90. This is much cheaper than any store bought or salon purchase! Looking good so far.

Looks like the wax has cooled, now the next necessity, hairy legs baby!

Ok, as long as you have the hair you're onto a great start. I personally tested the wax on my wrist before slathering away on my sons leg. Now we did a different type of strip on each leg. On Dustin's right leg we used the regular strip that you can purchase and usually comes in the store bought kit. On his left leg I used  a piece of a cotton tee shirt I had cut up.

Both legs are waxed and ready to roll. Let the fun begin....hee hee! When I removed the paper from Dustin's right leg all the wax did not come off, in fact only about a quarter of the wax did. However, when I put the strip back on the same spot and pulled it off again more hair was removed. The tee shirt strip seemed to have worked the best. It pulled the most hair at the same time with out having to go back over it. If I may share a quick video, mind you there is nothing professional about this video at all.

 

As you can see the wax strip had a bit of a struggle coming off. What you don't see is after I put it back on and pulled again most of the hair was removed. On to the cotton tee...

Much better! Again I apologize for the lack of professionalism with the videos but that's just how we roll in this crazy house....no excuses! After the fun with Dustin's legs we played with waxing my arm which worked great. My friend Soranlly dabbled in the wax a bit with her face. It worked great. The best results were when we used the cotton tee. So I guess if you are going to wax at home don't give those old tee's away, save then for a little waxing action. 

I would love to hear your experiences with this recipe or one of your own!


TABATA

Later this afternoon I am going to be attempting a new tabata routine. What is tabata? Well I'm so glad you asked. I don't want to scare you by saying that I read in a SHAPE article tabata is the hardest exercise you will ever do in your life. It's only 4 minutes, what can be so hard. Apparently it's 4 minutes of 100% maximum intensity. Basically you do 20 seconds on 10 second rest repeat for 4 min. You can choose in the beginning to do just one exercise and then build up to 6. I'm going to do a total body tabata workout and will share the results with you most likely in the morning. I say in the morning because I want to know how my body is going to feel. Wish me luck!