When it comes to hair removal, you have more than a few options available to you. These can range from do it yourself shaving or plucking to professionally administered treatments such as sugaring, waxing or laser hair removal. In this missive we’ll be comparing two very different types of depilatory procedures: sugaring vs. laser hair removal.
What Is Sugaring?
Sugaring is one of the oldest types of hair removal. It’s thought to date back to ancient Persian times around 1900 BC. In fact, it’s also known as Persian waxing. It’s a method very similar to waxing, but uses room temperature, water based pastes made of natural ingredients such as sugar, molasses or honey. The paste is spread onto the hairy areas of the skin and allowed to set. Some methods of sugaring will also apply a layer of cloth or paper on top of the paste. Once set, the paste is pulled off taking the hair with it.
What Is Laser Hair Removal?
Laser hair removal is a much more modern method of epilation. It uses pulses of laser light to destroy the follicles responsible for hair growth. The laser penetrates through the skin and targets melanin in the hair follicle. The light pulse heats up the follicle to the point where cellular damage occurs and it’s no longer able to produce hair.
Comparing Sugaring Vs. Laser Hair Removal
Both methods of hair removal have their pros and cons. You’ll need to decide what’s important to you if you’re planning on choosing one method over the other. That said, if you try one and it doesn’t suit you, you can always go ahead and try the other later on.
Pain
Pain is a very subjective subject, so it will depend on your own personal reaction to each treatment. Some people believe that sugaring is more painful than laser hair removal. This may be because the hairs aren’t being pulled out when using a laser. Other people find that continual “zapping” of the laser creates a cumulative pain that can become tiresome. Those with darker hair will feel the treatment more acutely.
Permanence
While neither process will absolutely guarantee permanent results, laser hair removal will last much longer than sugaring. That said, a single sugaring session will instantly remove all targeted hair, while laser hair removal will require multiple sessions to achieve long term results.