Get fuzz-free in time for shorts season with sugaring

With summer coming soon, we're all ready to trade in our layers of heavy winter clothes shorts and flip-flops. But, after taking inventory, we may discover an "unwanted friend" has appeared on our bodies during the long winter months: body hair.

If you're looking to ditch your razor in favor of a more lasting method of hair removal, body sugaring may be an option for you: It's an all-natural procedure in which a sugaring paste is applied to the skin.

"[Body sugaring] pulls the hair from the bulb," said Heidi Hume, owner, stylist and licensed sugarist at Mirror Image Salon in Jackson. "The hair then grows back thinner, lighter and softer. When you use a shaver, it breaks off the hair, [the skin] feels prickly and the hair grows back faster."

Body sugaring also exfoliates the skin and removes dead skin cells.

"[For best results], you should always exfoliate before and after a sugar paste treatment," said Hume.

Paige Koch, a cosmetologist at Mirror Image Salon, uses a body sugaring technique to remove hair from a client’s leg April 8 in Jackson. (Laura Simon)

She recommends getting the procedure done every four weeks, and eventually, it can stop hair growth permanently.

"You need to do it for 18 months to three years for it to be permanent," she adds.

Body sugaring isn't as painful as waxing, according to Hume.

"Some areas will be more painful and some will be less painful, but it doesn't pull [the skin and hair] like waxing," she said.

The cost of body sugaring at Mirror Image runs from $13 to $61 per treatment depending on what part of the body is sugared.

"No chemicals are used [in our sugar paste] and it's safe for all hair types and skin types," Hume said.

Read all about summer beauty, and much more, in the May 1 issue of Flourish. Also stay up to date by "liking" Flourish on Facebook: facebook.com/flourishwomen.