The Sugar That Does Not Hurt

Mariana Sambataro
Sep 3
2 min read

Sugaring is not a new beauty trend, it is one of the oldest rituals of care in human history. Its story begins thousands of years ago, in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, where women prepared a golden mixture of sugar, lemon and water to gently remove hair from the root. Even Cleopatra is said to have loved this practice as part of her beauty routine.

What makes sugaring unique is its purity.

The paste is made only with natural ingredients, nothing else. No chemicals, no synthetic perfumes, no resins. Just sugar, lemon and water. For this reason, many call it the only truly natural method of epilation. But sugar does more than remove hair. On the skin it works like a treatment, softly exfoliating and leaving it smooth, luminous and deeply cared for.

I met sugar paste in 2009.

At that time I was already working with traditional waxing, but I felt something was missing. I am an empathic person and during waxing sessions I often suffered with my clients. The old phrase “beauty is pain” never sounded true to me. I also have very sensitive skin, so I started looking for methods that were more respectful and gentle. That search led me to sugar.

Learning was not easy. It took me five years to master the manual technique. After many years of waxing I had to unlearn and retrain my hands in movements that were the opposite of what I knew. Sugar paste is also alive in its way: it is very sensitive to temperature, and when you get nervous or impatient, your hands heat up and the paste melts. In the beginning, this was a real challenge.

With time, patience and dedication, the paste and I became friends. Today I work with it with joy and lightness. I have discovered its many secrets and small tricks to transform each session into a ritual of care, not just hair removal. Sugaring is for me a way to respect the body, to honor the skin, and to continue an ancient tradition that survived through the centuries because it works and because it is kind.

The benefits of sugaring

• 100% natural: just sugar, lemon, water

• Removes hair from the root, for slower regrowth

• Gentle exfoliation for radiant skin

• Less painful and less irritating than waxing

• Suitable for sensitive skin and delicate areas

• Eco-friendly and sustainable

Sugaring vs. traditional waxing

• Sugaring paste adheres only to the hair, not the skin, so it is less painful

• It is applied at body temperature, not hot, so no burns

• Hair can be removed as short as 2–3 mm, no need to wait for long regrowth

• Sugar is water-soluble, so it cleans easily with water, no sticky residue