What makes this kind of hair removal different is that it literally uses sugar instead of wax. With its thick, caramel-like consistency, it works identically to regular waxing, only instead of spreading a wax substance over the skin you’re spreading caramel. Is sugaring better than waxing, as many companies claim? As far as your hair is concerned, the effect is identical. You spread the sugar substance over the hair you want removed (there needs to be some hair length or there won’t be anything for it to grab). Then you rip it off and the hair comes off, same as waxing.
However, there are two main positives to sugaring over waxing. First, sugaring’s mess washes away while wax has to be peeled or scratched off (and that isn’t easy). Plus sugaring doesn’t usually require heating while waxing often does, and adding heat is far more damaging to skin! Easy cleanup and a relatively easier application (no risk of burn) are the incredible benefits of sugaring.
Claims for waxing and sugaring usually state that they are more effective than other at-home methods because when the hair is extracted it includes the roots, so regrowth is softer, finer, and slower. That isn’t true. Hormones and genetics determine hair growth and hair thickness, not the hair-removal method. What does happen when you “tweeze” hair is that, because it has been removed closer to the root, the new hair takes longer to grow back to the top of the skin, in contrast to shaving, where the hair is removed only from the surface, so the hair pops back out faster. Also, because each hair follicle has a different rate of growth, there will be less of it as it grows back than what was present when you first waxed or sugared, making the hair seem softer.
There are also claims that sugaring prevents ingrown hairs. Ingrown hairs are unrelated to the way hair is removed. Ingrown hairs occur when a hair that has been removed below the skin’s surface has trouble finding its way back to the surface as it regrows. That applies to hair removal in general, regardless of whether you shave, tweeze, sugar, or wax.