Pour some sugar on me: talking Sugaring with Keely Watson

Sugaring must by one of the world’s oldest beauty tricks, with evidence that it popped up as early as 1900BC! Something that’s been around that long must definitely be deserving of a jolly good go so it’s amazing that I only experienced it for a the first time a few weeks ago!
I guess it took the right person to suggest that I give it a try, and in this case it was the wonderfully talented and incredibly affable Keely Watson, a popular beauty professional who works from her home by the beach on Auckland’s North Shore.
First up, I asked her why - after so many years in the industry - did she just decide to embark on the sugaring route now? It appears that it all came down to product…
“I've actually had my eyes on a particular brand of Sugaring hair removal for about five years now,” she tells me, “after I got a heads-up from an American beauty therapist who was working in NZ who couldn't believe that Sugaring wasn't popular down here.” She gave Keely the name of the brand that she’s now working with, Alexandria Professional, and just raved about it for both results and hygiene. “My passion for skin health extends to safe and effective hair removal,” adds Keely, “so I researched it and talked to other business owners overseas working with it. I was really impressed with what I found BUT because the technique is just as important as the product itself, it wasn't feasible at the time to go any further with it. So, reluctantly, I shelved the idea.”
Fast forward to July this year and AP finally made its way down under, so Keely jumped at the chance to be one of the first in New Zealand to train with it, “which also gave me the priceless opportunity for one on one training with the Sugar Queen herself, Lina Kennedy.”
When I ask her if she will replace wax with it over time, she says that she’s getting great results with Brazilian, underarm, and facial (brows, lip, chin) Sugaring so “I have transitioned from wax to sugar for these treatments. It can be used all over the body, but these are the areas I specialise in, so I'm only offering those services at the moment. These also happen to be areas where the skin is most delicate so the use of something very gentle, yet effective, is so important.
After experiencing an underarm Sugaring at the hands of Keely I was amazed at the fact that I didn’t get even one ingrown and not even the slightest sign of redness post-treatment. Would this be the same for Sugaring other areas? “Ingrown hairs are a tricky subject and ultimately it comes down to the client’s aftercare,” explains the beautiful blonde. “The main point of difference is that with Sugaring the hair is removed WITH the natural growth and not AGAINST it like with waxing, and therefore, with proper technique it's not distorting the follicle in the process (some ingrown hair issues do start because of incorrect hair removal technique).” Another unique difference is that the sugar is moulded over the skin and into the hair follicle, therefore making it more effective at “grabbing” the entire hair and much shorter hairs, that waxing may miss. Getting the hair at this short, first active stage (anagen) of growth is important when trying to achieve hair reduction.
Keely says that the result she’s most impressed with is the condition of the skin immediately after sugaring, “it's like a skin conditioning treatment - the skin actually looks healthy. Clients have noticed this too and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Clients have commented that the area - if slightly red - returns to normal soon after, hair growth seems slower (which makes sense if the shorter hairs are being picked up), and it's not as painful as waxing because the hair is being taken in the direction of growth, just like tweezing.”
The aftercare for Sugaring is the same as with any type of epilation, i.e. as the hair has been taken from underneath the surface of the skin, avoid anything that may irritate the open follicle. This includes sweating or heat from exercise or sauna, UV
(over)exposure, no deodorant (underarms), no perfumed or synthetic moisturisers etc for 24-48 hours after a treatment. “Then I recommend gentle daily exfoliation - ideally with a dry body brush, or a dry loofah - and daily moisturising with a top quality natural oil such as jojoba. These two daily rituals should help eliminate most cases of ingrown hairs.” Hallelujah to that!