Homemade leg wax using sugar is one of my favourite sustainable, frugal, and really effective DIYs! Once I discovered a way to make a hair removal wax at home with 2 ingredients I always have on hand – I’ve never gone back. With the dark hair I have, I prefer the ease of waxing over shaving and this has been a hugely efficient and simple game changer that I absolutely recommend trying!

When you start looking online for a homemade wax recipe using sugar you’ll see two different versions that give two different kinds of hair removal, and most of them use lemons. I tried lots of different ways of doing it and then tried without lemons because I don’t keep them in my house all the time. This is recipe below is what I’ve landed on as the easiest and most simple, with frugal pantry staple ingredients.

How easy is waxing with sugar?

This recipe is a brilliant one I’ve been using for years and is so worth trying out. But I’m going to set you up for success. It’s a method that can take some getting used to. When you heat sugar it changes and you have to get it to just the right point. That’s why I’ve added a video to this recipe so you can see the process and the photos and video both show the colour you need to get to to be ready for waxing.

I love that you can get the ingredients for this homemade wax anywhere, so if you’re travelling there’s nothing special you need to take with you. It’s 50p-£1 (less that $1!) for a full wax depending on where you buy ingredients with very little waste and nothing that ends up in landfill.

You don’t need lemon juice for homemade leg wax!

The recipes you’ll find online for sugar waxing mostly use lemon juice, but I don’t keep lemons around. So if I need to wax last minute – I can’t make homemade wax without going to the shops. I often replace lemons in other recipes with apple cider vinegar so I tried waxing with an apple cider vinegar and suaghr and it works SO WELL! You can also use lime or lemon, whatever you have on hand, I tried all three. Then I used organic granulated sugar (which I get package free HERE), and water.

Is homemade sugar wax safe?

When you’re making homemade sugar wax, safety is KEY so please be careful! Melted sugar reaches extremely high temperatures and can cause serious burns. I don’t use a thermometer in the video, and I always wait 20 minutes from heating the sugar, then test with my finger for a safe temp. If it’s too hot for my finger I leave it too cool for another 10 minutes. Once I can tolerate the wax on my finer, then test on a tiny patch of my leg. Again if it’s too hot, I wait. When it’s cool enough I then use the wax to remove the hair.

HOWEVER, I can’t recommend that as safe. Please always use a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature—your sugar wax should be cooled to around 100–110°F (37–43°C) before touching your skin —this is a safe, warm temperature that won’t burn your skin. Always test a small amount on your wrist before applying it to a larger area. If it’s too hot, allow it to cool further to prevent irritation or burns. Work carefully without kids present to avoid spills, and clean up carefully. You can always rewarm the leg wax if it cools too much.

Sugaring vs Waxing with Sugar

Sugar waxing or “sugaring” and waxing with sugar are slightly different things. One uses just the soft sugar ball and the other uses strips to pull out the hair. Personally I think the waxing with sugar shown in this video is easier to get the hang of as a beginner, and a more easy way to start doing DIY waxing.

“Sugaring” is a sugar wax without strips and uses just the ball of sugar to pull out hairs. This recipe for waxing with sugar is more like regular waxing, you don’t need wax strips but you need some thick paper or sturdy fabric to use to pull the wax off with the hair. I use craft paper from food packaging like flour bags.

I think this waxing ratio rather than sugaring is a bit easier to master. I recommend starting there. After cooling the syrup for about 20-30 minutes (or until you can touch it comfortably) you’ll be left with a sugar wax that works just the same as regular wax.

Troubleshooting the homemade wax process:

If you start with a slightly brown sugar and use a brown pan, it can be hard to see the colour change! Pour the mixture into a white bowl and look for a dark maple syrup colour like the photo below. If its lighter, it won’t thicken to wax. If you take it out too early you can return it to the pan for another 2 minutes and check again. I usually at 15 minutes but usually go to 15-25 minutes of cook time in the end.

Some recipes say to stir the sugar wax while it heats and other recipes say not to stir, some say low heat, some say higher. Personally I found it doesn’t matter too much as long as the heat isn’t too high, I usually mix a few times. The mixture just needs to reach a dark maple syrup brown like in the photos. Usually around 20 minutes of seeing little bubbles but not a vigorous boil.

Most recipes mostly show either 2 or 4 tablespoons of lemon (vinegar). Different amount of the lemon juice, will make two different things. With less vinegar you’ll get a “sugaring” recipe. For that you don’t use cloth or paper to take off the sugar, you knead the sugar and use just a ball of sugar. This method also works in the opposite direction to waxing, pulling with the hair rather than pulling back the wax in the opposite direction of hair growth. I would recommend the recipe quantities shown below for a starting point and (in my opinion) and easier waxing method for beginners.

Using homemade sugar wax

After heating and pouring the sugar wax into a bowl and leaving it to cool, you’ll be left with a thick sticky… very sticky, liquid. Then you’ll need a stick like an ice cream stick to put in on your skin. Spreading it on in the direction of the hair.

I use a ripped up paper flour bag to take off the wax. You can use fabric or thicker paper – anything thinner than kraft style paper will rip. Smoothing the paper on over the wax and ripping it off in small areas. Once you’ve ripped off a section you can use it again a few times, or use the paper again with new wax.

Is sugar waxing sustainable?

In terms of the waste created- nothing needs to go to landfull with sugar waxing and I love that! You’re left with fully compostable waste only. any remaining wax can be dissolved and cleaned in warm water, and the papers, wax and hair can all be composted. If you’re using fabric, I soak them in warm water first, then throw them in the wash.

How much sugar wax do I need to make?

This is going to depend on the size of the area you want to wax but using the recipe below I always have enough for both my legs up to just above the knee, my bikini line, and then my eyebrows. I probably wouldn’t recommend making more than this quantity at once just for ease and safety so I’d do two batches if I needed more than this amount.

Print Recipe

Homemade 2 Ingredient Sugar Leg Wax without Lemon

Prep Time1

Servings: 1

Cost: Less than $1/£1

Equipment

1 Saucepan
1 wooden spatula (an old ice cream stick!)
1 Tablespoon
1 Cup Measure
1 White Bowl for testing the colour

Ingredients

4 tablespoons vinegar
4 tablespoons water
8 oz sugar

Instructions

Add the sugar, water, and vinegar to a small saucepan. Make sure to do this process carefully, heating sugar can burn your skin!
Heat the pan over a low/medium heat for 20 minutes until you get a golden maple syrup colour.
After about 15 minutes, pouring the sugar wax into a white bowl to help with gauging the correct colour. You want it to reach the deep golden maple syrup colour shown in the photo and video above.
Once the sugar wax is the right colour, leave it to cool for around 30 minutes, until it's showing 100–110°F (37–43°C) on a thermometer and until you can touch it.
*When making homemade sugar wax, safety is key, as melted sugar reaches extremely high temperatures and can cause serious burns. Always use a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature and before using, let the wax cool to around 100–110°F (37–43°C)—this is a safe, warm temperature that won’t burn your skin. Always test a small amount on your wrist before applying it to a larger area. If it’s too hot, allow it to cool further to prevent irritation or burns.
After testing a small area, use a wooden stick or blunt butter knife to apply the sugar wax to the skin in small sections. Apply the sugar wax, smoothing in the direction of hair growth.
Then put paper strips over the top and then quickly pull it off against the direction of the hair.
Continue until the areas you want are complete.
To clean, add warm water to the pans and bowls and leave to soak then they will clean out easily. Any papers can be composted so nothing goes to landfill, and rags used can be rinsed in warm water then thrown in the wash.