After her first “sugar,” Southern Sugaring owner and licensed esthetician Jessica Mock was sold on the concept but didn’t realize she one day would have her own sugaring business.
Like waxing, sugaring is a hair-removal process, but instead of wax, it uses a paste of sugar, lemon juice and water to remove hair from different areas of the body. The process is less painful than waxing and uses natural ingredients to remove hair.
The paste only removes dead skin cells along with the hair follicles, limiting the raw feeling people sometimes feel after waxing.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hair removal consumer update, while they do not remove hair permanently, sugaring, waxing and threading are all techniques used by professionals in the United States for hair removal. Because each procedure pulls the hair out at the follicle, consumers may experience irritation from any of them, including sugaring.
While irritation is possible, Tamara Anderson, owner and president of Tamara’s Professional Body Sugaring, said it is gentler on the skin because it is made of natural products, only adheres to dead skin cells and is pulled in the natural direction of the hair.
Southern Sugaring, a new business located on Bay Street inside RMC Boutique and opened by Mock about a month ago, offers customers a candy-themed sugaring experience.
After first going to school for fashion design, she said she went to esthetic school and later got a job at a salon that offered sugaring.
“So the owner taught me how for about a week. I kind of hated it. It was really hard,” she said. “With sugaring you really have to figure it out because it’s such a process.”
After supervised learning for about a week, Mock had to take over her boss’ clients while she was out with pneumonia. She believes having to do most of her learning on the job, while difficult, was one of the reasons she fell in love with the process.
As a result, Mock decided recently to narrow her career and start her own business purely for sugaring.
In addition to sugaring for other people, she teaches classes to help others become certified through Tamara’s Professional Body Sugaring.
“I became an educator either two or three years ago and was really nervous about it,” Mock said. “I didn’t know if I was going to like teaching people, and it turned out that I loved it and it became something that was a part of my career.”
To become an educator, a professional must complete several steps, including taking an online test about sugaring and must be invited by Anderson. All educators must also have already been a licensed esthetician to enroll in Anderson’s certification program, she said.
Teaching classes gives Mock the opportunity to meet new people from all over, as she is one of only three certified educators on the East Coast.
Tamika Hartsfield, an Atlanta resident, said she spent about a month looking for a sugaring class in her area and after not finding one closer than Savannah she and two of her friends decided to make the drive to take Mock’s classes.
“When I entered into Jessica’s studio, it was beautiful,” she said. “Jessica was super sweet and professional. If I had to take this class over again I would drive to Savannah again.”
Mock’s own experiences with waxing have helped shape her feelings about and experiences with sugaring. Before she discovered sugaring, she said, she had not had good experiences with waxing but thought it was because of her skin type and something she would have to live with.
“Instead, when I started sugaring, I would only get two or three bumps but they would be gone the next day,” she said. “I was amazed by it. I am a believer.”
IF YOU GO
What: Southern Sugaring
Where: 316 E Bay
Info: 912-682-1139 and southernsugaring.com