Recipe for Sugar paste hair removal ( No strips needed)

Here is my post about at home hair removal using sugar paste. I made it 2 days ago. This sugar paste is also known as Halawa (arabic term?) hair removal  I believe . I prefer sugaring over waxing for various reasons:


-Sugaring doesn't hurt as much as waxing
-Sugar is all natural with no chemicals
-Sugar paste is easy to make at home and also to use

Ingredients

• Granulated (regular) sugar                      1.5 cups
• Water                                                    1    cup
• Lemon juice                                           1     teaspoon

Method

• Mix all the ingredients in a small saucepan and put it over medium heat on the stove. 
• At first when the sugar, water and lemon juice is mixed and stirred it will appear milky in colour but as it heats up it will transform into a clear liquid (make sure your heat isn't too high as sugar tends to cook and change colour very rapidly once it is hot)
• Stir the mixture occasionally (with a wooden stick or spoon preferably) the clear mixture will start to boil and form big foamy bubbles
• Now if you have a candy thermometer life will be much easier for you as once the mixture hits 250 F the sugar paste is ready.
• If you do not have a candy thermometer (like me) than keep an eye on the mixture and keep checking the colour. Due to the bubbles you won't be able to see the colour directly so you'd have to take it off the heat to let the bubbles settle down and than check the colour ( or take it out on a spoon and check it)
• From a clear liquid it will change colour in to translucent gold and once it starts getting close to brown the paste is ready. If it becomes brown than it may have reached candy stage (higher than needed) so when it cools down it won't be pasty but will be like a hard candy.
• Pour the mixture in a wide container ( I recycled a Cool Whip container :o)   )

I originally got the recipe from this website http://deardarla.typepad.com/dear_darla_diaries/2008/06/halawa-body-sugaring.html  but the quantity was double and I didn't want to waste 3 cups of sugar in case I over cooked it. 

Do check out this website as the technique on how to use the paste is there and a lot of useful information regarding sugaring including as a comparison of benefits of sugaring with waxing.

I did  take the picture of my final product and here's what it looked like:

UPDATE Feb 2012

Just a quick note, I think 250 is too high of temperature for the sugar mixture, heat it uptill 240