Hair Removal: Halawa

Salam 3alaikum ya banaat!

One thing I had to be much more diligent about when I got married was hair removal. Because of my skin type/condition hair removal is very difficult, tedious and often painful. I am very prone to razor burn and ingrown hairs because of all that extra keratin my skin/follicles are producing.

The best method I have found for hair removal is halawa. Some people might know it as "sugaring." (halawa just means something sweet)

Because finding anything useful in my hometown is incredibly difficult, I had to learn how to make halawa in my own house. It takes some time but you can make a big batch and put it in little plastic tupperwares to keep it fresh. If you live somewhere hot it might be better to keep it inside the fridge so it will last longer, but generally I keep mine in a airtight container in the cabinet (not in the bathroom... it gets too hot in there).

So the method for making halawa is like this:
(this is for one batch, you could very easily double or triple it if you like, it wont make any big difference)

1. put 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, juice from 1/2 lemon into a small saucepan
2. simmer on low heat until the sugar has started to caramelize, turning a nice dark amber color.
3. stir every 5 to 10 minutes, this size batch usually takes me about 30 minutes. larger batches might take longer to finish cooking.
4. be careful not to let it go too long.... if you cook it too long it turns into hard candy lol
5. let it cool a little in the pan, then distribute into containers. if i make a double batch i like to use several small containers which i use to delicate areas like face and bikini area and a couple bigger containers to use for larger areas like my legs.
6. when you want to use it, like it sit in some warm water for a little while so that it will loosen up from the sides a  little and come out easier. otherwise you will have to wrestle with it to get it off the plastic.

note: if you find after it has cooled that the sugar won't form a soft ball because it is too sticky, you can just put it back in the pan and cook it a little longer. there isn't a good way to save it if you cook it too long, but you could always eat it like candy :-P it actually has a nice and interesting flavor!

The color should come out something like the picture on the right inshaAllah. It looks a little goopy in the picture since it is still a little warm.

InshaAllah I will put together another post on how to use it!