The Science of Body Sugaring

Sugarbush Spa is a London-based company that specializes in the removal of unwanted body hair by a method known as sugaring. The method, used for centuries in the Middle East, has several notable advantages over traditional waxing. Commercially available sugaring pastes suffer from inconsistency in production and unsatisfactory performance. At its core, the creation of sugaring paste is a synthetic organic chemical reaction, hydrolyzing the disaccharide sucrose to the two monosaccharides glucose and fructose. The goal of this internship is to develop a superior sugaring paste using scientifically-informed methods. The intern will use an iterative process, keeping a strict log of conditions and a record of observations and results. Product samples will be examined using NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, and evaluated by expert staff at Sugarbush Spa for is physical properties. Ultimately, a standard operating procedure will be developed for Sugarbush Spa to create a consistent, high-quality sugaring paste.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Michael Kerr

Student:

Joanne Curiel Tejeda

Partner:

Sugarbush Spa

Discipline:

Chemistry

Sector:

Consumer goods

University:

Western University