Our Latest News

Stephanie King, Esthetician, Sugaring Educator

Owner, The Sugarista  Portland, Oregon

Co-Owner Sugar Cube Training

Stephanie King lost half an eyebrow during a waxing incident in esthetics school in 2007. Seven years later she owns two companies and teaches the art of sugaring to others so they don't lose any part of their eyebrow.

After that incident, King dug deeper into hair removal techniques, “I knew there had to be a better option,” she said. “And after researching I found Sugaring.”

She’s been sugaring full time every since discovering it. Going into business for herself wasn’t that much of stretch. Her parents owned a business together.

“They ran their business with such integrity,” she said. “I remember feeling very proud to be a King growing up, because people knew my parents as honest, hardworking, caring people in our community. When my dad passed away eight years ago hundreds of people from my tiny town came out to remember him. It was really touching to see how much he was respected for the work he did and the person we was. He was able to be his best and express his generous spirit through his business and I just think that is the most amazing thing. My parents set a great example for me in regard to how people should be treated and I find it so fulfilling to have a business where I get to be of service.”

King said she appreciates others who have great integrity, too.

“The first time I spoke with Tamara (Tamara’s Sugar) I knew I was going to be a customer,” King said. “She gave me the best service and I had her product in my hands just a few days later. She is fast! I really love Tamara’s Sugar Paste and all of the pre- and post- products. I appreciate Tamara as a small business owner who truly cares about her customers. I know Tamara’s got my back and when you run your own business that’s worth its weight in gold. I am so happy to be a part of Tamara’s education team. I am really excited to see where this road takes me and am especially thrilled to see Sugaring hit the mainstream!”

Getting more students proficient at sugaring is helping project sugaring into mainstream beauty world. King’s desire to be of service, sometimes gets in the way of her teaching, so she’s developed a habit of keeping her hands in her pockets when she’s teaching.

“I taught a class in my town in Illinois and had six students in a conference room at a local hotel,” King recalls. “I remember thinking that I needed to be sure to teach and not just jump in and fix everyone’s issues for them. I kept reminding myself that I needed to explain how to get unstuck instead of just getting someone unstuck. I kept my hands in my pockets for most of the first day to resist the urge.”

She said that her Sugar Cube training covers so much more than the basics.

“I aim to give you as many tools and practical tidbits of knowledge as I possibly can,” King said. “Think of it as my seven years of trial-and-error condensed down into several mini lessons you can use right away with your clients. I don’t hold back any knowledge in class, if you want to learn something it is my pleasure to teach you how to do it. Just ask.”

Meanwhile, when King isn’t working in her studio, The Sugarista, or providing Sugar Cube training, she works on other projects.

“I am obsessed with oils, clays and hydrosols and have been quietly developing a product line that sources lesser known ingredients from different parts of the world,” she said. “Right now I have one product that has been selling for a year and four more that I hope to launch by next spring.  I’m also a recovering from five-year addiction to purchasing web domain names on GoDaddy.”

Her sense of humor and ability to talk to anyone she feels is key to her success. The Sugarist is going strong and she believes her passion and integrity will help propel her further. Both qualities help her spread the word about professional sugaring.

“I wish that everyone knew how awesome sugaring is,” she said. “But, until then, I will keep spreading the word.”

Kayla Johnson, Owner

Skin Care by Kayla Marie at Z Salon and Spa

Skin Care Rep for A Natural Difference

Body Sugaring Educator, Beauty Blogger &  Dancer

Imagine someone with their leg up on the sink, as if it were a ballet barre, repeatedly practicing sugaring. Well, that wasn’t some fantasy that was Kayla Johnson’s realty for awhile.

“That was me,” she said. “Leg propped up on my bathroom counter thinking, ‘I’m never going to get this’!”

A former ballet dancer, Johnson wants everyone to know that sugaring takes time to learn, and is one of the reasons she became an educator.

“Some things are unexplainable,” she said. “I can explain things over and over again, but sometimes it doesn’t click or work quite how it should the first time for a student; but, in time, it just happens and they’re on their way.

She said that teaching brings her valuable inspiration, which she hadn’t expected.

“I often go back to work the next day (after teaching) feeling so great. It’s so much fun teaching estheticians that are so hungry to learn something new, and see their eyes opened to this amazing art form.”

One thing she’d like to teach everyone is the difference between sugaring and waxing.

“It is truly astounding!” Johnson said. “How we got away from sugaring to waxing, I will never know.”

Johnson said she believes her business, Skin Care by Kayla Marie at Z Salon and Spa in Berea, Ohio, is more than a place where people’s faces get massaged or learn to work with makeup.

“I’m a skin changer, confidence booster, therapist, and often leave work after a long day feeling satisfied, yet my body aches,” she said. “Just because I work in a spa doesn’t mean I don’t work very hard.”

She especially loves doing brow sugaring, she said, noting that the creativity it involves brings to light one of her strongest skills.

“My clients always say, ‘you’re the expert, so do whatever you want’!” she said. “This allows me, if needed, to completely re-frame a face. The look of shock and happiness after a brow sugaring is why I do my job.”

Her personal philosophy on business it to offer treatments how she would want her own treatments done, she said.

 “I do this while staying true to my love of natural and organic products, and a holistic approach to skincare,” Johnson said.

With that in mind it was a instinctive that she would partner with Tamara’s Sugar. She said that she first found Tamara’s company more than three years ago when she was searching for a company to train her in sugaring.

“At the time, I didn’t really know all what sugaring was, or had ever seen a treatment before,” Johnson said. “After getting such a quick, kind, and informative response from Tamara, I knew hers was the company for me.”

Even at six months pregnant, Rashelle Barney is constantly working to handle the overflow of sugaring clients at her spa Blush Olympia in Olympia, Wash. She has seen substantial growth of her clientele since starting to sugar.

“It’s hard turning clients away, it makes me feel horrible,” she said. Therefore she’s training more people to be sugaring experts like herself.

Barney first heard about sugaring hair removal in 2008 – three years after becoming an esthetician.

“I was shocked that simply sugar, lemon, and water could remove hair without the harsh side effects of waxing!” she said.

Becoming a skilled professional in it was a different story, however, she’ll tell you.

“My first memory of sugaring was: ‘oh my gosh, this is hard! I’m never going to be able to do this’. I had been waxing for years before switching to sugaring, so it was quite a difficult transition. I made myself stick with it, despite the challenges. Eventually it just clicked.”

It clicked enough that in due course she connected with Tamara’s Professional Body Sugaring™ a became a sugaring educator.

Barney said it surprised her that her students grasped the technique so quickly.

“Wow, she’s doing so much better than I did my first time,” is something Barney thinks while teaching students, she said.

“It’s exciting to see them succeed and be able to share how wonderful sugaring is.”

She plans on continuing sharing sugaring with clients and other professionals – even after the baby comes. "I wear an apron at work and haven’t quite 'popped' yet so a lot of my clients still don’t know that my husband and I are expecting a baby girl soon!"

“One thing I wish more people knew about sugaring is how great the results can be,” she said. “I think people just assume that hair removal means ingrown hairs, irritation, etc. I wish more people knew that there is a better alternative to waxing and shaving!”

Barney specializes in her Brazilian technique, which she claims was the hardest thing for her to learn, but she said she stuck to it and became a pro at it.

“I chose Tamara’s products,” she said, “not just because of the convenience of her being local, but I realized her products are so much more user friendly. The sugar paste in general is easier to work with, it doesn’t leave the skin sticky, and I never get stuck.” She added that the support Tamara offers – always being available for questions – just makes working with her so very pleasant.

A pleasant work environment is a great place for a mommy-to-be. It’s too soon to tell if the Barney’s expected child will follow in mommy’s footsteps, but, baby Barney will definitely know that mom loves her second job of sugaring clients.

By Casondra Brewster, Creative Word Lab