i tried it tonight, and it does work, but it's difficult to get consistent results. each chunk removed some of the hair but not all. this was using the sugaring paste with no strips, just press on and pull off. it gets sticky pretty quickly, the first two or three presses with the same chunk will work and then it turns to taffy and sticks messily to the skin. it really did feel like i was waxing with taffy, kind of weird. unlike waxing, smoothing on talc or cornstarch is a necessity - it won't remove the hair at all otherwise, and you have to reapply the talc to the area if you need to re-do it for missed hair. i used cornstarch because that's what i had on hand, and that worked fine. i also found that pulling against the direction of the hair growth, as with waxing, yielded the best results.

i had better results on my bikini area because the hair was longer there. the hair on my leg wasn't quite 1/4" - having that length seems to be more important than with waxing. the sugar paste seems to grip the longer hair better, which makes sense.

i'm thinking that heating the paste and using it with strips might yield more consistent results and be easier to work with, although you will go through the sugar paste faster, and you'll need to buy strips. i also imagine that like with any slightly complicated beauty technique, it gets easier and more effective with practice.

i won't be giving up my braun epilator for sugaring, but i'm curious to see if i get less ingrown hairs in my bikini area from this method.