I have come to the conclusion that I greatly prefer waxing to shaving; however, it is expensive and I had horrible results with many recipes I found online. Being a nerd I had to perfect the recipe. The main culprit was the acid in the recipes. Lemon juice acidity is too variable between batches and brands and vinegar batches seemed to always crystalize during use. My solution was to use citric acid. It can be found with canning/preserving supplies and solved my problems.

My recipe is not for use with strips. Here it is:

2 cups sugar ½ cup water ¾ tsp citric acid powder

Place above in a sauce pan. Use a candy thermometer and heat to the temp between hard ball and soft crack and hold it there about 30 seconds before removing from heat and dump on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet or container.

Another tip I picked up was to use corn starch on your hands and wherever the hair is on your body. It makes the body sugar easier to handle and reduces skin irritation.