Sugar has a bad rap, which it rightly deserves. In a 58-week study by University of Utah, the mice fed a diet containing 25% sugar were twice as likely to die than the mice fed a similar diet without sugar. A diet high in sugar has been linked to health problems, such as high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, heart attack, and more. Since sugar is in almost everything, especially processed foods, it’s easy to indulge to excess.
If we shouldn’t be ingesting it, what are some of the uses for sugar?
Here are 25 ways for sugar to be a part of your day without endangering your life:
Sugar for the body (external)
1. Tongue Burns
Burn your tongue from sipping hot coffee or tea? Sprinkle a few granules on your tongue and the pain should dissipate.
2. Hair Gel
A teaspoon of sugar dissolved in a cup of warm water makes great hair gel. Dissolve the sugar, then dip your fingers in the mixture and style your hair. It works swell for spiky-hair looks.
3. Lipstick Extender
Apply your lipstick as usual, then sprinkle a bit of sugar on your lips, let it sit, and then dip your finger in a little water and dab off the remaining sugar. This should extend the wear of your lipstick.
4. Body Exfoliant
Put a teaspoon of sugar in a shot glass and add your favorite shower gel. Mix together and scrub away. The coarseness of the sugar will exfoliate your dead skin, helping to reveal newer skin.
5. Face Exfoliant
It’s also important to exfoliate your face, but not with shower gel. Shower gel is too strong for the delicate skin on your face. Instead, take a pinch of sugar and a few drops of olive oil and gently scrub your face. Daily exfoliation will aid in your skin’s renewal cycle, remove dead skin cells that may clog your pores, and prevent breakouts.
6. Pedicure
If you want to remove the hard skin on your heels and feet, there is nothing better than adding a pinch of sugar to any gel soap, and using a pumice stone to work it in.
7. Self-Tanner Fixer-Upper
To repair self-tanner mistakes, mix 1 tablespoon sugar with ¼ cup coconut oil, and then scrub your hands, elbows, knees, and other areas where the self-tanning lotion accumulated strangely. The sugar will exfoliate the excess self-tanner while the coconut oil nourishes, moisturizes, and makes your skin smell like you just came from the tropics!
8. Remove Unwanted Hair
To remove unwanted hair, mix 2 cups of sugar, ¼ cup of lemon, and ¼ cup of water in a stainless steel pot. Cook until it’s a dark amber color, and has taffy-like consistency. This substance can be used with waxing strips or without to naturally remove unwanted hair. Cool before using.
9. Heal Cuts
Sprinkle sugar over minor cuts. The antiseptic qualities of sugar act as a mild disinfectant and help prevent infection while aiding the blood clotting process. This use was documented in the early 80s when Dr. Richard Knutson, MD, created a formula mixing 4 pounds of table sugar, 1 pound of Betadine (iodine) antiseptic ointment, and 6.50 ounces of Betadine solution in a double boiler over low heat which he used to heal “hard-to-treat” wounds. (Southern Medical Journal, Nov. 1981)
Sugar Uses in the Home and Garden
10. Fresh flower food
Mix 3 teaspoons of sugar with 2 tablespoons of vinegar for each ¼ cup of water. This mixture helps to keep flowers fresh and restricts bacteria growth.
11. Grass stain remover
Make a paste-like solution, combining warm water with sugar, and then apply on the stain. Let it soak for at least an hour, and then wash normally.
12. Ant Killer
Combine equal amounts of sugar, water, and borax. Soak cotton balls in the mixture and place in areas where ants enter the home. The sugar attracts them and the borax kills them.
13. Wasp trapper
Make syrup combining water and sugar, pour into a tempered jar and set outside to attract wasps.
14. Worm slayer
Sprinkle 2.25 kilograms of sugar for every 250 square feet of garden patch to prevent nematodes from invading your garden.
15. Cockroach exterminator
Combine equal parts sugar and baking powder and pour over infested areas. Sugar attracts the roaches and the baking powder kills them.
16. Fly strip
Create syrup by mixing equal parts sugar, honey, and water. Let cool. Cut strips of brown packing tape, punch holes, and tie a string on one end. Dip strip in the syrup mixture, let excess syrup drip away, and then hang where the flies like to collect. Make sure you hang the strips in places where people will not walk into them.
17. Melt ice & snow
Everyone knows about using salt to melt ice, but sugar works just as well.
18. Clean coffee & nut grinders
Pour ¼ cup of sugar into the grinder to eliminate excess oils and odor.
Sugar uses for the artist
19. Make fake blood
Create syrup with coffee water, sugar, and corn starch. Cool in the fridge and then add red and green food coloring to find the right blood-red color you desire.
20. Make breakable glass
Create syrup with 3 ½ cups of sugar, 1 cup corn syrup, 2 cups water, and ¼ cup of cream of tartar. Bring to boil slowly. Chill a cookie sheet and spray heavily with cooking spray. Pour syrup into sheet and let it cool. Remember, even if its fake glass you might still cut yourself.
21. Make sugar skulls
Sugar skulls are traditional folk art from Southern Mexico used to celebrate the Day of the Dead. The skull molds are made of sugar, meringue powder, and water. They are dried overnight and decorated.
22. Make art
Sugar cubes can be dyed, stacked, glued, and formed into different objects like igloos, buildings, bridges, and more.
Sugar uses for the adventurous
23. Make charcoal
Mix equal parts sugar and concentrated sulfuric acid in a beaker to make charcoal.
24. Create a sugar snake
Use more of the mixture and make a sugar snake.
25. Make a chemical fire
In a fireproof container mix a small amount of sodium chlorate and sugar. Initiate the reaction by adding a few drops of sulfuric acid.
