Awhile ago I wrote about leg waxing with sugar. But since I’m always interested in going even more “primy”, I wanted to try a more free and bio-regionally available body hair remover. So when my friend Brian gave me a full can of pine pitch I knew just what I was going to do with it. Sometimes pitch is hard and crystally, but this stuff was naturally soft like taffy. I warmed it up inside a pot of boiling water, double boiler style, and tried it out. Lo and behold it worked just like the sugar, maybe even better.

From what I can see, one advantage is the pitch is liquid at a lower temperature so its less easy to burn yourself, and also you don’t have to boil it, and either use a thermometer or test it repeatedly to get it to the right consistency. The disadvantage is sugar dissolves in hot water, pitch doesn’t so its harder to clean up. I would recommend doing it outside or on newspaper, using a dedicated container like the aluminum can for melting and a dedicated pitch utensil like a flat stick or butter knife for stirring and spreading.

Then be careful not to get it all over. You’ll get some of it stuck to you anyway. As my friends in Northern California know, alcohol or oil helps dissolve resin. I found a rancid glob of butter in my fridge and used that to get off the remaining sticky. It worked like a charm. Then I rinsed my legs because I didn’t want them to smell like rancid butter, even though they were very smooth and shiny and a great photo op at this point…next up, bikini line! ouch.