There's one thing lash artists get asked the most often - how long will my lash extensions last? Your answer to this may vary between 4-6 weeks, depending on which adhesive you use. However, you need to stress that how your client takes care of the lashes plays a crucial part in ensuring strong retention.
Lash extensions need proper maintenance without which the desired effect is impossible to achieve. In this article, LivBay Lash has 3 key lash extensions care tips that every lash artist needs to share with their clients.
1. Keeping Lash Extensions Clean
Retention fully depends on the lash adhesive, which requires special conditions to perform at its finest. Lash extensions tend to lose attachment more quickly if they interact with oily substances. And guess what, our natural lashes and skin do everything in their power to produce oils and ruin our dreamy lash extensions. Well, they are doing what they are designed to do so we can’t get mad at natural oil production. What we can do is to develop a daily cleansing routine and make sure that lashes are oil-free. Washing lash extensions has its rules. Let’s go through them:
- Use Oil-Free Cleanser - Because of the fact that oil is the first enemy of lash extensions, you need to make sure that you only use oil-free products, including cleansers. In order to make sure the lash wash you use on your extensions contains all the right ingredients, we recommend using not just any cleanser but a special lash cleanser. Another tip you can give your clients regarding lash extension care is to use a foamy cleanser instead of a gel one. Foamy cleansers don’t require rubbing to get activated, which is better because you want to avoid rubbing your eyes at any cost.
- Use Cleansing Brush - Washing lash extensions is a tricky task because, on the one hand, you need to be super gentle not to ruin the attachment but on the other hand, you need to make sure that you get all the way into the lash line to remove the excess oil. The best way to do this is by using a special brush instead of hands. When you use a lash brush, its soft bristles don’t cause any damage to the retention and also manage to go in between every single lash and remove all the oil and dirt.
- Dry Gently - It is obvious that rubbing freshly washed lash extensions with a towel is not a good idea. We suggest patting lashes delicately with a towel to get rid of the excess water that is dripping in the eyes. However, this is not enough to fully dry lash extensions, especially volume or mega volume sets. If your client has time and patience they can wait until lashes dry naturally. However, if they are on the go, recommend using a handheld fan. This little tool is super comfortable for both lash artists and lash lovers. The fan doesn’t produce heat, so there’s no fear of heat exposure. Apart from providing a fast drying option, the hand handled fan separates lashes beautifully and helps restore the posture after losing it due to washing.
2. No Make Up Rule
Another crucial part of lash extension care is avoiding eye make up as much as possible. Make up may cause to dissolve cyanoacrylates - the most important ingredient in lash glue that ensures retention. So as a lash artist, you need to make your client understand that if they eye make up their investment in lash extensions would go to waste. However, in our experience, clients are likely to use make up around their eyes no matter what you tell them. So we always make sure that we share some hacks of wearing eye make up with lash extensions without ruining them completely. Here they go:
- The base is off-limits - Mascara, liquid liner, or a gel liner, are the products that have the worst effect on lash extensions when they interact with the glue that holds it together. So, if your client absolutely has to use eye make up, tell them to stay away from the base. This automatically excludes gel liner and liquid liner as they can only be used at the base, right in the lash line. As for mascara, it can be used safely if your client only applies it to the tips. We also recommend using the mascara that is not waterproof as it is easier to remove and doesn’t require extensive rubbing to come off.
- Cheers to the powder - Good news for lash extension lovers is the fact that using powdery products such as eyeshadows don’t cause any retention issues (as long as they are oil-free). However, we always recommend our clients to avoid pressed pigments, as they tend to leave a stain that is hard to remove from the lid without using an oil-based cleanser. For the clients, who can’t leave without eyeliner, you can suggest applying eyeshadow with a wet liner brush to mimic the effect of the liner without doing any damage to precious lashes.
3. Gentler You Are, Longer They Stay
All these complicated lash extension care rules are for nothing if your client doesn’t make a habit of being super delicate with their eyelashes. This means that you need to make a habit to avoid touching your eyes at any cost and if you have to do it, do it right. Here are some tips that you can share with your clients to make this easier for them:
- No sleeping on the face - Well, easier said than done but considering that sleeping face down can ruin the retention, it is worth giving an effort. One of the proven ways of becoming used to sleeping on the back is placing a pillow under the knees to support the back. If your client has a habit of sleeping on the side, suggest them to try sleeping on the edge of the pillow, in a way that eyelashes don’t get smushed.
- No eyelash curler - Some may gravitate towards lash curler given the fact that they can’t use mascara due to lash extensions. However, curling lash extensions is a very bad idea. For starters, it is totally unnecessary, because lash extensions don’t lose posture as natural lashes do. So using a curler on lash extensions will only risk damaging your lashes.
- Avoid constant repetitive movements - This means no pulling, rubbing, brushing, or letting strong water pressure pull down the extensions. These can lead to loosening the bond and even pulling off the extensions along with natural lashes. So make sure you tell your clients to avoid applying any force of this kind to the lash extensions. You can suggest them to use a clean lash wand to brush the lashes with delicate movements but only when the lashes are dry.
Tips for Lash Extension Care: Final Words
The three aspects we covered in the article do not cover all the steps of lash extension care, however, they do sum up the most crucial information on the subject. Remember, that as a lash artist, it is your job to give maintenance tips to your clients to manage their expectations. Proper communication is just as important as having kick-ass lashing techniques.
LivBay Lash wishes you strong client retention!
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