So you’ve taken the plunge and tried the best eyelash extensions. Your lashes look amazing and you wake up looking bright-eyed and fresh. But how can you help keep these lovely lashes looking their best and lasting their longest?
Here are 10 tips from Mac Med to keep in mind:
1) Let the glue dry: For the first 12 hours post procedure, don’t let your lashes get wet at all. Allow the glue to completely dry. If you’re planning a truly wild water adventure, like a beach vacation or Club Med, be safe and allow 48 hours before plunging into the pool or waves.
2) No touching: The biggest enemies of your extensions are your hands. Rubbing, pulling or even just touching your eyes and lashes is guaranteed to shorten their life. When drying your face post shower, don’t use a towel on your eyes. Press down gently on your lashes with your fingers and then allow them to dry naturally.
3) No curling: We strongly advise against using a clamp eyelash curler. It will damage the extensions and lessen the life of your wonderful new look. Ditto for eyelash perms, another definite no-no.
4) No mascara: You shouldn’t need it anyway. You may even find you don’t need eyeliner or other eye makeup, your eyes looks so darn good. But if you do choose to use eye makeup . . .
5) Check the label of your eye makeup remover. Make sure it does not contain any oil products, such as petroleum.
6) Brush daily: Use a lash wand once a day to put stray hairs in place and keep those lashes neat.
7) Keep the area clean: Some people love their extensions so much, they don’t give adequate attention to hygiene. Remember: It’s perfectly okay to get your new lashes wet once the glue has dried. It is not okay to risk an eye infection by not washing the eye area appropriately.
8) Don’t get too crazy in the sauna: While it’s plenty safe to sauna (or use steam rooms or hot tubs) in small doses, don’t get too carried away. Repeated or prolonged exposure to high heat and steam can weaken the lash bond and cause extensions to fall off early.
9) Sleep on your back or side. Squashing your face into the sheets will shorten the life of your lashes. Besides, it’s hard to breathe that way.
10) Watch out for the Barbecue. Okay, so this probably highly unlikely, but still . . . Use common sense when barbecuing or cooking over an open flame. Eyelash extensions are synthetic and could potentially melt in very high heat conditions.