Starting the Year With Healthy Lashes
You looked glam during the holidays, and your lash extensions looked amazing. Like most things we love during the holidays, the after-effects can leave you a little beat up.
If you removed your lash extensions to reveal natural lashes that were brittle, damaged, and sparse, you might have sworn off extensions as part of Dry January. We get it. The team at Lashify™ sacrificed our lashes to harmful extensions numerous times before we finally called it quits.
Thankfully, the Lashify DIY Lash Extension™ System means you don’t have to skip lash extensions while taking care of your natural lashes.
We’ll tell you everything you need to know about how your natural lashes work and how Lashify’s Gossamer® lashes are the perfect solution for helping you enhance your natural lashes while keeping them healthy.
Lashes 101
Eyelash health starts by understanding how your lashes grow. Similar to the hair on your head, they grow in a four-phase cycle that takes between four and 11 months to complete, depending on the person. That means that every four to 11 months, a person will have a completely new set of eyelashes.
The average lifespan of an individual eyelash is about four to six weeks. Each eyelash is on its own growth cycle, which is why you don’t lose all your eyelashes simultaneously.
The four phases of lash growth are the anagen, catagen, telogen, and exogen phases.
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Anagen Phase: During the first phase of eyelash growth, the eyelash pushes through the hair follicle and extends to its natural length.
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Catagen Phase: This is known as the stop-growing phase. This phase determines the eyelash has reached its mature length and signals the lash to stop growing.
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Telogen Phase: Known as the resting phase, your lashes hang out in the hair follicle until they are eventually released during the exogen phase.
- Exogen Phase: This isn’t actually a phase because it refers to the lash being released from the follicle and falling out. It’s technically more of an event. At the same time, a new lash just entering the anagen phase is pushing up through the hair follicle behind it.
There are numerous ways to keep your lashes in the anagen phase (the growth phase) and allow them to grow longer, but currently, only one of those methods is approved by the FDA. Bimatoprost is an ophthalmological solution approved to be used off-label for eyelash growth.
It requires a prescription and months of use for results and isn’t covered by insurance. Additionally, some of the side effects it carries may not make it a good solution for some people.
Keeping your lashes healthy is pretty straightforward, but if your lashes are already damaged from prior extensions, here are a few steps you can take to get them in shape.
The Quest for Lash Health
Your natural lashes do a great job taking care of themselves. The only real danger they’re in is from the products you use on them.
Here's a quick reference guide to help you determine whether the items in your makeup kit and skincare lineup are helping or harming your lashes.
Mascaras
A quick internet search of whether or not mascara is safe for your lashes might send you to the trash can with your favorite spoolie polish in hand. Don’t worry; most mascaras are safe for your lashes — it’s the application and removal that can be damaging.
If you regularly use multiple coats of mascara, your lashes can become brittle due to the drying ingredients found in some of them. In addition, they may also become weighed down and more likely to break before they actually reach the exogen phase.
Removing your mascara should involve an oil-based makeup remover and a cotton pad. Pulling, pinching, or scrubbing your mascara off can damage your lashes and the sensitive skin around your eyes.
Eyeliners and Eyeshadows
Just like mascaras, eyeliners and eye shadows are generally safe for your lashes, but nightly removing your eye makeup is important so it doesn’t become caked in your lashes. Your lashes can become harbors of microscopic yuckiness if you don’t take proper care of them, and left untreated, you can even develop infections.
Lash Glue
One of the most damaging products you can use on your lashes is lash glue. Both salon lash extensions and at-home last extensions rely on lash glue to adhere lash extensions to your natural lashes. Unfortunately, these glues are filled with harsh ingredients that aren’t great for your lashes.
Formaldehyde and cyanoacrylates, the same ingredients found in super glue, are found in most lash glues. These ingredients cause the lashes to harden and become brittle, making them more likely to break.
This is the number one reason your lashes seem to be shorter when you have lash extensions removed because many of your natural lashes have broken off before they were supposed to, and no new lash has grown in yet to replace it.
Better Extensions for Healthy Lashes
Thankfully, there’s a solution for damaged lashes. Here are five tips to keep your lashes healthy this year and still get the great-looking extensions you love. We promise your Dry January plans don’t have to extend to your lashes.
1. Avoid Interference
From your fingers to your pillowcase, your fragile lashes can get rubbed or pulled and wind up damaged. The best practice is to keep your fingers away from your lashes (avoid pulling, tugging, or twisting) and to try to sleep on your back so your pillowcase doesn’t rub against your lash line.
If you sleep on your stomach, try using Lashify’s Silk Pillowcase. It’s made from 100% mulberry silk to help you get a great night of rest without damaging your lashes, and it is also hypoallergenic for sensitive skin and eyes.
2. Remove Before Your Snooze
Before you go to bed, make sure you remove your makeup. Eye makeup can build up in your lashes, causing infections and even weighing them down.
If you’re wearing lash extensions, it’s even more important to make sure you take your makeup off before you go to sleep because the oil in the eye makeup can loosen the bonds between your lashes and your extensions.
3. Avoid Lash Glue
Doing the same thing and getting the same results might be insane, but it could also be because you don’t know of a better option. If you want to enhance your lashes while you let them grow, you don’t have to avoid lash extensions because of the toxic glue. You can try the Lashify system.
Lashify doesn’t rely on glue for our Gossamer lashes. Instead, we use Bonds. Bonds contain no formaldehyde or cyanoacrylates and work more like a lash serum to help support your natural lashes while they grow.
Our Bonds contain biotin and lavender, which fortify and strengthen natural lash fibers. Our Bonds also never fully cure, which means they won’t cause your natural lashes to become brittle and break.
4. Trust Underlash Technology™
Gossamer lashes are applied using Underlash Technology, which allows them to be placed beneath your lashes close to your waterline; this helps distribute the weight of more voluminous lashes more evenly across numerous lash fibers.
In addition, an underlash application is more forgiving for beginners who are just becoming familiar with lash application.
5. Slide Don’t Strip
When it’s time to remove your Gossamer lashes, slide them off of your natural lashes with the help of our dual-phase, oil-based makeup remover, Melt Away. Melt Away is specifically formulated to quickly and easily break the Bonds between your Gossamer lashes and natural lashes so you can gently slide them off without any damage.
Once you remove your Gossamers, you’ll be surprised how healthy your natural lashes look. It’s the easiest way to glow up your lashes while still enhancing them. If you aren’t already using the Lashify system, the At Home Eyelash Extension Kit is all you need to get started.
Healthy Control
Who says control can’t be healthy? With the Lashify Control Kit, everything you need to enhance your lashes in a healthy way is included in one easy-to-find, hard case.
Each kit contains:
- Two sets of Gossamer lashes. Pick two from our Curl, Amplify, or Bold collections. You can also use them to create fully customized looks using Lash Maps.
- Fuse Control® Wand. The only tool you’ll ever need for Gossamer application. For smaller hands, try the Petit Curve Wand.
- One set of Wandoms®. Lashify Bonds contain no harsh chemicals and will never be fully cured. Wandoms cover the ends of your Fuse Control Wand, so your Gossamers don’t get stuck during application.
- Whisper Light Bond™. Our most popular bond, this dual-sided adhesive, has a black end and a clear end.
- Glass Finishing Coat. The perfect sealer for getting long wear out of your lashes. You don’t have to seal your Gossamers, but if you do, Glass is a great solution.
- Samples. You’ll get a sample of Pre Cleanse and Melt Away in each Control Kit.
It’s never been easier to take control of your lash health.
New Year, Healthy Lashes
Your lashes may be reeling from the holidays, but you can get them back in shape with a few simple tips and by switching to the only lash enhancements that are designed to help support the health and growth of your natural lashes. Lashify keeps your natural lashes safe.
Sources:
The eyelash follicle features and anomalies: A review - PMC
Is Waterproof Mascara Bad For Your Lashes? - Women's Health Australia
