As Lash artists, it’s our job to ensure that our clients leave our studio satisfied with the application and with beautiful lashes. But that’s not enough; your work should last too. By doing this your clients will be satisfied and they will be coming back for fills and referring new clients too!
Eyelash extension maintenance—a concept that may sound tiring and time consuming but is actually completely manageable as long as you get into a rhythm of doing it. We talked to our CEO and Lash expert at Exquisite Lash training – Melissa to give us some tips on how to make our lash extensions last longer and here’s what she had to say.
1. Fresh Adhesive
Understand that the moment you open your bottle of adhesive it slowly begins to degrade. Every time you open your adhesive moisture is getting inside which weakens your adhesives strength. We recommend changing your adhesive every 30-60 days to ensure it's always at its best strength.
Yes, this might mean you occasionally throw away a half-empty bottle of adhesive if you've not been overly busy that month, but don't make the mistake of seeing this as throwing away half of what the eyelash adhesive glue cost you to buy. Instead, think of how many clients you will keep because your clients are happier that their lashes are lasting longer and now want to refer their friends.
A big mistake is thinking "oh I'm sure my adhesive is fine I'll just use it until its gone or for another few weeks”, what they don't know is that those extra few weeks that they were stretching the life of their adhesive, it was probably only operating at 50% of its original strength. Less if it hadn't been stored correctly the entire time.
Now think how many clients do you see in 2 weeks? Even at just 4 per day over 10 days, that's 40 clients. All you need is 1 of them (2.5%) to not return and you're now losing money and if your client's lashes aren't lasting as long as they should there's a good chance you'll lose more than 2.5% of your clients.
Bear in mind that very few clients will bother to tell you that their lashes aren't lasting, particularly new clients. They simply won't return and you won't know why. I know it sounds dramatic but I can assure you that it's the little things like this that can (and do) have the biggest impact on your business.
2. Clean before You Apply
We cannot stress this enough. You have to see whether the lashes are clean or not. It is very important that lashes are clean from oils, mascara as this will help with the glue in adhesive. Ask your client if they have cleaned them or not. If they haven’t make sure you clean the lashes thoroughly before every application. Lash extensions don’t stick to dirty lashes and that’s a FACT!
3. Control Your Environment
It is very important to keep the adhesive at a suitable and maintained humidity range. Mostly right now all the adhesives have an “ideal-working-range” which is determined by humidity. All adhesives are not the same; some will work at high temperature while others work at low temperature. All this depends upon the nature of the adhesive that you are using.
So, if you've ever wondered why your adhesive is setting super-fast some days and takes forever on other days, this is why.
4. Educate Your Clients
It is very important to educate your client about all the procedure they will go through. Sometimes it’s not you or your work it’s your client and they don’t understand how important it is for them to follow a aftercare routine for their lashes. It is very important to tell your client about the sensitivity and care of their lashes. Tell them that if they use mascara the oils in it will break the adhesive used on your lashes. Give them aftercare instructions to follow in order to avoid complaints and increase longevity of their new lash set!!
5. Take Control of the Cure
After every procedure it is very important to tell the pros and cons of the whole procedure to your client. It is very important for your client to know what they should do and what they shouldn’t. Sometimes the client doesn’t pay much attention to their lashes, for this, nanomisters are used. Nanomisters are used at the end of the procedure. They are used so that even if the client doesn’t pay much attention to their lashes, it won’t affect them much.
BONUS TIP:
1. Make sure you're not using outdated application techniques such as "swiping" or "painting" the lash before applying as this breaks the bond and affects lash retention.
2. Do not wipe off the excess adhesive on eye-pads or tape. Changing the speed and angle in which you dip into the lash adhesive will change the amount of adhesive on the base of the extension.
3. Modern-day lash adhesives are superfast setting (generally 1 - 2 seconds) so ensure you isolate the natural lash before you dip into the adhesive to avoid a "skin" developing on the adhesive as it semi sets before being applied.
Happy Lashing Dolls!!!!
XOXO,
MELISSA
