Are eyelash extensions damaging to your natural lashes??
We get asked this question a lot, especially because a lot of our new clients have had previous bad experiences with other salons. Which is a shame as it really is an amazing treatment that can give so much confidence.Once applied correctly eyelash extensions cause ZERO damage to your natural lashes. You should not feel your extensions at all when they are applied. Let me explain why..
Your natural lashes shed daily they are so fine and thin you don’t even notice. You lose between 3-5 lashes a day depending on your lash cycle. During the eyelash extension treatment your lashes are separated one by one using a tweezers (you can see this process in the below photo). An extension is attached to a single natural lash. This means that when your natural lash grows and falls out, the extension falls out with it and a new natural lash grows in its place.
There are a number of bad techniques that can cause damage such as when the technician is not isolating (separating) the lashes correctly and is gluing lots of natural lashes together with the extension. One of the lashes will be ready to shed/fall out while the others are only beginning their cycle. The lash that is ready to fall out starts to put pressure on the others causing the client discomfort and eventually it pulls the attached lashes out leaving gaps, if this continues over time it can permanently damage the lash follicle (where the lash grows from).
Some salons will advertise a treatment called express lashes using the name ‘lash extensions’. In this treatment the natural lashes are not isolated, instead the extensions are dipped in a lot of glue and dropped along the lashline sticking multiple lashes together. They do this for a number of reasons: they find isolating tedious and frustrating so avoid it, to get a set done faster and make more money and finally they may have had bad training or may not have taken a course in extensions at all!
Below is an example of lashes (NOT done at the Nail Boutique!!) that have been dropped along lash line with an excessive amount of glue.
Another factor that can cause damage is if the extension is too long/thick it will put pressure on the natural lash causing them to pull out the natural lash, twist sideways and hang down in the eye. Your lash specialist should choose the lash length and thickness that will be safest for your lashes and should not be using a higher diameter than a 0.15 (for classic) or 0.07 (for volume) or longer length than a 12mm (13mm may be used in some cases on very long natural lashes).
Below you can see an example of lashes (again NOT done at The Nail Boutique) that were applied far too long for the natural lashes.
