Lash Lifting

There have been lots of posts recently on lash lifting and all sorts of aftercare discrepancies or people asking why the natural lashes are ruined, so I thought some of you may find this useful.

Technically there is no aftercare to a lash lift or anything a client can do to reverse the process (unless they randomly decide to brush their lashes with some hydrogen peroxide!) The thing is, in our industry we always feel we need to give aftercare advice right? By all means, if you want to take extra precaution and advise on not getting them wet and applying no make up for 24-48 hours go for it – it can’t do any harm but it really wont make much difference. Anyone blaming clients for lashes not taking, bending or frizzing I’m afraid to say is pretty much 99% of the time down to the application.

Heres the science part… (yes I’m a geek, I love science!) If you can understand what your actually doing to the hairs structure it will help you to understand your application.

Hair is made of protein chains which are held together by physical and chemical bonds.

Physical bonds are what we break when styling/washing etc. They are very weak and can be broken with water/heat/humidity. As the hair cools or drys, these bonds are easily reformed – hence why a lovely blow dry will drop in the rain or once you wash your hair again. Physical bonds are TEMPORARY and have no permanent effect on the hair at all.

When lifting or perming lashes we are changing the CHEMICAL bonds. Chemical/disulphide bonds are broken through a chemical reaction called reduction. Perming lotion lifts the cuticle to enter the cortex and breaks these disulphide bonds. It does this by adding hydrogen to each sulphur atom which allows the polypeptide chains to slip into their new shape (on your shield).

Neutraliser/fixing lotion then removes these hydrogen atoms via oxidation which forces the disulphide bonds to reform into this new structure. Voila! Lashes lifted – instantly!

Water/makeup/oil CAN NOT alter the disulphide bonds or change this new structure.

One thing you need to remember, and be confident in doing so is making sure you THOROUGHLY remove all products from the lashes using damp cotton pads. I’ve seen lots of people do this dry because they are scared to wet the lashes. The fixing lotion/neutraliser is actually more damaging to natural lashes than the perm lotion as this reaction will continue leading to over processed, frazzled natural lashes, even instant breaking. This is usually where people go wrong, or leaving the products on too long. Make sure you set your timer and remove as soon as its ready. Remember timings will vary from client to client. Thinner, weaker lashes will not need to process as long as strong coarse lashes. If your ever in doubt, play it safe and go with the lower end of the scale.

If your lifts aren’t taking or lasting, first check your products. How long have they been open? They will weaken over time.

Are you using the correct size shield? Was it too large?

Did you process for the right amount of time with both perming and fixing lotion?

Were lashes cleaned before hand?

Lash lifts do not gradually straighten, remember the process is permanent. What you see are new lashes that have not been lifted replacing these as the clients lashes follow their usual growth cycle. Remember times of the year where we have our lash shed will also effect your appointments with this.