Amazing lash retention: How to achieve it?

Amazing lash retention: How to achieve it? A lash artist’s absolute worst nightmare is when their client’s lashes do not last, this can be a very time consuming and stressful mistake to correct.

No lash artist wants their clients to lose faith in them, and no longer trust them with their lashes. Read on in this blog you will get a lot of useful information on how to detect true retention problems and prevent them from ever happening again.

We wanted to give our client’s the satisfaction that they deserve. OK, so you created a beautiful classic/volume set?! Your client is thrilled, now the last thing any lash artist wants is for the client to come back a couple of days later, saying their lashes are falling out.

Tips for your client’s lashes to last as long as possible. Here are a couple of tips I have noticed that decrease this issue for me.

1. Humidity
The lash glue performs ideally in a humidity range of 40-60%. Get a hydrometer to keep your lash room humidity under control. This tool is a must, and inexpensive to purchase. For more information, check out this article for tips on maintaining the perfect eyelash humidity in your workspace.

2. Dehumidifier
If your room is too moist, you will need to use a dehumidifier to keep your work environment moisture controlled.

3. Temperature
72-77 degrees F is where you want to be at! Make sure your temperature is in the correct range so your glue stays consistent.

4. Glue
Make sure to shake your glue thoroughly. If your glue sits for too long, the compounds can separate. You must shake for about 30-60 seconds to remix everything properly.

I am using different glues depending on the temperature, clients (some clients are sensitive to adhesive).

Here are the adhesives that I am using all throughout my lash journey. 

The Velour

First of all, this lash adhesive is our NEW Rockstar! Drying time is just right, as a result, it just grabs to the natural lashes and fans don’t close.

Product Description

• Drying Time: 0.5 second
• Retention: 7 – 8 weeks
• Viscosity: very thin
• Color: seamless black
• Lower fumes
• Latex Free
• Formaldehyde Free
• Humidity: 25% – 75%
• Temperature 65 – 78 F.

• Recommended for intermediate artists

Ultra Crystal Clear Bond

It is a very flexible adhesive with a wide humidity and temperature range.

• This Adhesive is clear and is amazing for clients who experience allergies to the regular black adhesives.
• Retention is amazing that lasts for 7 – 8 weeks.

5. Clean Lashes
The natural lashes need to be squeaky clean. Removal of natural oils and debris is a must for proper adhesion. A primer can really help with this step.

I always educate my clients that after-care routine is very important and how retention will be affected if lashes are dirty. I suggest only to use lash foam or shampoo specifically made for lashes. 

Lash Foam Brush Combo for Eyelash Extensions is a gentle cleansing formula that removes eye makeup and impurities from lashes.

Lash shampoo is an absolute must-have for all lash artists and those who wear lash extensions to help keep lashes clean leading to better retention and preventing eye conditions from occurring.

6. Adhesive use
Don’t use too much adhesive. This can cause damage to the natural lashes, but using too little adhesive will make it so the lash extensions pop right off. It’s definitely a balance, and it needs to be just right!

What is Lash Retention and why is it so important?

Lash Retention is simply how long eyelash extensions last on the natural lash before falling out. Unfortunately, there is no set amount of time that a set of eyelash extensions should last as we all have different Lash Growth Cycles and these continually change due to factors such as change of season, hormones among other things.

The most important thing is that as Lash Stylists we do everything we can to help ensure that the eyelash extensions we apply last the full length of each client’s natural lash cycle.

Your entire business relies heavily on the lashes you apply lasting a long time so it’s wise to ensure you understand what things will affect your clients’ lash retention.

Now think about how many clients do you see in 2 weeks? Even at just 5 per day over 10 workdays, that’s 50 clients. If a few of them don’t return, you will lose money. New clients won’t necessarily tell you what the issue was, they will probably just never return and get lashes from someone else.

And if your client’s lashes aren’t lasting as long as they should it’s very likely that you will lose a lot of your clients.

How many of you get clients calling you, saying my lashes have all fallen off. In reality, it’s often 1-3 lashes with the natural lash attached to the lash fan. So is this a problem with retention? NO!  this is just the natural process of lash shedding. It’s important to educate clients that when they see the natural lash attached to the lash extension, it just means that their lashes are going through the natural cycle of shedding. This will prevent a lot of panicked phone calls and text messages from your clients worried that they are losing their lashes.

 Our lashes go through a natural growth cycle, there are 4 phases in the growth cycle.

1. Anagen phase (the growth phase): This is the phase where your lashes are growing. They will normally only grow to a certain length, and the process lasts between 30 and 45 days. This is the phase where can make your lashes reach their full potential.

2. Catagen phase (the transition phase): This is the shortest phase-only lasting 2-3 weeks. When one of the lashes has reached their needed lengths, they will eventually stop growing and at this point, the hair follicle begins to shrink. If an eyelash falls out during this phase, due to cluster lashes, for example, it won’t start growing back until the phase has run its course. Normally within 2-3 weeks.

3. Telogen phase (the resting phase): This is the longest phase of the life cycle, and it can last 100 days. The eyelash will eventually fall out during the telogen phase, and it normally takes 4-8 weeks before a new one starts growing. This means that there will be an empty follicle for about 4-8 weeks. However, this is no reason to panic, since lashes will eventually grow back in those areas.

Clients should be extensively instructed on lash aftercare. This is a really good time to develop a trusting bond with your clients since clients will feel like the lash artist is concerned with their actual well being, and is dedicating time to teaching the client for their own well being.

Or issues with lash placement: when using the lash extensions application method the lash artist is not using enough adhesive to secure the bond strong enough for the client to not experience.

I won’t explain here about retention and why it will be different for each person. Why is some people’s retention better than others?  Well, retention is controlled by the artist and the client. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

Here are some questions for lash artists to ask their clients that are experiencing retention issues to identify some potential issues.

1. Are you naturally oily? lids, hair, skin? ⁣⁣⁣⁣

2. How often do you wash your lashes? Everyday? Once a week? ⁣⁣⁣⁣

3. Do you sweat often? ⁣⁣⁣⁣

4. Do you wear eye makeup?⁣⁣⁣⁣

5. Does your face products have a lot of oil in them? ⁣⁣⁣⁣

6. Do you touch your lashes often?⁣⁣⁣⁣

7. Do you keep up with your fills? ⁣

8. How are you sleeping, on your side? your face? ⁣

9. ⁣Is your lash cleaner oil-free and made for lashes extensions? ⁣

There are so many more variables that can play out. ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣

Your artist could use the BEST products, yes it is our job to have a controlled environment for our glue and make sure the application is on point, but retention is a two-way street.

 CHECK THIS OUT:

For clients:

If you know your lashes aren’t lasting, don’t wait until your next appointment to speak up. Your lash artist is always a text away, she will more than likely be able to suggest a possible solution to solve your problem. The most important thing you can do to keep your lashes lasting as long as possible is to take great care of them.

Don’t forget about your makeup products! When I say research every single product, I mean it. Always remember your after-care routine as per advised by your lash artists.

Ingredients to avoid:

𝐀𝐍𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌 𝐎𝐅 𝐎𝐈𝐋

Oil is known for breaking down the chemical structure in any glue or adhesive. It will travel to your lash line and break down the adhesive holding your extensions onto your natural lashes.

Ultimately resulting in your extensions popping off sooner than you’d like.

Keep in mind that just because your product says “oil-free” on the front, doesn’t mean it’s free of oil. For a product to be able to stamp “oil-free” on the front of the packaging, it has to be free of *certain oils*. Meaning it could still contain oil, always double-check the ingredients!

𝐆𝐋𝐘𝐂𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍

Glycerin is a vegetable fat that acts the same way as any oil.

𝐃𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐄

Dimethicone is silicon-based, similar to vaseline, this ingredient is very slippery and

Lash Artist Mistakes

Storage

We advise storing opened bottles of the lash adhesive upright with the lid on tight in a small airtight container with an oxygen absorber to prevent moisture build-up. Make sure to put the date on it, since the adhesive is generally only good for 4 weeks. After 4 weeks, or if it starts getting goopy toss it out.

There’s actually a mistake that a lot of lash artists can make, which is to store their adhesive in the fridge. The issue with this is that condensation builds up on the inside of the bottle from the sudden temperature fluctuations which actually ends up breaking down the adhesive much faster.

It is actually acceptable to store UNOPENED bottles of adhesive in the fridge as it will stay there at a consistent temperature. We advise storing the lash adhesive in the fridge for no longer than 3 months, in order to ensure optimum freshness of the adhesive.

If you are ordering an adhesive in the summer or live in a very hot climate, make sure that when you order the adhesive it doesn’t sit in the heat for a long time. USPS can be notoriously unreliable, therefore please make sure to upgrade to priority or FEDEX shipping.

Extreme heat can greatly affect the efficiency of the adhesive. A pro tip is to actually stock up on adhesives in the springtime. This way you don’t have to worry about the adhesive sitting in the heat in the mailbox for hours.

Temperature and Humidity

Your room temperature and humidity need to become your friend. I know lash artists, that leave the window open in hot climates, and wonder why their adhesives are not cooperating. Since the adhesive cures with moisture, the humidity in the air plays a big part in how well the adhesive will adhere to the lashes.

I would strongly recommend buying a hygrometer which reads the humidity in the room. If the humidity is too high in the lash room, the adhesive will be cured too quickly, and the lash extensive will not have time to bond to the natural lash.

It is strongly recommended to store a couple of different adhesives on hand with various curing times and humidities, in case you get stuck on the day, and need another adhesive.

If you have excessive humidity, the cyanoacrylate in your adhesive will be working overtime, what this ultimately meant that your lash adhesive will cure and dry much faster than usual. 

Keep in mind

• Dispensed glue will dry too fast: Normally, a drop of dispensed glue can stay fresh for about 20 to 30 minutes. However, if your humidity is above 60 %, your adhesive drop will start curing much faster and the glue drop will need to be changed every 10-15 minutes.

High humidity can cause several issues like shock polymerization, poor attachment due to adhesive that is already partially cured.

How to solve this problem?

Use a dehumidifier, fan, or air conditioner: 

In order to achieve ideal humidity, we recommend having an AC or a fan. If this is not sufficient, then it would be wise to invest in a dehumidifier. A dehumidifier can remove excess moisture from the air.

Lash Artist Speed

Your adhesive begins curing the moment you pull the extension out of the glue drop.  If you’re working with an adhesive that dries too fast, the lashes may still get placed on the client’s natural lashes,  but they will quickly start falling off as you brush them.

You may even start losing clients, and not understand why they are not coming back. The common reason is that they tried getting lash extensions, and lost them all within the same week.

How to solve this issue?

Ensure that you pick an adhesive that matches your actual speed (rather than your desired one). If you’re a new lash artist, it’s safer to stick to an adhesive that is  3-4 seconds. This DOES NOT make you a failure.

It is important to start slow as you perfect your technique. Otherwise, you will be working backward, having to redo sets over and over again, or lose clients in the process, since their lashes are popping off.

The rule of thumb, it's time to switch adhesives, once you find yourself holding the lash extension to the natural lash for a couple of seconds. This generally means that your speed has improved and you can start using adhesives that are 0.5 -1 second, or 1-2 seconds.

These tips are just a glimpse of so many things that you need to learn on how to improve your client's retention. 

I am compiled all the helpful tips will our newest Lash Retention Checklist