Lash extension aftercare

Daily, at night, with a dedicated lash shampoo. A pump on a clean fingertip or the brush, worked gently side to side along the lash line with the eye closed, rinsed with lukewarm water until no foam is left, patted dry, then brushed through with the spoolie once dry. Ninety seconds. Every new client goes home with the shampoo and brush.

Not when they are properly weighted, applied with each natural lash isolated, and dissolved off rather than pulled. Damage has three causes: extensions heavier than the lash can carry, two natural lashes bonded together so one pulls the other out early, and sets being pulled off at home. All three are avoidable, which is why mapping happens first and removal is a $25 service rather than something you do yourself.

Individual extensions last as long as the natural lash they are attached to, which is a six-to-eight-week growth cycle — but lashes shed on staggered schedules, so you lose a few every day. In practice the set reads uneven at two weeks and patchy at three, which is the refill window. No adhesive, serum or aftercare routine extends a set beyond your own shed cycle; aftercare decides how even the loss looks.

Yes, with two exceptions. No waterproof mascara — removing it means rubbing the lash line with solvent and that takes extensions with it. And nothing oil-based within an inch of the lashes, which rules out most cleansing balms, oil makeup removers and some rich eye creams. Water-based eyeliner and shadow are fine; just clean them off properly at night.

In order of likelihood: oil-based products at the lash line, sleeping face-down, touching or picking at them, and not cleaning them at all. Beyond habits, shed rate is seasonal — most people lose more in spring and autumn — and pregnancy or a change in medication can change retention noticeably. If nothing in your routine changed, that is usually the explanation.

A conditioning serum applied to the lash line, not the extensions, is fine and keeps the natural lash flexible. Avoid anything oil-based and avoid applying it along the extensions themselves. No serum regrows a follicle that is gone, whatever the packaging says.

Yes, from day two with standard adhesive and from the same day with the LED-cured bond. Rinse with fresh water after chlorine or salt water, let them dry, then brush them. Chlorine does not dissolve the bond; what causes problems is leaving salt or chlorine residue sitting at the lash line for days.

On your back if you can, and on a silk or satin pillowcase. Face-down sleeping is one of the biggest causes of early loss — extensions get crushed and twisted against the pillow for seven hours, and twisted lashes come out before their time. Side sleeping is a compromise: alternate sides, and expect the side you favour to look thinner by week two. This single habit does more for retention than any product you can buy.

Yes, after the first 24 hours — or the same day if you added the LED-cured bond. Heat and steam do not dissolve a cured bond. What they do is soften makeup and sebum at the lash line, so rinse with fresh water afterwards, let them dry, then brush them through. Repeated long sessions at high heat and humidity will shorten retention a little, so if you are in a steam room daily, expect to refill at two weeks rather than three.

Yes, and it is worth mentioning at the mapping stage rather than afterwards. If your frames sit close to your face, long extensions through the centre of the eye will brush the lens — which is annoying rather than harmful, but it smudges the glasses and bends the lashes. The fix is a slightly shorter length through the middle zone, or a flatter curl. Tell us you wear glasses and we map around them.

No. Oil is what dissolves the bond — it is the same mechanism that makes oil-based cleansers the main cause of bad retention. Castor oil on extensions will slide them off, usually unevenly, and you will be back for a refill early. If you want to use castor oil to condition your natural lashes, do it during a break from extensions, not while you are wearing a set. A conditioning serum applied to the lash line rather than along the extensions is the version that works alongside a set.