First and foremost, eyelash extensions falling out is entirely natural – they are glued to your actual eyelashes, after all, and so the rate at which they fall out is directly linked to the rate at which your natural lashes fall out. If you’re prone to wishing on fallen lashes, you’ll know that this happens often and constantly.
You lose between one and five natural eyelashes per day, which are almost immediately replaced, meaning that you will get around six to eight weeks in a natural hair cycle before all the lashes are grown out.
Here are some things you can do to make your eyelash extensions last as long as possible:
Have you ever fallen asleep with mascara on, woken up and roughly rubbed your eyes, and then watched your hand in horror as you realise how many eyelashes you’ve accidentally tugged out?
Well, this is similar to what will happen if you rub your eyes excessively with eyelash extensions on. Given that they’re slightly stronger than normal lashes, and attached to the hair follicle, it means this is a relatively painful process too.
► Maintain An Active Cleaning Process
If you’ve got eyelash extensions in, a splash of water isn’t going to cut it for your washing routine. You need to clean them, with products like Tashi Lashes’ Lash Cleansing Kit or Sarah Chapman’s Skinesis Lash Boosting Eye Cleanse. You also need to brush them, with products like the Nouveu’s Lash & Lid Cleansing Brush.
► Check That Your Other Products Are Lash-Friendly
A number of products, especially those with high oil content, will likely make your lashes’ glue soften and fall out sooner than you’d hoped. Alcohol-based cosmetics are also a no-go – as well as an ingredient in a number of make-up removers, including that which you use on your mascara. Oil-free, alcohol-free eye make-up removers are best suited for the job, and are often foam cleansers, but the following will all do the trick: Neutrogena Deep Clean Foaming Cleanser, Caudalie Micellar Cleansing Water or Mario Badescu Enzyme Cleansing Gel.
► Refill!
A critical part of lash extensions are the refills, and these make up an important part of the aftercare regime you need to follow after having the first set done. While, in theory, your lashes should last a full cycle of hair growth, which can be anywhere between six and eight weeks, refilling them as you go ensures you don’t have uneven lashes or obvious gaps. You should get these every three to four weeks, which usually means once in the middle of the cycle before you get a whole new set.
Choose the length and weight wisely
The lighter the lash, the easier they hold on. You need to get the weight and length as close to your own lashes as possible, or else they’ll weigh down your follicles and potentially stunt the new growth underneath. Keep this in mind when deciding which lashes you want.
While a thick set of lashes may match the pictures in the magazines you read, they won’t always be best suited to you, especially if you’re looking to keep them on as long as possible rather than for a one-time full-fleek dazzle. The likelihood of them staying on decreases with every decimal of a millimeter of the lash.
► That’s your 5-a-day…
To conclude, you’ll be losing around five lashes per day as the new ones boot out the old, making room for new growth. However, the cleaner you keep them and the better care you take of them, the more likely you’ll make the most of your lashes for the longest possible time – especially if there’s a refill thrown in there.