Things we all wish we knew as a beginner
When we first start out in the beauty industry, or any industry for that matter, there is so much to take on board. Lash courses usually start by covering the basics, and then you can opt for additional training to start building on your basic knowledge. Most people like to focus on perfecting the basics first whereas some get carried away and before they know it, are 5 years deep in the beauty industry with only their initial training and experience to help them by.
As a team of experienced lash technicians and beauticians, we have decided to put together a list of our top tips and tricks we just WISH we knew as a beginner. These tips have all changed our lives (a bit dramatic, but you get the idea) in some way or another, and so we hope that they will do the same for you too!
Watery Eyes – tape lint free wipes to the corner
Do your clients’ eyes tend to water a lot when you are lashing them? This can often cause a lot of issues when applying the extensions as the extra moisture can cause the glue to cure too quickly (shock polymerisation) causing the glue to appear white. This isn’t ideal for when your clients open their eyes at the end of the treatment and sees a lot of white along their lashes. It will also make the retention of the lash a lot worse.
So, our top tip is to tuck a Lint Free Glue Wipe under the eye pad, into the outer corner of the eye to catch all of those teardrops to prevent them from sitting along the lash line. Or if you are using tape, you can tape the lint free wipe into the outer corner of the eye on top of the tape you have already applied.
Pink Elixir – increases retention, and reduces the time your client has to wait to get them wet!
If you want to offer top tier retention to your clients, Pink Elixir will be your new best friend. 2-3 minutes after applying the last extension, use a microfibre stick to apply a small amount of Pink Elixir across the base of all the eyelash extensions. This will instantly seal all of the glue fumes in, meaning that your clients will feel a lot less irritation when they open their eyes. It also means that they will only have to wait 6 hours before getting their lashes wet, as it speeds up the curing process. By using Pinkfishes Pink Elixir, you will increase your client’s retention by up to 30%, meaning they will return to an infill with more lashes left – potentially reducing your infill timing!
Change your glue regularly – as soon as it starts getting stringy
It can be easy to get carried away when your lashing, and sometimes we may not notice right away that our glue isn’t working as well as it did at the start, or that it's starting to go a bit stringy, like in the picture. When the glue goes like this, it means that the curing process has started, and that when we try to attach the extension with this glue, the bond will not be as strong, and it will be harder to get the extension to stick to the natural lash. When you first start out, we recommend setting a timer that goes off every 20-30 minutes to change your glue dot and put a fresh one down (the hotter/more humid the room, the less time you should leave between each refresh). This just means that you will continue to get the best retention throughout all of the set of lashes, and you won’t find yourself getting frustrated at all of those lashes that just wont stick! This tip will save you so much time in your future sets, and you probably wouldn’t have even noticed before!!
It’s bruising – not an allergic reaction
A common misconception is that every single irritation to the eye caused from eyelash extensions must be an allergic reaction. And as much as allergic reactions can occur to anyone (even after a negative patch test result), not every bit of redness/soreness is necessarily down to a reaction.
If the client’s eyes look fine when opening but have a bit of redness when the lower lid is pulled down, then the eye has been exposed to bruising. This can happen when the pads and/or tape are applied or move too close to the waterline, or in extreme cases touch the eyeball. Usually the client may experience a small discomfort throughout the treatment and so will be able to let you know if it is uncomfortable.
Always have 2 x 5ps on hand
This tip is perfect for those clients that have fluttery eyes, that love a chat, or has had a coffee before the appointment. We know that any movement through the eyes when trying to apply lash extension can be very frustrating – it makes isolation so much harder, as well as the actual application of the lash too.
Keeping 2 5ps on your lash trolley will save you so much time and frustration. Simply tape them to your client's eyelid, like in this video, and the weight of the coin will help your client's lid to sit still.
Check for stickies often
The first thing we all learn when learning how to lash, is how important isolation is. Isolation is SO key to ensuring your client’s lashes can continue to grow in a natural, healthy way. Sometimes when we are working quickly, lashes that we have perfectly isolated may stick to its surrounding lashes. So we need to make sure that we release the lashes by gently working through the set and pulling apart the ‘stickies’.
Doing this throughout the set, rather than just at the end, will mean that the lashes should pull apart nice and easily, as they won’t have had much time to set/cure fully. This will also make it a lot easier to view where the gaps are while you’re working through, meaning you can make sure you apply an extension to every single healthy natural lash.
Taping back lashes with tape – release with primer
This one is two tips in one – firstly, using micropore tape to hold lashes back will help you so much throughout your lash career and will save you lots of time isolating. Use tape to pull back some of the lashes and hold them back while you add extensions to the remaining lashes. Make sure you really de-tack the micropore tape before applying it to the lashes, to ensure it doesn’t pull out the lashes when removing it at the end. Or alternatively, you could use our new Silicone tape to hold the lashes back without pulling them out at the end. This tape doesn't require de-tacking before use on the skin and/or lashes.
If you did decide to use micropore tape, and find that the tape isn’t coming off easily, apply some Pink Creation Primer to a microfibre stick and run it along the top of the tape where it is attached to the lashes. The primer should start to loosen the tape and make it much easier for you to remove from the lashes it is stuck to.
