Choosing The Right Glue

Finding the right glue for you, the way you work, and your environment is probably one of the most important things to get right when running your eyelash business. It impacts the speed in which you can complete your lash sets as well as the retention of your sets too. So here is a few things to consider when picking a glue.

What is the average temperature and humidity of your lash room?

Every glue you come across will have an optimum temperature and humidity percentage, and a range that the glue will work best in. Depending on where the average temperature and humidity of your room falls, depends on what glue will suit you best. I would strongly recommend getting a thermometer/hygrometer for your room to keep an eye on the levels, as they can change throughout the day depending on the weather. If you have a particularly humid room, its worth keeping this in mind when choosing your glue, however most room conditions can be altered to suit the glue of your choice. You can see methods of doing this in our blog Tips for Lashing in the Summer. You can invest in a heating/air conditioning unit to control the temperature and look at dehumidifiers/humidifiers to combat any humidity issues you may have.

Note: The higher your humidity, the faster your adhesive will cure. So, if you have a high level of humidity in your room, we recommend getting a slower drying glue to counteract the conditions of your room.

How quickly do you work?

You will see that all glues have a ‘curing time’, and this is how quickly the glue dries from dipping the extension into it to applying the extension onto the natural lash and it bonding to the lash.

Our bestselling glue, Pink Radical, has a drying time of 0.5-1 second. All of our students start off with our Pink Radical glue as we have found this is the best speed for new lash technicians. That being said, we also have lash technicians that have been lashing for 10+ years that still swear by this glue – so it really is about finding a glue that works best for you.

Pink Radical II has a drying time of 0.5 seconds, so cures faster than our Pink Radical. This glue is designed for lash technicians that find they are waiting for some time for their glue to cure before moving on, or for technicians that find they have a lot of ‘stickies’ at the end of a set of lashes. Reducing the curing time of the glue will mean you have a lot less waiting around and can move on to the next extension even quicker. Please note: This glue is an extremely fast glue, designed for experienced lash technicians who work extremely quickly. If you move to a faster glue before you are ready, it may mean that the glue cures before bonding to the extension which will cause a lot of ‘brush offs’ and severely affect your retention.

Pink Lustre has a slower drying time of 1-2 seconds, due to the more sensitive variant of cyanoacrylate being used within the glue. Even though this glue is sensitive, it can be used for all clients if this is your preferred working speed. If you find that Pink Radical is drying too fast for you and your clients are experiencing bad retention, it could be worth trying a slower drying glue to see if this works any better for you.

Pink Royalty is our new glue that has a drying time of 1-1.5 seconds. This glue is an extremely strong glue which offers great retention. It has a drying time that is between our Pink Radical and Pink Lustre so is great to use if you find Pink Radical is too fast, but Pink Lustre too slow.

Do your clients require a gentler glue?

If your client has particularly sensitive eyes and finds the treatment especially uncomfortable, you may want to offer them the option to have a sensitive glue. If your client also suffers allergic reactions to a standard strong adhesive, you could offer them a sensitive glue as an alternative to no lashes. Most people will have a reaction to either 2 of the following ingredients: Cyanoacrylate or Carbon Black. There isn’t an exact way to know exactly what someone is allergic to, however if your client is generally ok with other hair tints and dyes, then they will usually be fine with the Carbon Black pigment and would be reacting to the Cyanoacrylate.

Sensitive glues contain lower levels of cyanoacrylate, making them less reactive for someone that is allergic or sensitive to this ingredient. They do however contain higher levels of butyl in order to reduce the amount of fumes produced during application, which can often stop a reaction taking place. Unfortunately this isn’t always the case and some clients just can’t have lashes.

Either way, you should always perform a patch test on your client to reduce the risk of a reaction after the full treatment. We recommend patch testing by applying 1-2 lashes on the inner and outer corner of each eye. Or alternatively, you can apply a small dot of the glue to the crease of your clients’ elbow. However this method isn’t recommended, where the results aren’t as reliable due to the fact the adhesive shouldn’t be in contact with the skin. The patch test needs to be done at least 24-48 hours prior to the lash appointment to ensure full exposure to the glue is achieved.

Would you work better with clear or black?

Clear glue works well with coloured lashes, as it does not give a blackening colour to the base of the lashes. Clear glue is also a great alternative for any clients that suffer from allergies to dyes and tints, as the glue is completely free of any colouring or tint (carbon black). Pink Supreme Clear is our strong clear adhesive and Pink Naked Clear is our clear sensitive glue.

However black glue is often preferred by most eyelash technicians, especially newly trained technicians, due to the fact that it is more easily controlled. It is much easier to see how much glue is being applied to the extension or fan and so will prevent too much glue being applied to the set of extensions. Our black glues are Pink Radical, Pink Radical II, Pink Royalty and Pink Lustre (sensitive).

How do I try lots of different glues when I have to keep patch testing my clients?

Now I won’t lie to you, testing different glues is a lengthy process, as it does take time to patch test your clients and see what retention that particular glue has. However, this process is SO worth it.

I would recommend picking 1 or 2 of your regular clients that generally have good retention, maybe a friend or family member who would be happy to help, that wouldn’t mind if a few of the glues have slightly different retention to the one you are using. You could even use multiple clients to try a variety of different glues, to reduce the overall time it takes to find one that works for you.

In their infill appointment you can then, with their permission, apply a few extensions to the outer corner of each eye with the new glue as a patch test. If they don’t have a reaction, you can use the glue across their entire eye for their next infill appointment and see how it suits you.

So, in reality when your friend recommends a glue that they swear by to you, it’s perfectly fine to think that that particular glue isn’t right for you. There are so many factors that come into finding the perfect glue, so what works for you may not work for someone else. Its so important to do your own research and try out lots of different glues to find the one that works best for you and your clients.

We highly recommend purchasing sample size glues – which you can purchase for all of our Pinkfishes glues here. As this will be the most cost-effective, waste reducing way of testing multiple glues until you find the one that’s perfect for you.