3.8 After care

To ensure clients retain healthy natural lashes and maintain their eyelash extensions is to follow the correct aftercare instructions. The lashes serve to protect the eyes from foreign objects, dirt, and debris, and when applying eyelash extensions it is so important for us to ensure the lashes are still serving their intended purpose. Maintaining a hygienic lash line is paramount for the health of our eyes and natural lashes, not to mention getting the longest life out of our extensions.

If your clients wish to maintain their extensions, they MUST look after them correctly and treat them with care. Your clients need to be educated correctly on why it’s so important to keep their lashes clean and how they can keep them clean. As general guidance, inform your clients of the following after care requirements:

• Lash extensions must be kept away from moisture and extreme heat for a minimum of 24 hours after the lash set has been applied – this means no baths, showers, saunas, sunbathing and baking Soufflés in hot ovens!
• Do not touch your extensions for a minimum of 24 hours, and refrain from unnecessary touching or fiddling in general
• Do not sleep on your face or in any position which will cause friction between your lashes and your pillow
• Do not use mascara or eyeliner and limit the use of eye makeup
• Use oil-free makeup remover
• Limit face creams and oily products on your face
• Brush your lashes with a clean mascara brush 3 to 4 times each day
• Clean around the eye area every night with oil-free makeup remover, getting close to the lash line with a cotton bud
• Every 2 to 3 days, cleanse the lashes thoroughly with the lash cleanser recommended
• Do not use lash curlers

For new clients, you will want to discuss each aftercare requirement in detail and stress the importance of each requirement. If clients’ do not follow this aftercare advice, it will impact the integrity of their natural lash and will reduce the longevity of their set. Emailing or giving your clients an aftercare instruction sheet can really help to encourage your clients to follow the aftercare correctly. If you can make it simple, add visuals and if you can create a video showing your clients what to do, it may help your clients to remember!

Your clients need to be reminded regularly about cleaning and aftercare. Ask them how they clean their lashes at home, how often, and with what products. As you build your client base and kit, you should consider stocking lash cleansers and brushes that you can upsell to your clients. Alternatively, you can build after care kits into your service price. If every client received an aftercare kit as part of the service, this gives them no excuses for not maintaining the health of their natural lashes at home! Unfortunately, despite all of the verbal and written instructions you give to clients, you’ll most likely have clients that come back for infills with dirty lashes. As the lash technician, you really need to stress the importance of hygiene to ensure the client’s eye health is not compromised.  

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If you would like to learn more about the importance of aftercare and additional information you can include in your aftercare advice to clients, visit the websites linked: