Party season is almost here, and we all love treating our clients to super-full holiday lashes--after a long year, they have earned it? When your clients wear lash extensions regularly, it’s easy to get used to the lovely long lashes that they see in the mirror each morning. When it comes to costume parties or special occasions, sometimes it can be tempting for them to pop thick strip lashes on for a more intense look than everyday lash extensions.

As lash technicians, we know that this is the worst enemy of for both natural lashes and extensions, but how do we explain this to our clients? Here are a few tips on what to say to discourage strip lash use:

‘Strip lashes might make for a fabulous look for one night, but the damage they do to your lash extensions will last for weeks.’
Applying thick, heavy strips of synthetic falsies weighs the lash line down, straining the extensions and the natural lashes simultaneously. This means weaker lashes overall and less natural lashes for you to apply extensions to!

‘You’d never dream of dribbling sticky glue over your lash extensions on any other occasion, would you?’
Adhesive from strip lashes congeals in extensions, making clumps that can rip the natural lashes out altogether. Gross!

‘I can see here that you’ve been wearing strip lashes--there are pieces of glue in your roots, which I’ll unfortunately have to remove before I can start on your infill treatment.’

It’s nearly impossible to get all the glue out of the roots, even for a lash technician. Picking out pieces of glue during an appointment is a tricky task, and often impacts on the amount of time we can spend applying extensions or fixing damaged ones--be honest about this! If you’re struggling to remove the glue pieces, your client needs to know so that you can avoid any further complications. This is often the best road to go down--often clients will think that they have cleaned their lashes well enough to disguise the fact that strips are used, but really the residue is quite easy to see.

If you notice that your client uses strips on more than one occasion, have a chat about potentially changing up their lash style to a thicker look--if they have a special event that they’ve been chatting about, it’s always a good time to introduce the topic. Flat lashes are often a great alternative to strips or individual falsies, as their flat tapered bases give the illusion of a thicker look. Or you could always suggest volume lashes--these clever lashes are applied in super-light fan shapes for the ultimate fluff!

We want to make sure that every one of our clients has gorgeous lashes before, during and after the holidays, so keep an eye out for the telltale signs of strips. Bring on the New Year!