I once had a client who would call me one week after her fill saying she was experiencing a lot of premature fallout. I would have her come in, I would take a look at everything, go over exactly what she was doing, refill her lashes and send her on her way. I would then receive another phone call telling me that the same thing happened. I couldn't figure it out. I know that I was doing everything correct on my end. I was prepping the lashes, replenishing the adhesive, using the correct amount of adhesive and the lashes were definitely not too heavy. I wasn't having these issues with any other client. I chalked it up to something that she must be doing.

It only dawned on me one day during her appointment when her under eye pads kept slipping off her face. She has very oily skin, which is causing her poor retention!

Oily skin is NOT a contraindication to eyelash extensions. It just takes a little extra work and for you and your client to be on the same page because blepharitis is a lot more common in clients with oily skin and retention can be awful!

*Blepharitis is a build up of dead skin cells, oil and dirt which can cause irritation, swelling, itchy and red eyes. It is usually caused by an increased amount of bacteria in the lash line. It presents itself as a dandruff on the mild end and a yellow crust on the more severe end.*

What The Artist Needs To Do

1) Start asking clients about their skin during consultations. Have a section on your intake form that asks if the client has normal, oily, dry, sensitive or combination skin.

2) As always, wash the lashes before every single appointment. I mean really wash them. Do a double cleanse. Wash the eye lids, the inner corners where oil tends to hide and the under eyes. The under eyes are key to help keep the under eye pads in place.

3) Use a little extra adhesive. Yes, I said it! Use more. I don't mean have a huge blob of adhesive hanging off the end of your extension, but just use a touch more than you normally would.

4) Make sure you retail them a lash shampoo. Not oil free makeup remover or any old cleaner from the drug store. A lash shampoo and a cleansing brush.

5) Drill after care into their head. Stress the importance of it because of their oily skin. Usually if you tell them that their lashes won't last as long, or at all, they will get the point and follow your instructions.

What The Client Needs To Do

1) Depending how oily the client is, I would suggest washing their lashes twice per day. Once in the morning and once in the evening. Over night your skin cells tend to repair themselves and turnover. So even though they washed at night time to get the oil and dirt from the day off, its probably a good idea to give them a once over in the morning.

2) Wipe their eyelids throughout the day. Ask your client if they notice their makeup and foundation tends to break up and wear off in the afternoon. If this is the case it means their skin is producing more oil mid day which will have an affect on the eyelids and lash line.

In Conclusion

You may or may not ever run into this problem, but chances are you already have and just chalked their poor retention up to something that they were doing. This is why incorporating questions regarding skin type into your consultations can be extremely helpful with catching potential retention issues before they even start. Both you and your client need to be on the same page with this, which means you need to educate them! Knowledge is power, so start taking skin type into consideration while consulting with your clients.