Why Winter Affects Lash Glue and How You Can Fix It!
I don’t know about you, but the second autumn hits I feel like I’m home! Cooler temperatures, cosy evenings and seasonal drinks and decor - it’s the time of year I thrive!
The only thing is though, that the issues I’ll soon have with my lash glue begin to play in the back of my mind - I’m always prepared for trouble in the summer months, but it seems like each year I’m caught out by the sudden drop in temperature and all the other issues that can arise at this time of year.
I’ve made mistakes so you don’t have to - here’s all the things that can go wrong with our glue in the winter, and what we can do to protect our retention and reputation!
Changes to Your Clients' Skin
Now, before we get into the issues that can arise due to our room conditions, we need to consider that our usual lash glue might take longer to dry due to changes in our clients’ bodies.
What do I mean by that? Well, I can’t speak for everyone but my skin gets so dry in the winter!That can spell out issues in one of two ways.
Either the lack of moisture will cause your glue to dry more slowly, causing there to be more fumes emitted and/or lashes leaning after you let them go (or you may sit and hold them in place for longer, which is also super annoying and time consuming) or if they over compensate for this dryness, you may find that their skin and lashes are oilier, which we all know spells the end of retention time!
If they are super dry, opt for Booster to help your lash glue to dry faster and apply it throughout the treatment to keep this topped up. If you find that your glue is still taking way too long to dry, it will be worth getting a faster glue.
If you’re currently using Lady Bond, switch to Flexie, if you’re used to Flexie, try Royal Bond (I say Royal Bond instead of Power Bond because it will react better to fluctuations in the temperature and humidity than Power Bond will, but by all means grab a couple of samples and see which suits you best!)
If they’re using lots of moisturiser or oilier products than normal, you’ll need to make sure you really go hard on the pretreatment to make sure the lashes are completely oil free! I’d recommend our tried and tested 5 step routine, but if you have a bit of a tighter budget, we have some other options available!
Changes to the Temperature
Now, we all know how temperature can affect lash glue while we’re working, but what about when we put it to bed for the night? In winter, temperatures can drop rapidly overnight, and while we might keep the heating on in our homes or at least pop it on for an hour in the evening or early morning, we’re unlikely to do the same in our workspace (and fair enough, it would result in a pretty hefty bill if we did!)
This lower temperature - in the UK at least - is rarely low enough to freeze our glue, but it can reach fridge temperatures (3-5 degrees) which can cause problems in a couple of ways - firstly, when we come to use our glue first thing in the morning it can be thicker than normal, which would cause anyone to panic - gloopy glue spells disaster!
Leave it to come up to room temperature for an hour or so and go from there. You may find - as long as your glue was stored in an airtight container - that your glue goes back to its usual consistency once it comes up to your usual room temperature.
That being said, there’s a reason you should never keep an open eyelash extensions glue in the fridge, and that’s condensation. If you’ve ever taken anything out of a fridge, you’ll know that out the outside and inside of the bottle/container, you get little water droplets building up on the outside and the inside.
If any condensation gets into the bottle at all, that moisture will begin to cure the glue - it will be stringy at best, if not completely cured inside the bottle. Either way it will be unusable!
It might seem silly but taking your lash glue home at night (or taking it into the house if you’re mobile, never leave it in the car in any season!) can make a big difference!
How Does Humidity Affect Lash Glue?
Now we all know how this can play a crucial role in your glue’s effectiveness, and therefore your client's lash retention, but two things can happen to humidity in the winter, and we need to be prepared!
The first thing that can happen, and the most obvious thing we would think of is the increase in humidity due to the weather being colder, the higher chance of rain (or even snow) and the fact that - for those of you who work from home - we have to keep our laundry indoors now instead of putting it out on the line. This can all have an impact on your glue in your workspace, sure, but what about when your client leaves?
It’s a little bit dramatic to say that the outdoor humidity will affect the glue bonds in such a way it’s worth mentioning here, but at the same time it’s a running theme at this time of year - we get messages saying ‘my pretreatment is perfect, my room conditions are the same, my glue is fresh, and my client still lost loads of lashes the next day!’.
So what’s the issue? Well, glue doesn’t like extremes! Before it’s on the lashes or afterwards, so it’s well worth making sure that the glue is cured before your client leaves.
Once you’ve finished the set and checked for stickies, you’re going to take a drop of superbonder on a microfibre brush (dab off the excess to avoid it going into the eyes) and then just dab it onto the glue bonds to cure them instantly, whilst maintaining elasticity so they won’t become brittle!
Something that’s easier to overlook is that in the winter, our room can become super dry! What do we do when the room gets cold? We turn on the heating!
The heating can be very drying, though so we need to be careful that we’re not impacting our glue - it’s not quite as detrimental as glue drying too fast, but just like that lack of moisture caused by those clients with dryer skin, we can end up spending lots of time waiting for the glue to form any kind of bond between your extension and the natural lash.
The really excellent thing about having low humidity is that it’s super easy to fix! You can:
- Pop a damp towel on the radiator
- Use your Booster just like on your dryer clients
- Apply Primer onto the natural lashes throughout the set (be careful here not to touch any existing glue bonds and this can cause shock polymerisation)
- Add some little droplets of water along the eyepatch using a microfibre brush
- Invest in a small humidifier to have in your work space (it’s important not to have this too close to the bed as this can lead to issues with humidity being too high!)
Parties
The last thing to consider is that we're coming up to party season - let's think about those clients of our who LOVE a glittery eyeshadow (I mean who can resist those Huda Beauty eyeshadow palettes, right? Not me!) - they'll need a good lash cleansing routine now more than ever, so it's good to start reminding them to stock up on a good Lash Shampoo to keep their lashes looking fresh!
Whatever you do this Winter season, you can rest assured that there is a solution which will make your life easier! One of the main things you can do is ensure that you’re on top of your room conditions, and the rest will follow!
