- By GERIT QUEALY and Published: December 7, 2006
PERHAPS all those ads featuring impossibly long lashes have ignited a multitude of inner Harlequin heroines. But women are seeking lashes that reach, curl and arabesque like the Sugarplum Fairy in “The Nutcracker,” especially to accessorize their romantic party dresses this holiday season.
GREAT LENGTHS A regular client at a salon that attaches eyelash extensions in Los Angeles.
Products claim to encourage eyelashes to grow, and mascaras promise to do all but walk a woman down the aisle. False eyelashes, too, have experienced a marked renaissance in the last several years, with Shu Uemura even adding a lash bar to its SoHo store in 2004 because of customer demand.
But for those looking for length and volume that last longer than the office holiday party — and without the mess that comes from glopping on mascara — there are now eyelash extensions, delicate silk-and-polyester lashes that mimic the natural lash. Sharp tweezers are used to dip a single lash into glue and then attach it near the root of an individual lash, on the upper eyelid only.
About 80 to 120 lashes are applied during a typical procedure, taking two hours. If it’s done well, it creates a full, flirtatious look. But extensions do have their risks.
“You’re getting very close to someone’s eyeball with pointed tweezers and very strong adhesive,” said Tim Dana, president of Lavish Lashes, one of the four largest eyelash extension companies. “You want someone who really knows what they’re doing.”
The first extensions can be traced to Southeast Asia. Jinny Coffey, a beauty therapist in London, began Jinnylash there more than five years ago, after taking synthetic lashes with her from her native South Korea. Their popularity grew and now salons across Britain offer them.
In the last year, salons in the United States have added the treatment, including at the John Barrett Salon at Bergdorf Goodman in New York City. Its managing director, Robin Benet, said more clients began requesting false eyelashes about two years ago, and the interest soon shifted to extensions. The salon now has an aesthetician trained by Lavish Lashes on staff.
Mr. Dana said the procedure has been available in the United States for more than six years, but initially the glue was so harsh and pungent that neither clients nor practitioners could stand the fumes. Even now, he said, practitioners want to know that he is offering the reformulated adhesive. “The first thing they ask at trade shows is ‘Can I sniff your glue?’ ” he said.
When he and his wife, Mary Jane, started Lavish Lashes, which is based in Riverside, Calif., almost two years ago, he said they realized the training was just as important as the product. “Just because someone is good at applying nail extensions doesn’t mean they’ll be good at this,” Mr. Dana said. So his company was the first to require training for those who buy it.
Most practitioners can only do two or three procedures a day, though Ms. Coffey said she has been doing it so long, she can do as many as eight. The life of a natural lash is about eight weeks before shedding, so new extensions need to be applied every three to six weeks to maintain the look.
This makes upkeep costly. The initial procedure runs anywhere from $300 to $500 and maintenance costs $50 to $150, depending on who does it and how many replacement lashes are required.
That is if it is done well. If not, the extensions can wreak havoc on lashes. The legends circulate: the woman who had her eyelids glued shut, the salon that used Krazy Glue when it was out of the proper glue, someone who had her eyelid glued to her eyeball, the editor who ended up with bald eyelids.
Yet many women who have suffered damage from extensions will not talk about it, said Mary Schook, a makeup artist who said she has been enlisted scores of times to undo the damage inflicted by other salons.
Ms. Schook started off applying extensions at Orlo, Orlando Pita’s salon in the meatpacking district, more than a year ago. As her client list grew, she moved to her own space in Midtown.
Ms. Schook said the procedure is still new and many factors go into a successful application. “If you feel them, there’s something wrong,” she said of the extensions.
Many neighborhood nail salons will apply extensions much more cheaply than the high-end full-service salons, at about $150. But experienced applicators said the glue is often of a cheaper quality, and that can cause irritation and clump when wet.
The neighborhood salons also claim they can do a full application in about an hour. Again, high-end practitioners said consumers should inquire about training. Often the practitioners have learned the procedure from a DVD ordered off the Internet (one East Side nail bar features the training video in its window).
Yet splurging at an upscale salon does not always guarantee success and safety. A 57-year-old woman who is a mortgage-business developer said she was in love with the lashes that were applied at a salon in Los Angeles — until they clumped together two weeks later, causing her great pain.
“Basically my eyelashes were mush,” said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous because she still goes to the salon to have her hair done. She made her way to Ms. Schook, who recommended she take biotin, a B-complex vitamin, and use Jan Marini Age Intervention Eyelash to help her lashes grow.
Elena Syrevitch, a hair colorist at Jeffrey Stein salon on the Upper West Side, said she had lash extensions applied at a salon in her Queens neighborhood, but when she tried to remove them two weeks later, many of her natural lashes also came off. “They look great at first, but it’s not worth it,” she said.
Dr. Cheryl Karcher, a New York dermatologist, said a number of her patients have had the procedure and report no problems. But, she said, “You have to be so careful washing your face, especially when a cleanser as gentle as Cetaphil can dissolve the glue.”
Better, she said, is to use false lashes, which are temporarily glued to the upper lid, “unless you have to look good every day for a month.”
But some women said they don’t feel properly dressed unless they have their extensions — even some who have suffered damage. “I told my daughter, even when I’m really old, this is what she has to give me,” said the mortgage business developer.
Lash extensions generally fall under the appearance-enhancement laws of New York State, which allow hair extensions but never address lash extensions. Lash tinting is illegal in New York because the dye “has been known to cause severe eye injuries or even blindness,” said Laurence Sombke, spokesman for the Department of State’s licensing division. Yet the glue for extensions is equally caustic.
Mr. Sombke said the lash practitioners would have to be licensed cosmetologists or aestheticians, but “we have no new regulations pending concerning eyelashes.”
Mr. Dana of Lavish Lashes said consumers should be vigilant.
“There are companies out there offering a home-use kit,” Mr. Dana said. “How can you put lashes on with your eyes closed? There are companies insisting the glue is safe, which makes even licensed practitioners get sloppy.” He recounted an instance in which an aesthetician forgot to tell the client to remove her contacts before the procedure. And he said he worries that, eventually, someone will suffer permanent vision impairment. “There haven’t been any lawsuits yet, but it can’t not happen,” he said.
Clients said they would welcome more monitoring of practitioners, especially if it means they can still get their long, full lashes. Meanwhile, Ms. Schook said, she just took on her first male client.
***Note from Elluminize- This Article is only giving rates for synthetic eyelash extensions and Faux Mink.
Article from New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/07/fashion/07skin.html?pagewanted=1&sq=eyelash%20extension&st=cse&scp=3
Ize does a fantastic job at making you feel comfortable during the application process, and you don’t even feel it when she is putting them on. After, you are truly AMAZED at how real they look, and how natural they feel. I cannot emphasize enough at how good they look and how long they last. I have a tendency for rubbing my eyes a lot, and mine stayed on for 7 weeks without them falling out. It really is true that they last for up to 7 weeks. When i wake up in the morning, having them has cut my routine in half. All I do is fix my hair and throw on some lip gloss and I’m good to go. I will never purchase mascara again!
