We’ve heard it many times before and we agree that, indeed, it’s true – the eyes are the windows to the souls. Your eyes can express a wide range of emotions, from happiness to sadness, even betray your inner emotions despite your best efforts to hide them. Your eyes can also become a window to your health.
But there’s a part of your eyes that you may not be taking good care of – your eyelashes. Think of them as the curtains to the windows of your soul and, as such, they should also be well-cared for, no matter their thickness or length. This is a shame because not only do eyelashes add beauty to your eyes and, thus, your face, they also protect your eyes from small particles like dust.
Even when you take care of your lashes, you may stop with brushing them with a lash comb, curling them with a lash curler and applying mascara –in short, you stop short at beautifying them. But you should – we all should, for that matter – look after your eyelashes’ general health because when they look and feel good, then so do you!
So, how do you take good care of your eyelashes? Here are a few essential things to know. (Did you know, by the way, that there’s such a celebration as the National Lash Day? It happens on February 19 every year.)
Daily Care Is a Must
You now have a new beauty routine to add to your regular daily routine and it involves your eyelashes. But don’t worry about the time, energy and expense involved since eyelashes require less maintenance than, say, your skin. Just like your skin, nonetheless, caring for your eyelashes should be done on a daily basis.
Before going to bed, you should thoroughly clean your face including your eye area to remove the buildup of dirt, dust and debris as well as remove makeup from your skin. Think of it as letting your skin breath.
Be sure to use mild cleansers especially made for the eyes. You should use gentle motions when cleaning the eye area as well as use a clean sponge for cleaning it – no tugging at the lashes, too. You can then follow it up with a conditioning serum around the eye area; the product will restore lost moisture to the skin and hair (i.e., eyelashes).
Even when you’re tired to lift a finger, you should still clean your face in general and your eye area in particular. The buildup of eye products, especially mascara, and dust in your eyelashes can compromise their overall health in the long-term period.
Tip: Baby shampoo can be used as an alternative to a gentle eye cleanser, if it isn’t available.
Of course, it makes sense to use your own makeup products instead of borrowing from others. This way, you will avoid cross contamination, particularly eye infections like sore eyes.
While lush-looking eyelashes from mascara application or from eyelash extensions are great, you should go natural sometimes. Think of it as giving your eyelashes the time to breathe, just as you let your skin breathe by skipping the makeup during the night and for at least a day in a week.
Avoid Lash Loss
While there’s a wide range of fake eyelashes available at Amazing Lash Studio, keep in mind that these eyelash extensions require natural lashes for effective application. You should then take the precautionary measures to ensure that your natural lashes grow = or at least, you don’t experience abnormal lash loss.
Excessive rubbing of your eyes is the most common cause of lash loss since it breaks off the lashes at their roots, if not make them weaker and, thus, more prone to breakage. Picking off mascara, usually when it becomes clumpy on the lashes, is also another cause for lash loss – and it’s true whether you’re applying mascara or cleansing it off.
Just use gentle motion when cleaning around your eye area and avoid pulling at your lashes no matter the reason.
Tip: Use an eyelash conditioning serum on your lashes; it promotes the length, density and diameter of your natural eyelashes when applied regularly and properly.
Furthermore, you should use safe eye products. In particular, choose mascara without ethel alcohol since it causes severe dryness resulting in brittle lashes that break easily. Use mascara that doesn’t contain phthalates and parabens; check the ingredients list before buying any mascara just to be sure.
When you observe something different about your eyelashes and/or the area around them, you should consider seeing an eye specialist. You may or may not have so-called lash dandruff, a condition characterized by flaking eyelids that can also be caused by an underlying disease. Your eye doctor can determine whether it’s a cause for concern, such as seborrheic dermatitis caused by yeast overgrowth, Sjogren’s syndrome (i.e., an autoimmune disease), or blepharitis (i.e., a bacterial chronic inflammation).