Clients email me all the time asking if they should get lash extensions for their wedding or if they should wear strip lashes. With all the crying, make-up, photos, and honeymooning, they just aren’t sure if lash extensions can hold up so we broke down what you can expect for wedding lashes.

Ocean Water

Eyelash extensions are by far the way to go over strip lashes for your wedding. Not only do you not have to think about them except for a daily fluffing and brushing, but they look much cleaner than mascara. Now, if you are the kind of person that wears strip lashes on the regular, you may be fine with those but consider your honeymoon. Are you going somewhere with ocean water and hot tubs? Strip lashes are not friends with saltwater. With extensions, you can play in the ocean as much as you want and just rinse the salt off after.

Crying

I’ve never known a bride not to cry on her wedding day. While strip lashes may hold up through some tears, the salt from the water in your eyes can mix with the strip glue and cause very red eyes. Even is you ditch the strip for waterproof mascara, the salt clumps with the fibers of the mascara and creates an unpleasant look. Lash extensions are cured within 24 hours so if your lash artist is using a professional, high-grade glue, there shouldn’t be any stinging and definitely no redness.

Make-up

With all the make-up, powdering, sweating, and touching up a bride goes through in one day, it’s better not to have to think about if your strip is going to hold. Few things are more embarrassing than having a conversation while your strip lash is starting to peel off. This is something you never have to worry about with extensions.

Honeymoon

Why not wake up with gorgeous lashes as a new bride? Sure, you could wear strip lashes to bed so you can wake up with them, but you are risking damage to your own lash follicle by sleeping in strip lash glue. Skin sheds at night and when it mixes with strip glue, dirt and oil gets into the follicles causing clogs. Lash extensions are superior when it comes to sleeping because the glue is attached to a lash and not your skin.

Should lash extensions be the way you go for your big day, timing is everything. It is best to schedule ahead and book your appointment 2-4 days before your big day. You want them new enough to stay full through your honeymoon but doing them the day before doesn’t provide enough curing time.

To break or not to break, that is the question. Clients ask me all the time if their own lashes look alright and if they should take a break. My job is not only to provide beautiful eyelash extensions but to also care for the client’s natural lashes so that they can continue to be my client. Lash artists who are in it for the long haul know this is far more important than always giving the client what they want.

When a client asks me if they should take a break from their lash extensions, I take two things into consideration.

1.) Do I know their lashes? In other words, have they been coming to me long enough where I can tell if I’m leaving their lashes in the same condition or better than I found them?

2.) Have they been on a vacation recently that involved sun, sand and saltwater?

For the most part, eyelashes grow and shed so if a client is getting lightweight extensions suitable for their own natural lash with high quality glue and regular fills, their natural lashes should be perfectly fine. The exception to this rule is if the client wears any sort of eye makeup on a daily basis. The wonderful thing about a nice full set of lash extensions is that you don’t need eye make-up but there are those who still love to play in their sparkly shadows and smokey liners. In Los Angeles, a large percentage of my clients are actors or models who don’t have a choice in what is applied to their eyelids. In these circumstances where the client is exposed to make-up particles near the lash line on a regular basis, I always advise a break every six to eight months. This gives the client a chance to thoroughly clean the lash line every day to make sure the skin isn’t over exposed to dirt and oil build up. The eyelids will naturally exfoliate so it’s a great way to give the eyes a reboot. Two months is the recommended time but even one month will make a difference.

When a client is new and I don’t know the condition of their natural lashes before I started working on them, I usually ask if they notice an increase in itchiness or redness. Then I study the skin on their lids to see if there is any peeling. When the lids are desperate for exfoliation, tiny skin particles can get trapped in the lash line and has the potential to turn into demodex, especially if the client already has rosacea. If none of this is happening, then I recommend that the client get a few more fills and let me monitor her lashes during that time. Sometimes just adjusting the weight of the lashes can promote better results.

The last consideration is the sun-n-sands obstacle. Humidity changes, sunshine and salt-water influence our skin and that includes our eyelids. When a client returns from vacation, I usually recommend filling them with lighter lashes than they are used to for one round. This helps to allow exfoliation and breathing of the lash line. If they have a severe sunburn or sun damage to the natural lash hairs, I recommend a break of one month.

And of course, a good lash serum is always recommended.