
Eyelash Care - Tips for Healthy Lashes
We spend as much time pampering our “canvas” (i.e., our face) as we do painting it with makeup—it’s one of the main rules of French beauty, after all! That means we never skip moisturizer, and we always have a lip balm nearby.
However, there’s one more feature that deserves some special attention: the lashes!
We love the dramatic effect that mascara can have, but it turns out so much better when we can start out with strong, healthy lashes. When the lashes are well taken care of, they’re not as prone to falling or breaking. The longer they stay intact on the lash line, the thicker and longer they’ll grow.
To learn how to maintain your lashes so they’ll always look swell, keep reading our guide! We’ll give some must-know natural lash care tips and even touch on what you should look for in an eyelash serum and how to grow eyelashes.
Choose a gentle mascara
Waterproof mascara is incredibly useful when you know it’s going to rain or if you want to turn heads at the pool. For day-to-day, however, easily washable mascara is much more gentle on your lashes.
This mostly has to do with removal—the more tugging and rubbing you have to do to get the mascara off, the more damage you’ll do to your lashes! Stick to a regular formula most of the time, and save that waterproof mascara for special days when you want to look glam in the water.
Use a primer before mascara
A mascara primer is a wonderful product that gives your lashes extra protection and nourishment under mascara. Before mascara, the lash primer coats the lashes with a seal that’s made of a blend of waxes and emollients that nourishes the lashes while also adding a barrier between them and the mascara. As a bonus, it also helps build that initial length and volume, which saves you from having to repeat your coats.
Remove eye makeup every night
Sleeping with eye makeup on is the biggest no-no. It’s awful for the health of your eyes, but it can also damage the lashes. When we sleep with mascara on, it dries out and causes clumping and tangling, especially if you tend to sleep with your face in the pillow. As a result, the lashes get weakened, so you’re likely to lose a few more of them than usual once morning comes.
Keep removal gentle
When it’s time to remove your makeup, use a gentle, oil-based makeup remover and a firm, non-shedding cotton pad. Take your time, and instead of rubbing over and over again, let the makeup remover really saturate your mascara before you start wiping it away. This will allow the mascara to break down and disappear completely with minimal stress to your lashes.
Don’t rub your eyes
Another important habit to break when it comes to eyelash care is rubbing your eyes. When we’re sleepy, it’s a common habit to rub our eyes without even noticing. Unfortunately, that added friction contributes to eyelash loss (and it can irritate the eyes). It’s perfectly normal to lose 2-5 lashes a day, but if you rub your eyes, you may lose even more than that!
If you rub your eyes because they get itchy or dry, consider applying moisturizing eye drops. Your eyes will be happier, and so will your lashes! Otherwise, if it’s just a bad habit, breaking it will require some mindfulness, as with other bad habits.
Give your lashes a makeup break
As much as we love the effect that mascara can have, it’s still worth taking a break from it every few days. There can be a correlation between excessive mascara use and increased eyelash loss, especially if the removal was too aggressive.
That’s why you should take a break from mascara for a day or two a week, ideally. During those days, give your lashes time to rest and rejuvenate, perhaps with the help of eyelash serum.
Use an eyelash serum
Eyelash serums are essential if you’d like to truly nurture your lashes. There are two main kinds of eyelash serums out there: ones that nourish and strengthen the lashes and ones that help to grow them.
Nourishing serums
You can use nourishing serums as part of your basic eyelash care routine. Much like hair serums, these lash serums are usually made with oils and plant extracts. They help to condition the lashes and to moisturize the skin along the lash line. They’re useful for keeping the lashes healthy and in-tact, and they’re ideal for daily use.
Products for lash growth
If you’re mainly concerned with how to grow your eyelashes, you need to search for a product specifically made to improve eyelash growth. There are a ton of different options out there, both natural and man-made, that are said to help grow the lashes.
There are many eyelash serums out there made with ingredients that have potential for improving hair growth. Some of these ingredients include prostaglandin analogs that directly impact the lash follicle.
On the more gentle and natural side of things, certain peptides are said to promote hair growth as well as extracts from plants like clover and mung bean.
Bat your lashes!
When you show your lashes love, they’ll return it tenfold. Proper eyelash care isn’t necessarily hard or complicated—it’s just a matter of taking the occasional makeup break, being diligent about removing your mascara at night, and adding the occasional, helpful touches of eyelash serum and mascara primer.
Even adopting just a few of these eyelash care tips will help you bat longer, fuller lashes.