Hello my lash love. Do you want to know the 12 biggest lessons from lashing for 12 years? In this blog, you will learn some crucial information to implement into your lash business.

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In my 12 years of lashing, there are major lessons to have been learned. Although I could go on for another 24 more I will keep it short and sweet for you.

1-Inner corners

The first thing is first, the inner corners! You learn very quickly at the beginning of your Lash career to get this section done first. The inner corners are my favorite Lashes! They make or break a set. Every single one of my inner corners goes down to 7 mm even if it says nine is that section, the maximum I will ever do on an inner corner is 8 mm. Stick with the shorties, as short as you can get your hands on such as 5, 6 7 mm. My favorite way to do it is to put 2 - 5 mm next to each other then 2-6 mm then 2-7 mm and the rest of the section 8 mm. It comes out so flattering every time. When it comes to curls, please never use D curl. it is way too tight of a curl and will be irritating. Stick to your lesser curls.

2-How much a lash can hold

The Rule of lashing, with the health of the Lash being our main concern. Is that you only go at a maximum of 2 mm longer than the client's natural lashes. This rule is still in effect. ALTHOUGH. It depends on the strength and health of their natural Lash already. There are some powerful Shorties out there that can hold, quite a bit of length. Some long lashes are weak and unable to hold under the pressure a long lash comes with. it is all completely subjective. It will take a good 3 to 4 appointments to be able to lash and style clients correctly that is catered for them alone. Test out a little bit every appointment. If she has short lashes and wants a longer lash test it out. Take it one millimeter at a time each appointment and as soon as you notice a difference with the growth pattern or they are twisting and turning throwing gang signs after the appointment, then you have found your spot. Over time you will be able to read a set of natural lashes and what they can hold like a symphony player can read its musical notes. With ease, grace, and confidence.

3-Stand by your style

Your clients choose you as much as you choose them. There are so many different types of styles and lashes on the market. Similar to hair stylists, where they specialize in a specific type of work and look, you have the creativity and power to do just the same. We have classics. We have mix and hybrid, and we have volume then American mega volume, and Russian mega volume. I am a Russian-style artist, but offer all the variations except American mega. You as the artist have the decision to expertise on one style if you find yourself only caring about that one style. And if a client does not fit your styling, many other artists on the market can fit her Lash look preferences. And there are so many more clients waiting and looking for someone who has your exact styling techniques.

4-Pure adhesive

Once upon a time, there was lash adhesive that you were not allowed to wash your lashes for 24 hours. Or take a shower or be around humidity at all. This is strange since the main ingredient needs humidity to be able to cure. But alas, this was true and that is where we got the origin of the myth of not getting them wet for 24 hours after the appointment. This is no longer in effect because of our fast innovation through Lash adhesives. Thank you to the modern world of lashing for providing us with as pure adhesive as possible. When someone asks how I attach a Lash, I say that I use a medical-grade adhesive, one that they use in the hospitals to close wounds. The adhesive that we use currently on the market is a copycat of the adhesives that they use during surgeries it is a very strong adhesive that will last until the natural Lash sheds if you were to use the correct amount on the extension. When I am looking for an adhesive, I want it to have three ingredients or less. At Max. I generally prefer clear adhesive which only has Ethyl cyanacrylate, the sticky part, and PMMA which gives it the flexibility it needs to move with a hair. then, if I were to choose black adhesive, it would only include cyanacrylate, PMMA, and black carbon. Most people when they have irritations and allergies is because of the black carbon. So if you are a purist Lasher, like me then clear is the way to go. My favorite brands to work with for adhesives is EBL lashes, Lovely lash US, and Beauty + Clear, apart from the one I am currently working with which is from LashPro Miami.
https://www.omnilashpro.com/shop/ultimatebond

https://lovelyus.com/products/clear-eyelash-extension-glue

https://extensionsbylindy.com/products/magic-clear

https://www.lashorder.com/products/beauty-clear-adhesive

5-Lash classes

Lash classes! They come in all shapes and sizes. After taking 18 classes to date and soon 19, each one has taught me important lessons. Everyone has their own specific techniques and you can learn from every Lash artist that you meet. Of course, first, you are going to take a classic course which will teach you the basics. Then you will take a course then after that there are many different advanced techniques. You can learn. Such as mega volume. My very first class was in beauty school, and it was One day. They provided us with a set of tweezers, a box of lashes, which was luckily in a tray, and not loose because that’s how the majority of them were provided at the time. And some adhesive and a postcard. The postcard was for all of our notes from the Lash class. Which simply states isolate here, paint on the adhesive, and place onto the Lash. That is it. The absolute basic of all education you can ask for. I believe I ended up getting in trouble multiple times with points docked because I got my clients too full by providing 100% coverage. It is hilarious to think back on it. At this time volume was not yet invented. I did not learn about volume for another 2 to 3 years after learning classics. And it was just by word-of-mouth that someone miraculously put six extensions onto one natural lash without any damage. I taught myself how to create volume fans, and after, a few months of offering it to my clients I took my first course. Although I no longer do the technique that I was doing at the time. After that course, it was a year after that when I took consecutive classes from Borboleta. I was training to be one of their trainers and ended up taking their classic and volume courses numerous times. In the end, our community standards did not match up, and I went on to teach on my own. This led me to take more advanced courses to know all the techniques that are out there and to hone in on my styling preferences. I have since taken Lash makers russian volume and trainers course, maven volume lash and face studies, million Lashes pro Russian volume, revolation Russian volume. The biggest thing I have learned out of all of my courses is to never stop learning. Every one of them is so valuable. Also, they are worth the price. Education is like buying shoes. The more expensive they are the better you will feel incorporating it into your life. The better the structure the better the comfort you’ll feel afterwards. The next point that I will make is to continue learning and go back to the foundations. Once you have learned all of the techniques you want, go back and take a classic course again. When you are taking classes, it invigorates your inner artist and reinspires the maven inside of you. There is an art quote that talks about how artists are similar to gods because we create something out of nothing. I find that to be very inspiring. Artists never stop learning. If you know anything about van Gogh's story or da Vinci’s story, that is the whole point of their mission is to keep on learning and trying new things because hot damn did they fail quite a bit. This is why industries have conferences. When you take a class of any sort for your career, it reinvigorates that drive inside of you to keep going. I highly recommend taking a course no less than every three years to keep up with that drive and inspiration.

6-Lash curl and diameters

Lash curls and diameters. The three curls I carry on hand are CC, D, and M. The Perfect bralette, the pushup bra, and the eye opener… but first let's talk about diameters. I am so happy and grateful that long and gone are the days of putting porcupine quills onto eyelashes. Getting one of them stuck in your eye is the most painful thing and would cause so much damage. They were overly heavy and way too thick. And by porcupine quills, I am talking about .20 mm+ Lashes. The amount of adhesive that you would have to use to get these babies to stay for the full longevity of the growth cycle was immense and added even more weight onto the lashes. I am grateful that I did not cause any major damage. The max diameter that works well universally is .15 mm. Now let’s talk about Lash curls. They are so fun these days! J and B curl is where we started, which is little to no curl. Some artists still use these, but they are not as common anymore as they were at the beginning. C curl was the way to all your client's hearts. D curl was used for the big and the dramatic. And the only time you would use an L is for monolid/overfold eyes. We have since broken that trend, and I will make a YouTube video on how to style those eyes correctly soon. Anywho. When CC curl was invented, it was like my whole Lash world exploded into glitter. I transferred all of my extensions to CC curl because it gave that little extra UMPH that everyone wanted without The dramatic curl of the D. Now we have M curl which I now call the eye-opener. It is transformative for those deep-set eyes that need to be woken up and brought to life. The three curls I carry on hand are CC, D, and M. But there are many others for your artistic taste, such as J and B as mentioned previously. Then we have the U curl which is even tighter than the D curl, L curl, L minus, and L Plus. Each company has the same lash diameters but not curls. Every company that you buy from will have a different grading scale on how tight a curl is. If you buy CC curl from one company, it may be different compared to another. So once you have started your Lash line, be mindful of where you are buying from and mixing brands.

7-Taking breaks

Oh my gosh, you know how you feel after eight clients back to back? Yeah, that is not OK. You should not be feeling that way every single day and it is a direct road to burnout and possibly the end of your career in one way or another. Recently I have started taking a 15-minute break in my schedule preplanned in between each of my appointments. This allows me to grab some water, and a snack, re-ground a little bit, stretch my legs, and go to the bathroom. And if I wanted to also I could meditate a little bit or do that one post that I have been waiting to do. After those busy days, I am taking fewer clients but I feel 1 million times better and I still have energy after work to carry on with the rest of my day for my personal life. I highly recommend doing this, even if it is 10 minutes in between your appointments. it has made such a vital difference in my overall feeling of work. I just came back after a three-year personal hiatus, and I am trying to avoid going there again at all costs. And if that means I take one or two fewer clients a day then so be it. Because I plan on this being my job for life. Oh, and also on these 15-minute breaks you could also do a mini workout to elevate your heart rate, which is healthy for your circulation since we sit for so long, for our heart health, and our mind clarity from said circulation. All you need is five minutes to do a hefty mini set of workouts. I dare you to try to do a Wall sit for five minutes.

8-Tape

Tape, tape, tape, tape, tape! I will try to put all of the pictures of the tape options we have had leading up to this point. But currently, the biggest thing right now that I use as far as the tape goes is my microfoam tape. And that is good for everything from underneath the eyes for the bottom lashes, and also maneuvering the eyelid to lift it out of place so I can get good placement or to hold their eye down like a wonton to keep their eyes shut or stable. I will make a video on the method here soon. I have started from the beginning of just putting clear, very sticky healthcare tape on the battle. Lashes only do using it alongside gel pads which feels 1 million times better than white paper tape which the Lashes stuck to so much and was uncomfortable to brush the lashes out on. Then we migrated to the blue tape which is a great tape, but sometimes could be a bit too strong if you do not season it beforehand. Then that has led me to use microfoam tape, which is amazing for working with sensitive eyes and currently for all of my taping needs. I do currently still carry my paper tape as that is what I put my adhesive on to keep it in a dome shape for optimal adhesive usage. Under the eyes, I use two gel pads to contour the eyes to hold down the bottom lashes instead of putting so much tape.

9-Salon, own, rent

Right outside of Lash school or beauty school, you have options. You have the option to go to a salon, rent your own place, or open your a salon. Be picky about where you work. This is your career and job. We are talking about where you spend a good 50% of your life. I have had experience with both over the 12 years of my career. I have also owned salons, rented suites, and worked in a lot of environments. Each one has its pros and cons which I will go over more in-depth in another video. For now, just think about what type of environment you work best in. Do you want to be able to control your schedule 100% and do your own decorating? Do you want to work in a great environment with other artists? Or do you want to expand even further and get a big enough space for others to work with you? Great artists are in all environments, just because you don’t own a salon or have your own space does not mean that you can not be one of the greats.

10-Placement and sizing and more important than density and coverage.

That is huge coming from an artist who strives to get 100% coverage during my lash appointments. But sometimes you are unable to do so whether that depends on the amount of time blocked off for the amount of Lashes you need to place, or if the client was running late, or whatever the matter. When you are unable to get 100% full, the placement and length variety you choose makes the world of a difference. Classic lashes are making a huge trend comeback, and the biggest way to get them to look even fuller is to place them in the perfect direction mixing a variety of different links throughout the line. Also, check out my last video to learn my favorite shaping method for this.

11-Delegating

When it comes to delegating and being a small business owner, there are two main areas of focus that I highly recommend you delegate. And just because you can do something does not mean you should do it. Our time is precious and should be used doing the things that we actually Have the capacity to be doing. So the two areas I think are the most important to delegate and higher out for no matter the size of your business is a social media manager, and a CPA. These two people are going to make your business ownership, so much more enjoyable. If you feel like it is time to start delegating, take inventory on what you despise, the most then hop on to UpWork or Fivver, or ask around your entrepreneurship community for recommendations.

12-Timing

Oh, the biggest question on the market. How can I get faster? And honey, it all comes down to time dedication. Usain Bolt did not get up one day and start off by doing five-minute miles right off the bat.No. The greatest symphonies didn’t sound all together and on beat after one or two practices. Lashing is just like that. It is a non-invasive technical surgery. We are using very particular instruments at a small scale to do a beauty operation. It will take time to get your body used to working in the way that it needs to. The biggest tip I can give you is to never go longer than three days without practice. I even find within myself currently at this point that if I go longer than three days without lashing, it takes me a good 30 to 45 minutes to be able to get my groove back up and going again. So the more often you practice, even if that is pre-making your fans or working on a mannequin or model at home on your kitchen table, it counts, and will make a huge difference. You get out what you put in. The more you put into lashing the more you will get out of it.

There you have it! 12 lessons I have learned about lashing in 12 years. This could be an endless list but that is what my lash training is for. Be on the lookout for online course and workshop dates! They will be launching very soon! If you are a lash artist, in the comments let me know how the biggest lesson you have learned in your career.

I look forward to seeing you again when you like, share, and subscribe to get out of your drama and into your dreams and make your career crystal clear. Because love, you are human, and congratulations on that!

See you soon Love!

12 Lash Lessons from 12 Years of Lashing