To Mist or Not to Mist?

If you have been applying lash extensions for some time, you were probably advised not to get any water ANYWHERE near the lash extensions for 24-48 hours after application.  For so long we have thought it has taken this long for our adhesive to “dry”.  Who really wants to tell their client’s to wait 24-48 hours before having a shower (or withholding from crying) and let’s be honest, how many client’s actually waited that long?! 

Well we now know better and that its actually the moisture in our air that actually cures the lash extensions adhesive.  It’s this moisture that breaks down the stabilizer in your adhesive that allows the molecules to start forming strong bonds.  This knowledge + the recent advances in adhesive manufacturing means good news for Lash Stylists. 

Using this knowledge, we now know humidity in our lash studio can affect the way our lash extension adhesive works and bonds.  Changing the humidity of an entire room is difficult and it can always fluctuate.  Misting is the perfect way to change humidity in the immediate area of the natural lashes.  You can use this to change the way your adhesive is working during your application.

Misting the lashes to cure the lash adhesive at the end of service is great for your clients and for yourself.  Lashes can be wet after the service, its stops the chemical reaction occurring right near your client’s eyes and ultimately can help retention. 

Its understandable people are going to be worried about getting the lashes “wet” within the 24 hour period we were told not to – but misting is not wetting the lashes, its creating moisture in the area of the lashes to kick start the chemical reaction.  Provided your application has created strong bonds, misting will not badly affect retention.  If you are worried this is going to affect your retention, start slow by testing on one or two people.  Mist to cure and get the lashes wet right away.  Once you have established your bonds are strong enough you can then start on your clients.  Start by asking them to wait 4-6 hours and assess retention on their next visit.  Then drop it to 2-4 hours and so on until you are confident enough your misting is up to scratch! 

So here are the tips to get the most out of your nano-mister.

• Start slow, practice on your hand and with your hygrometer to get a feel for how your mister works – how close do you get to your hand before water particles form? How long does it take for humidity to rise?
• Choose a nano-mister with a small particle size of under 0.5 um (micrometre)
• Use distilled water (or bottled spring water at minimum). Do not use tap water and do not fill from the tap.  Fill your mister gently using a pipette or funnel to avoid overspill. 
• Empty and leave your mister open after the end of each day
• Keep the mister around 20-30 cm away from the natural lashes
• Wave the mister from eye to eye and cure at the end for around 15 second each eye.
• Try to keep humidity around the lash area to 80% and under
• If you see water particles forming – you are too close!
• If you see a white film on the lashes, you have shock polymerised the adhesive and this white film is actually tiny cracks in the adhesive which can affect retention.
• Mist your client’s (and your own!) eyes after they are open to return moisture to the eye – I actually mist casually during the day while sitting at my desk, it feels amazing!

Our Lash & Brow Professional Nano-Mister is a beautiful looking but practical nano-mister with an output particle size of 0.3um.  They come pre-checked by the factory with batteries included! 

Disclaimer: Although this article is based on the science learned from Doug Schoon @ Global Lash Summit, its always best to check with your supplier what works with your lash extension adhesive.