So,
In a fit of vanity and self indulgence, I treated myself to a treatment that is fairly rare and not well documented on the internet as far as I’ve seen.
Eyelash Extensions.
Yup. Eyelash extensions.
It’s apparnelty a fairlly new fad to hit the states though it’s been conducted in Asia for quite some time. Reassuring to know that those Korean pop idols had some help because I’ve always felt pretty self conscious re: my eyes.
The lips: not an issue. Loves them.. The eyes… well.. something to be desired.
I’ve never watned sankapurl…the surgery done to create an epicanthic or double fold on the eyelids. However this procedure, purely cosmetic, intrigued me to see what could be done with my puny lashes.
This is the before pix. Can you even see my eyelashes? Yeah.
Pretty miniscule. I’ve got average sized asian eyes. I wear contacts. And my lashes, like my hair, is pretty stick straight and doesn’t do well with taking a curl. I’ve considered eyelash perming but my lashes were fricking way too short for that. My lashyes point straight downwards. When I try to curl my eyelashes and/or wear mascary it winds up in a big smudgy smear under my eyes. Pitiful.
I went to Studio C, after reading some splendiferous reviews on Yelp and prepped for my experience.
Man was it cool.
Studio C is located off of Union Sreet in San Francisco and a funky little find. Cheryl, the propriatress is utterly cute, competant, and has created a v. comfortable boutiquette. When you’re getting your treatment you get to choose if you want to lie on top of or beneath the covers of a down filled blanked and uber comfortable treatment bed.
I decided to get tucked under. I should probably admit now that I was up all night the previous evening playing World of Warcraft. Total addict now.
The beginning of the treatment involves a quick scrubdown of the skin around your eyes. A quick swipe over the lids and surrounding area. 8-14 hours before your appointment you should not have any moisturizer or anything on or around your eye lids.
After the wipedown, paper tape is used to tape down your lower lashes so they don’t get in the way, your eyes are closed and yet the upper eyelids are pulled back ever so slightly so that your lashes are standing straight up.
It looks scary but it’s totally harmless. It doesn’t even pull up or pull out any hairs from the brow or eyelashes.
Then my eyes were closed.
And I took a nap. For 2 hours. While Cheryl carefully and meticulously attached individual eyelash extensions to each hair in a tiered fashion to look as natural and luscious as possible. The type of lashes I received are “Singles” . “Singles” as opposed to “doubles’ or “Triples” are 1:1 extension additions. The advantage of this is a more natural look, less glue gunkiness, and an elegant subtlty that I prefer.
I mean, afterall, who wants to look like a dragqueen. Right?
So tada. I woke up from my nap and shazam.
Post lash extension treatment means letting the glue dry which means not letting them get wet, around any sort of oily moisturizer thingie which will cause the glue to loosen up. Even while in the shower to try avoid excess steam that might cause the glue to unset in any way.
Lashes fall out on a regular basis naturally so losing a few of them during the course of a couple months is totally normal. Touchups are recommended first 10 days after having the extensions done and every few weeks afterwards. With care, the extensions can last up to two months. I wear my contacts and experience no glue sting or irritation. All good stuff.
Getting them done is not on the cheap side. My treatment starts at $150 and then $5 per additional lash. You can find places with +- price range however you may suffer on quality of experience or how they look on you at the end of the day.
I don’t expect to do this every other month for myself. (I’m not that much of a princess) But at least I’m not afraid to pursue this shoudl I have any other huge special engagements, I won’t be afraid to pursuue this.
I’ve just been batting my eyes a lot in the meantime.
*blink blink blink*