If you have noticed, hair and eyelash extensions have become incredibly popular wow! The allure of having a beautiful, full, long, thick head of hair and beautiful, fluttery, long eyelashes without mascara sounds like a dream doesn’t it? Why wouldn’t you hop on board?
Well. Because.
Now, I admit that I am not an expert on either of these beauty procedures, however, I do have some knowledge and have heard feedback from friends. And it is this. Beware. Be careful. If you are contemplating, please do lots of research before you make this important decision.
For sure there are positives to hair and eyelash extensions. I am not sure I need to list the positives, it is obvious what extensions do. Having said that, to summarize, extensions allow you to have what you wish you were born with. And, you can, at an albeit hefty price.
However, there is a reason I have not hopped on board and it is because of the negatives or risks. Before I share some of the risks, an important thought that comes to my mind and the question I have is this:
Will you be happy with your natural hair or eyelashes again after you stop the extensions? Or will it be kind of addicting?
It is obvious that extensions are a commitment and it is this:
- Cost – getting either hair or eyelash extensions are expensive
- Time – you have to spend hours and hours and hours at the salon
- Maintenance – the ongoing maintenance is… very high maintenance. You have to continue to move the hair extensions up as your hair grows and continue re-filling eyelash extensions as they fall out
Eyelash extension risks and considerations
- some of your natural eyelashes will break off or fall out and there is no guarantee your natural lashes will ever grow back to how they were. Hence the need to continue getting extensions, you may get in a catch 22 situation
- your lash extensions will fall out at different times, so your lashes will have noticeable missing gaps until you get them re-filled
- you may have a reaction to the eyelash glue
- wearing eyeshadow is not a great idea as it can get stuck in the glue and build up
- difficult to remove eye makeup, wear eye cream or face cream as oil-based products are to be avoided
Hair extension risks and considerations
- some of your natural hair will fall out and your hair will likely become thinner than it was before you got extensions. Extensions cause strain on the root and hair follicles and can impact future hair growth. Therefore, there is no guarantee your hair will grow back to the same state it was. Again, catch 22, so you have to continue to get extensions
- you will have to brush your hair very carefully. You will not be able to brush your hair from the scalp, you have to skip your brush over your root and scalp and ouch that would hurt if you forgot
- can be visible depending on how you style or wear your hair
- you have to colour the extensions to match your hair colour and continue to colour treat both
- If you change your hair colour, you have to change your extension colour
- Some sunscreens (with Avobenzone) tint hair extensions pink or orange, so you have to be careful when you apply sunscreen to your back, chest, neck, or always wear your hair up
Possible alternatives
For evenings out, special occasions or for whenever, there are amazing, affordable false eyelashes at the drugstore. If you are unfamiliar with how to apply false eyelashes, check out Youtube tutorials to help you learn and practice. And, eyelash glue now comes in a black liquid eyeliner form. You just draw on your (glue) liquid eyeliner and then pop on the false eyelash. Makes application much easier.
There are also temporary, removable hair extensions if you don’t want to make the other extension commitment and it looks pretty good. The temporary extensions kind of look like hair on a round string. You would still have to colour this temporary hair to your own hair colour but is an option that won’t pull out your natural hair.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, the risks are a big concern in my opinion and that is why I am so surprised so many women are actually getting this done. You see hair extensions on women everywhere, especially all over social media. For me, I don’ t have a lot of hair or amazing eyelashes to begin with so as much as I would love to have a thick, full head of hair and lushes lashes, I am fearful of ending up with thinner hair or fewer eyelashes than I did before. Tragic.
As mentioned, if you are contemplating, make sure you research, know fully the potentials. One thing is to consider how long you intend to have them. For the time and cost commitment, it wouldn’t make sense for it to be a one-time thing. Yet extensions can’t be a permanent, never-ending solution. One day, you will have to stop and when that day comes, you need to understand the potentials and be prepared.
All the best and until next time…
