Isolation of the natural lashes (NL) can be one of the most difficult techniques for the lash artist to master. Our job is to cleanly isolate every suitable natural lash so that we can attach an extension to it. Failure to correctly isolate the natural lash will lead to “stickies” a term used when an extension or natural lash is attached to a neighbouring one. Stickies are bad news for lash health due to the natural growth patterns of the lashes.
Natural lashes all grow at different stages: (anagen, catagen, telegon) therefore if they are attached to other lashes they can be prematurely pulled out when a lash sheds causing long term damage. Natural lashes also need to complete their full life cycle before they will grow back which takes up to 12 weeks, so if a natural lash is pulled out prematurely it will NOT immediately grow back. This will then leave a client with a bald spot until that cycle is completed.
See our image below showing damage to the natural lashes and visible bald spots where damage has been caused. This client is now not a candidate for eyelash extensions and needs a break from lashes for up to 12 weeks with the daily use of a lash serum.
With each person having approximately 100-120 suitable NLs per eye, isolation and attachment can take some time, with full sets taking approx 2-4 hours to complete. If you hear of sets being done in super quick time, such as 30-45 mins then this is a massive red flag that correct isolation and attachment has not been performed. Clean, precise isolation takes time, even by the most experienced and proficient lash artists.
At competition level where the best lash artists in the world compete, they are still given from 2-5 hours per set. If lashes could be completed in super quick time, surely the best artists would be expected to finish their sets in under an hour!!!
Learning how to isolate the many different types of lashes you will see on your clients just takes time. There is no short cut to mastering the technique other than practise, practise, practise. You will see several tools on the market which have been designed to assist however these can be fiddly to work with not to mention expensive to buy. There are also techniques of using tape to pull back the layers and although this can be a useful technique for advanced sets of lashes where you may need to work in precise layers, it is not necessary for most standard sets. Instead, learning how to identify each lash as well as isolate correctly can be done without the use of other tools and all you need is a good set of tweezers and learning your craft.
We have put together this video which will provide you with some great hint and tips to assist you in becoming a master of Isolation.
Links to eyelash extensions products seen in the video:
Straight isolation tweezer: https://eyelashexcellence.com/product…
Extra long tip isolation lash tweezer: https://eyelashexcellence.com/product…
Long tip eyelash extensions isolation tweezer: https://eyelashexcellence.com/product…
Short tip isolation tweezer: https://eyelashexcellence.com/product…
Also using my favourite pair of volume eyelash extension tweezers: Dumont: https://eyelashexcellence.com/product…
