The Truth About Working With Sensitive Adhesives

Working with a sensitive adhesive in the lash industry has its challenges, and it's no surprise that it's NOT a popular choice among lash artists. In the past, sensitive adhesives were the only option available and because of this many lash artists threw in the towel, because they made our job impossible and unpleasant. But thankfully, the industry has evolved since then and long gone are these “hard to work with” sensitive adhesives.

Sensitive adhesive contains extremely low levels of cyanoacrylate and stabilisers, which provide the formulas responsible for making the glue sticky, quick-curing with an instant magnetic grab and hold, and ensuring a strong bond with long lasting results. However, removing these ingredients in high concentrates leaves us with a VERY slow-curing adhesive that lacks any grab and can be super challenging to work with: hence we no longer work with them in favour of our quick curing, magnetic strong hold incredible adhesives which contain high levels of CA and stabilisers.

While suppliers have to offer sensitive adhesive as an option for customers that request a sensitive option or for the lash artist to test for allergies, it's never meant to replace the traditional quick-curing adhesives that we're accustomed to using and make our job so much easier - and don’t forget, they are a pain to work with so prepare yourself.

Sensitive adhesive even for experienced lash artists is really difficult to work with – it doesn't grab onto the natural lash, takes a long time to cure, and retention will be much poorer - but we use them to test for any sensitivity or reaction.

• Use only UK/EU made sensitive adhesives - low grade Far East ones will still contain non human grade ingredients and continue to irritate the client.
• Use classic lashes only; avoid hand-made Russian volume fans, they will never set or bond.
• Maintain a VERY high temperature and humidity in your lash room to assist with curing these super slow adhesives (think about turning your oven up to maximum to make your cake bake quicker). Also use a UK/EU made accelerator such as our Speedy Lash.
• Use a minimal amount of adhesive, a large bead will take forever to cure and these glues are already super slow curing.
• When applying the adhesive to the natural lash, do a shimmy or swipe three times to activate the glue. We would never do with our standard adhesives as it would shock cure, but with a sensitive, it is the only way to assist the cure.
• Be prepared for the extensions to flop and hold them in place for 10 to 15 seconds…. Be patient so set out enough time.
• Inform your client that retention will be very poor, as sensitive adhesive is primarily used for testing purposes, so the job of this glue is to help identify any reaction.

In conclusion - never assume sensitive adhesive will provide a replacement for your current quick curing, thin viscosity, magnetic grab long hold glue - they could not be further from the truth and this is why the industry no longer favours them.

Prepare yourself for the challenge of working with this very different adhesive and don’t blame yourself or the glue, it's just how they are (hence why no one uses them).

Although sensitive adhesives are a pain to work with, they do remind us of how far the lash industry has come. We're fortunate to now have access to quick-curing adhesives that make our work easier and more efficient - these newer lash artists have no idea how lucky they are!!!!!

Check out our sensitive adhesive Topaz HERE