8 Awesome Tips To Maximize Your Retention

Maximize Your Lash Retention Today & Minimize Client Complaints!

As lash techs, it’s our job to ensure that our clients leave their appointment with perfect long lashes. But that’s not enough – those lashes need to last so that your clients feel they got a great service that was totally worth the money.

If that happens, you’re going to get happy customers that come back to you time and time again. If not, you’ll like never see them again, or worse still, you’ll have to spend your valuable time fixing their lashes for free! Nobody wants that…

That’s why we’ve put together a list of 8 top tips to help you maximize your retention. Some may be basic but they’re all equally important so even if you think you know everything, it’s worth a read just to make sure you’re doing the best you can for your business. Enjoy!

Adhesive Age

Let’s start with a basic one first. Every time you open your glue bottle, you let a little air inside. The moisture in the air reacts with the glue and starts to cure it. Eventually your glue will become ineffective and your retention will suffer. Ensure you track when you open your bottles and throw them out after 6 weeks (max 2 months).

Check out our advanced adhesives here.

Cleanse Before You Apply

It's incredibly important to ensure that your client’s natural lashes are clean from any oils or residues before you start the application as this will greatly increase the bonding strength of the glue. For best results, we advise checking out our new Sensitive Lash Shampoo.

Control Your Environment

Glue manufacturers don’t put the optimal application conditions on their packs for fun. If the conditions of your treatment room are not appropriate for the glue you are using, it may well under-perform. This could means slower drying times, but it could equally mean worse retention.

Isolate Before You Dip

Eyelash adhesives generally dry very quickly. If you don’t isolate the natural lash before you dip the extension into the adhesive, it will start to cure before you have time to apply it. Always isolate, dip and then apply.

Don’t Drag Or Dab

When applying glue to the extensions it's important to dip 1-3mm of the base of the lash into the adhesive. Once dipped, you should avoid dragging or dabbing the extension as this may create an uneven distribution of adhesive, which may then ultimately weaken the bond.

Master Your Bonds

As every natural lash is different, you need to customize your bond to best suit each and every one of them. For example, if a natural lash is extremely curly, it would be difficult to apply an extension to the top of it as the extension would likely be ‘fighting’ the curl of the lash. This would create a weaker bond than if you were to apply the extension to the bottom/underneath of the natural lash. Use different bond techniques to ensure that every single lash is applied in the optimal way to ensure retention is maximized.

Take Control Of The Cure

It’s normal practice to tell clients to keep their lashes dry for 24 hours after application. Whether they follow your instructions or not is a different matter. Using a nano mister at the end of your appointment will help cure the adhesive, meaning that even if your client doesn’t follow your instructions, it probably won’t end up being too bad. A nanomister will also help to reduce any fumes from the adhesive meaning that your clients will likely feel more comfortable after their appointment too!

Educate Your Clients

More often than not you’ve done your job perfectly and the problems are actually caused by the client themselves. It’s incredibly important to educate your clients on how to look after their lashes. Talk to them during the appointment, and before they leave give them an aftercare sheet with a list of things that they shouldn’t do and stress just how important it is that they follow your advice. Simple things like not wearing mascara with extensions because the oils will break down the adhesive bond. This educational step can make the difference between a client blaming you for bad retention and a happy client who returns without any complaints! Check out this post for more detailed information on aftercare.

We hope that these simple tips will help you find the perfect retention for your clients. As always, if you have any comments or questions just drop them below!