What is anaphylaxis? It is a severe allergic reaction, caused by the release of allergic chemicals, histamine. It is defined as a serious, systemic, allergic or hypersensitivity reaction that can be life‐threatening or fatal.
The usual treatment for acute anaphylaxis during pregnancy is the same non-pregnancy. Adrenaline is the treatment of choice, intravenous fluids, and other medications to maintain blood pressure. Low blood pressure in the mother can lead to low blood flow to vital organs in the foetus, especially the brain.
The best treatment of anaphylaxis during pregnancy is the prevention of anaphylaxis in the first place. Patch testing for products should be avoided during pregnancy to minimise the potential for anaphylaxis as a result.
When pregnant ladies lay on their backs the weight of the uterus can compress a major blood vessel called the vena cava. It can also be extremely uncomfortable for a pregnant woman to lay flat on her back for any length of time and as we know lash treatments are not quick.
I do recommend that if you choose to lash a pregnant client, then you sit down and thoroughly discuss all of the above with any pregnant client before you go ahead with the treatment.
Blepharitis (Bleph) is inflammation of the edges of the eyelids.
Symptoms can include:
In most cases both eyes are affected, but one eye can be more affected than the other. The symptoms tend to be worse in the morning.
Blepharitis isn’t contagious.
There are three main types of blepharitis:
Anterior blepharitis can be caused by either:
Posterior blepharitis is caused by a problem with the Meibomian glands, where the glands get blocked by either debris, skin flakes or inflammation.
Mixed blepharitis, which is the most common, is caused by a combination of both anterior and posterior blepharitis.
Blepharitis isn’t usually serious, although it can lead to a number of further problems.
Some of the complications associated with blepharitis can potentially affect your vision, although your eyesight shouldn’t be permanently damaged if these problems are identified and treated quickly.
Blepharitis is usually a long-term condition. Most people experience repeated episodes, separated by periods without symptoms.
It can’t usually be cured, but a daily eyelid-cleaning routine can help control the symptoms.
More severe cases may require antibiotics that are either applied to the eye oreyelid directly, or taken as tablets.
Advise your clients to contact their GP immediately if you notice any signs or symptoms. If severe then advise them to visit their nearest A&E department.
Clients who suffer with chronic blepharitis following numerous unsuccessful treatments may well be suffering from the condition secondary to Demodex infestation.
The Demodex mite is an eight-legged parasite that can reside in our hair follicles and sebaceous glands.
The typical Demodex life cycle is usually 2 to 3 weeks. A female Demodex mite lays 15 to 20 eggs inside the hair follicle near the sebaceous glands. The eggs develop into larvae, which eventually become an adult eight-legged mite.
Eyelashes infested with Demodex often are brittle and easily exfoliate.
Patients who suffer from Demodex infestation may complain of eyelid and eyebrow itching (especially in the morning), a burning sensation and a foreign body sensation that seems to originate beneath their lids.
In the UK boots store sells the products, they aren’t cheap but they do help, they are also available at other stores and online.
I wouldn’t necessarily advise this to clients who are showing a mild case of bleph as a normal good hygiene regime should suffice.
We also do not know how this product may affect retention as they do contain some mild levels of oil.
But in our opinion health is far more important so if that means your client needs to have a break from extensions in order to clean properly until the problem is resolved then so be it.
Blepharitis is a chronic, long term condition. This means that once you have had it, it can come back even after it has cleared up, although the severity of each attack my vary. Good eye care is essential at all times to stop the condition occuring again, even when the symptoms are not visible. If you suffer with Blepharitis it is advisable to avoid wearing eye make up which include eyelash extensions and smokey atmospheres.
Its very important to use good aftercare at all times on your lashes.
So in this top tip I am going to discuss with you what a perfect fan is, some of the tips and tricks I have learnt over the years to help assist you in creating a perfect fan. Things like getting your fan symmetrical, no crossed or T bar bases, getting that nice pointy base and how to do this. Here is a list of the topics I will cover:
• Using The correct Volume Tweezers
• Creating a pointy base
• Removing the fan from the strip
• Correct adhesive dipping
• How to prevent the Fan from closing
Tweezers- So using the correct tweezers is SO important. This means a good quality tweezer. Make sure you buy tweezers that have been hand tested by the supplier so you know the quality is amazing. The grip has to be perfect in order for you to pick up lashes. You will also need to find the 'bite' on your tweezers, this is the point on your tweezers where the fan can be made perfectly, this will be different on every single paid of tweezers! I find that smaller tweezers the 'bite' is usually further back around 3mm in from the tip, where as on longer, more pointed tip tweezers the 'bite' is usually closer to the tip about 1mm in. Not one pair of tweezers will be suitable for everyone , but I would say get used to your tweezers and practice with them for a good 1- 2 weeks to get used to that style rather than investing in lots of different pairs.
Creating Pointy bases-Its really important when making a fan the base is really pointy, this helps the fan bond to the natural lash better, and its able to for the locking system around the natural lash 'the wrap' which you want for good retention. Pointy bases will also look much neater when applied and not clump together with other lashes. So, how to create that point base...the key is when making the fan to keep the movement nice and slow and controlled, depending on what technique you use to make the fan this will vary.
Pulling the lashes off the strip- This sounds so simple but there is definitely a 'nack' to this...so if you pull the lashes up to quick you will most definitely lose the fan, but if you pull them up to slow the lash tends to split, so getting the timing right on this really does matter, after a few times of doing this you will find the perfect speed, not too fast and not too slow. Also the direction of how you pull the lashes off the strip, so rather than towards yourself which most people tend to do at first, its more of and upwards movement. When you are pulling lashes off the strip the grip on your tweezers also needs to remain very tight so you do not release the fan...have a little practise at this and you will see!
Correct adhesive dipping- Soooo important!! so its totally different to classic lashes, where we swipe the lash in and out of the adhesive, if we was to do that with a fan it would close, so instead we have to tap the fan onto the adhesive, it should also be a very minimal amount of adhesive, you should not be able to see it on the bottom of the fan. You only want to very end of the base of the fan to go in as if you dip it too hight the fan will stick to your tweezers or the fan will close.
How to prevent the fan from closing- This happens quite a lot at first, usually when as above you are using to much adhesive or placing the fan in the adhesive wrong, you aren't pulling the fan off the strip correctly, or it splits as your placing it onto the natural lash. So as we have covered above if you mater those techniques it will help prevent the fan from closing, if your fan is splitting as you are placing it onto the natural lash you have either not used enough adhesive, or you haven't aligned the lashes up properly, you should try to place the natural lash in the centre of the fan and hold for a second and release, I like to place from underneath. Your pressure should also be very light and minimal as the adhesive should act like a magnet and grab the natural lash without you having to do much, if you apply to much pressure you will knock the fan.
Theres so much to think about..but once you have mastered all these little tips you will start to make the perfect fans without even having to think about it.
Let us know what you think, did this help?
Who would like a How to make a fan video demonstration?
]]>It is not enough just to be a good lash tech, but you must also know how to photograph your work and its not easy!
As a beginner I was shocking, my photos were distorted, the lighting was bad,my clients faces look like they had been stretched or disfigured and this was because my angles were wrong.
We all take lash courses, but none of us think about taking the photo which advertises our work, and with so much competition this needs to be perfect!
I am still no expert but I have the basic understanding of how to take a pretty good photo, as well as edit it to enhance the best features of the photo that can be lost when taking it.
I also, even now, look at the photos of lashes I like and see where mine could be improved. Eventually you will find your own technique and style of how you take your photos.
Although good before and afters are great for showing your work too so don't forget to always take the before. When I'm taking my photos I always get a few angles so I can choose my favourite when I have finished the set.
Would you like to see a video tutorial on this?
The health and safety of not only ourselves, but also our clients, is paramount within the beauty industry so when it comes to the cross infection control and sterilisation of our tools we must keep up to date. This has been highlighted been more with the current situation of Covid-19.
A lot of our materials and equipment is or should be single use/disposable.
For example;
Mascara wands, micro brushes and remover wands should only be used on one client. Mascara wands can either be given to that client at the end of the session or thrown away. These items should never be used on multiple clients or indeed in the case of lip gloss wands and micro brushes should not be used eye to eye on the same client.
Eye pads are also only to be used on one client and should then be deposed of.
Glue rings should be replaced every time you renew your adhesive in a session and disposed of once the adhesive has cured fully.
Tweezers and mirrors (if metal) should be the only tools you have that require disinfection or sterilisation.
Sterilisation is the total destruction of all living micro‐organisms and their spores. A form of sterilisation is to use an autoclave, these are not favoured in the lash industry as they are quite big and bulky therefore take up a lot of space, they are noisy, they require a lot of maintenance and servicing and this is paramount as the unit sterilises using steam under pressure. This equipment can be dangerous if not used or maintained correctly and finally they are very expensive to purchase at close to £2000 per unit for a good one.
Disinfection is the destruction of some, but not all, micro‐organisms and it inhibits their growth. Methods of disinfection include sanitising spray and barbicide. Tweezers can be disinfected using a specifically formulated solution. This is usually done by diluting the solution into a jar and placing tweezers tip down for 20 minutes (make sure you put a few cotton pads in the bottom of the jar to prevent your tips from being damaged), this is known as cold sterilisation. We suggest leaving your tweezers in the solution no longer that 20minutes as the cleansing chemicals we use are quite corrosive and will corrode your tweezers and could effect their precision. Then you take them out make sure you rinse the solution off and dry them thoroughly.
It is also important to disinfect your work surfaces regularly using disinfection wipes or spray.
Here is a link to a FREE certificate designed to present you with the most up to date information on how to correctly sterilise and sanitise as a beauty professional.
https://barbicide.com/certification/
When thinking about lash styling its important to remember all the basics we learnt whilst doing classic lashes. Below are all the basics to lash styling.
Do you remember the base of lashes? Well, you can do this with volume too. (If you don't know what the base is let me know and I will cover this too.)
To create density low down for that ‘eyeliner’ look. Here you would use short fans of 9mm-10mm to create base line depth.
Can you now see why you need to be a good classic tech before you attempt volume?
The direction of which we work...
Do you have a direction in how you work or do you just apply lashes here and there? I find when doing a set of classic lashes I apply a few to one eye and then the other and just repeat. Whereas when doing a full set of Russian Lashes I definitely work in a direction, which is usually outer corner inwards, but i do also like to cover the few inner lashes first (just because i used to find these little lashes the most tricky so like to get them out of the way). I also usually start on the left eye and then move over to the right.
The Direction of how you place a lash extension/fan...
Do you think about the direction the lash is going to fall when applying the lash?
Every lash we place on will play apart of how the full set looks at the end...so this is so important. Even more so with classic lashes as you can't really disguise anything so that one little lash pointing in the wrong direction can really affect your set. So on most classic sets I personally like to apply my lashes slightly to the left to give that sweeping, winged kind of effect. Although this can changed depending on the clients eye shape and brow space. e.g if i wanted to open the clients eyes up more i would apply the lashes in more of a straight, central direction.
Russian lashes- my direction really does depend on that exact style I want to create. So if I'm wanting to do a feline look I would definitely apply lashes in an angled direction towards the out corner of the eye, if i wanted to do more of a wispy, textured look i would mix my directions up, so the fans kind of cross over each other, so always just think about the look you are wanting to create.
Correcting Direction...
If a clients natural lashes are falling in a different way to how you would like the lashes to fall, Do you correct the direction?
If a clients lash is curling to the right, which is quite common especially on the outer corners where we sleep, I would apply the lash to the right side of the lash to push it back over to the left. This can work for whichever way you need to natural lash to go, you just need counteract it.
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