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Beauty experiments don’t always work out. A new hair color makes your friend look like a leprechaun on a bad hair day or you suffer an allergic reaction from mixing skin products. Both of you survive the embarrassment, but sometimes, the end result of an experiment can have frightening consequences. If you find yourself in the position of having to remove hair-bonding glue from your lash area, proceed with caution so your fringe lives to flutter another day.
The Skinny on Adhesives
It's been around forever; even cave men used tar glue to attach arrowheads to hunting spears. Over time, sugar, fish and animal byproducts were used to attach things, and while myriad adhesives are on store shelves these days, cosmetic bonding glues are relatively new. The safest are those developed for cosmetic applications based on glues used by the medical community. You likely know the range of popular cosmetic types: They do everything from securing lashes and hair extensions to making sure wardrobe malfunctions don't occur on red carpets.
Bonding Glue Safety
Like other beauty products, false eyelash glues and hair-bonding adhesives are evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but the FDA actually has more dominion over the safety labeling language on glue products than it does over the adhesives themselves. The agency does its best to protect the public from harm, but as with cigarettes, lengthy warning notices on packages don’t necessarily keep people from experimenting, especially when someone finds a cosmetic product that does a better job of keeping lashes on than those manufactured for the job.
One Model’s Story
She’s known on the Internet only as Miss Vannette, but the model writes about her first encounter with the hair-bonding glues that keep her false eyelashes in place. A fellow model on the job raved about it, and Vannette was game. She used it and fell in love. Vannette claims it’s easy to pull off lashes using an oil-based makeup remover or petroleum jelly followed by her removal technique: peeling the lashes away slowly and gently after the bond has been softened. Remember that the FDA does not recommend hair-bonding glue for eyelash attachment, so even if you're Vannette's first cousin, proceed at your own risk.
Get Thee to a Lash Artist
Smart girls know when to abandon the at-home lash application in favor of having the job done by a trained professional. Cosmeticians know their way around scientifically tested and doctor-approved lash adhesives if they've taken the time to specialize and become certified in the theory and practice of eyelash attachment, so if your go-to guy recommends hair-bonding glue, ask him if you can return to have the lashes removed when the time comes to bid your fringes goodbye. If he’s not willing to remove them for you, you may wish to think twice.
Maybe You Should “See” a Doctor
If your eyelashes refuse to budge after you've tried conventional lash-removal techniques – like using steam to soften the glue or applying the aforementioned natural products – it's time to make an appointment with an ophthalmologist and fess up. You won’t be the first woman he’s seen with lashes secured by hair-bonding glue, and you won’t be the last. Ophthalmologists keep medical-grade agents on hand to gently remove foreign agents, and your bonding glue is as foreign as it gets. If you wind up at the doc's and come away from the visit with nothing more than your ego damaged, you owe it to yourself and your precious eyes to stick to a conventional lash-removal agent next time around.
