In the quest for flawless eyelashes, sometimes mascara just doesn't cut it — and that's when we turn to eyelash extensions. Like its name suggests, eyelash extensions are fake lash fibers dipped in adhesive and attached to your natural lash. Unlike the fake lashes you apply yourself, these are meant to stay on for up to six eyelash-batting weeks. Seems like a great deal, right? Not so fast, warns Australian salon owner Emma Dhanjal, who recently shared an eyelash extension nightmare that'll give anyone who wants long, luscious eyelashes a reality check.
A woman asked Dhanjal to touch up her extensions for her birthday, but Dhanjal couldn't because the woman's natural lashes were so damaged.
"Her natural lashes are sooooo damaged from the place she has been having her lashes done, they were falling out when I touched them with the tweezers," Dhanjal wrote in the now-deleted Facebook post, according to the Daily Mail.
"Her lashes may never be the same again," Dhanjal wrote.
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The woman had "inflamed eyelids" from a probable infection.
"I was a bit speechless, but I removed them straight away and advised she see her [general practitioner]," Dhanjal told the Daily Mail.
In the seven years she's been lashing, Dhanjal has never seen such damaged lashes.
"I take a lot of pride in my work, and this makes me feel sick it is still happening out there," she warned in her post. "Make sure you are 100 percent certain you know the background of your next eyelash artist."
But Dhanjal doesn't want this woman's tale to deter people from getting eyelash extensions -- so long as they go to a credible place.
"This shouldn't happen, and won't in most places," she told the Daily Mail.
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She suggests looking at reviews and photos of an establishment's work, as well as making sure the prices aren't suspiciously cheap.
On that note, Elizabeth Diaz, a senior lash artist at Spruce & Bond in New York City, told Refinery29 that a certification is not the same as a license, which requires years of training, so make sure you do your research on the lash technicians themselves.
All people deserve to flaunt lashes that make them feel beautiful, so hopefully this poor woman and everyone else will take the right precautions when it comes to such delicate features.
CafeMom reached out to Emma Dhanjal regarding the deleted Facebook images, which she had removed upon the client's request.
