False Lashes

WARNING:  FALSE LASHES CAN CAUSE SERIOUS EYE DAMAGE

            In order to apply false lashes successfully, you must first trim them to the width of your eyes and the length most flattering to you.  Too long, and your eyelashes will call attention to themselves and look blatantly false.  Too inexpertly applied, and you will look like a clown, and people will laugh at you behind your back.  

            After trimming, you need to apply eyelash glue to the lashes and affix themto your eyelids.  With a little practice, you should be able to do this skillfully and quickly.  The last thing you want is for your eyelashes to come undone or to fall off or, even worse, fall halfway off. 

            The problem arises with the glue that is used to apply the lashes.  All glues are chemicals, and any chemicals applied near the eye area can cause irritation.  

Why False Eyelashes?

Who wears false eyelashes?  Actresses.  People who want glamour shots of themselves, professional photographs that will enhance their looks.  Or people who want to look especially attractive for important occasions.  

For rare occasions when you will attach false eyelashes, there is usually no permanent harm done.  But be forewarned with Carol Channing’s experience: 

Carol Channing Has Lost All Her Eyelashes

After Years of Wearing False Ones!

Carol Channing opened in the hit musical Hello Dolly in 1964.  “She is glorious,” wrote the theatre critic for the New York Times.  Her false eyelashes accented her already big eyes, and she batted those eyes expertly and often. 

Miss Channing never missed a performance.  The show ran for years on Broadway, and even after it closed, Carol Channing performed the part in dinner theatres and off Broadway theatres and regional theatres for many years.  Everybody wanted Carol Channing as Dolly Levi 

The huge eyes, accented by thick eyelashes, are her trademarks.  So after more than 40 years of gluing on false eyelashes, night after night, she says, “All that glue just kept penetrating and getting in my eyes over the years, and then I used, not knowing it, a cortisone cream on my eyelids.  Well, now I have no eyelashes and poor vision.” 

If you see her after she has just gotten up in the morning, you will see that her eyes are indeed bald – her eyelashes have fallen out. 

 New Product:  Eyelash Enhancers

You may have seen the commercials for a new product that promises you will grow lush, luxuriant lashes if you use it regularly.     

But doctors warn that some eyelash enhancers contain compounds called prostaglandins, a family of chemicals that can cause the skin around the eye to become dark brown.  These enhancers can also cause bloodshot eyes, blurry vision and inflammation.  

The Food and Drug Administrationhas seized more than 12,000 tubes, about two million dollars worth of one product which contains a chemical called Bimatoprost, which has not been approved for cosmetic purposes.  The company reformulated the product, removing the prostaglandin, but even so, it may not be worth its high price, up to $160 for a tube! 

Precious Eyes

Instead of false eyelashes for a daily regimen, use a gentle (non-waterproof) black mascara.  The black will make your lashes pop, even if they are not naturally black.  You can use several coats of mascara with no harm to your eyes.  Never take a chance with your eyesight.  You only get one pair of eyes, and it is important to take good care of them.