Lash adhesive

Lash glue has one job and two ways to fail at it. It must hold a band of fibres to the edge of the eyelid for hours, through blinking, heat and the occasional rub, and then let go cleanly without taking natural lashes with it. Most strip-lash glues go on white or black, turn tacky as they begin to dry and set to a clear or black film that flexes with the lid. Some are made with natural rubber latex; many are now sold as latex-free.

They come in more forms than they used to: tubes with a fine nozzle, bottles with a brush in the cap, felt-tip pens that double as eyeliner, and the bonds and sealants sold with underlash cluster systems, which are made to hold for days rather than hours. None of these is the glue a salon uses for eyelash extensions, which fixes fibres to the natural lashes themselves and is a different product under different rules.

Clear or black. Glue that dries clear forgives a crooked band; black glue vanishes into a line of eyeliner and can stand in for one. Latex or latex-free. Natural rubber latex is a common allergen, so anyone with a latex allergy, or whose lids itch after wearing lashes, should choose a formula sold as latex-free and read its ingredients. Applicator. A brush lays a thin, even film along a band, a nozzle gives more control for small repairs, and a pen is quickest, making glue and liner a single step.

For underlash clusters, use the bond made for the system: those formulas are designed around their own sealant and remover, and an ordinary strip glue will not hold for days. Whatever you buy, look for an ingredient list. In the United States eyelash adhesives are regulated as cosmetics,^[1] and cosmetics sold to consumers must list their ingredients.^[2]

Use less than seems necessary. Run a thin line along the band, or squeeze a little onto the back of the hand and draw the band through it, then wait about thirty seconds until it turns tacky: wet glue slides, and can run into the eye. Press the lashes on and hold them for a few seconds. Keep glue off the waterline and out of the natural lashes, and close the tube at once, since glue that has begun to set in the nozzle comes out in strings.

To remove, soften the glue with the remover the maker recommends, or with an oil-based cleanser, and peel from the outer corner. Pick the dried film off the band before storing the lashes. Stop using any glue that makes the lids itch, swell or redden, and see a doctor if the irritation persists.^[3]

In the United States the FDA treats false eyelashes, extensions and their adhesives as cosmetics, which must meet the safety and labelling requirements for cosmetics, and tells wearers to check the ingredients before using them.^[4] Its guidance on latex names eyelash adhesives among the products that typically contain natural rubber latex: between January 2015 and September 2017 it received 30 reports of allergic reactions involving such products, four of which appeared to be anaphylactic. Cosmetics need carry no latex warning, so it suggests that people concerned about a latex allergy may want to avoid eyelash adhesives even when latex is not listed.^[5]

Europe draws the line elsewhere. The EU working group on cosmetic products, in a manual for national regulators that is not legally binding, takes the view that a glue whose only function is to attach false eyelashes has no cosmetic function and so is not a cosmetic, while a product whose main purpose is to change the look of the skin, such as a magnetic eyeliner, can be one; each is judged case by case.^[6] Glue for salon extensions is held to tighter rules: Health Canada allows cyanoacrylate-based eyelash extension adhesives, the chemistry of instant glue, to be sold for professional use only, with cautionary statements on the label.^[7] Formaldehyde is a further concern. A study published in 2022 found it released by 15 of 20 professional eyelash glues, none of which declared it, and by 4 of 17 consumer glues, two of them without declaring it.^[8]

Early false lashes came with their own fixative. Charles Nessler’s strip lashes of about 1903 were sold with a small bottle of “skin fluid”, patented in America, and a salon fixed the first pair. By the 1930s the adhesive came in a phial or a tube, and a trade journal of 1934 gave the same instruction as a modern box: spread it lightly on the band and let it dry for a moment, until it is merely sticky.^[9]

On stage and in film, hair was fixed with spirit gum. When the make-up artists Eric and David Aylott began selling Eylure lashes in 1947, they boxed them with a tube of their own adhesive, Lashfix, made of equal parts of latex and distilled water; unlike spirit gum, it stretched with the eyelid, so lashes were less likely to come away as it moved.^[10] The fashion for false lashes in the 1960s brought its own problems, among them occasional allergic reactions to the glue and glue building up on lashes worn again and again, and in 1968 one women’s magazine was recommending surgical adhesive as “the cheapest and best”. DUO eyelash adhesive was on sale by 1971.^[9] Latex is still common in lash glue: the FDA lists eyelash adhesives among the products that typically contain it.^[11]