Tips on dealing with humidity when doing eyelash extensions and how to store/cure the eyelash extension glue. It’s extremely important to understand why humidity is important for eyelash technicians.
Eyelash glue is a Cyanoacrylate based adhesive. Cyanoacrylates adhesives have a short- shelf life. Once opened they need to be used within 3 months if not sooner. Every time the bottle is opened the glue is exposed to moisture in the air. H20 (water) blinds to C6H7NO2 (Ethyl cyanoacrylate) causing it to cure faster. It’s good practice to date the bottle when you open it.
Chemical characterization
Adhesive basing on cyanoacrylates.
ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate
To help increase the shelf life you can:
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- Store in an air-tight container with silica gel or rice. A small opening in the bottle will help with exposure when opening it too. Not sure how much difference this actually makes as the bottle should be air-tight anyway.
- It’s not wise to store in the fridge because when taking glue from a cool place to a warm place it might cause condensation in the bottle, which will shorten the shelf-life of the glue. If you do want to keep it in the fridge don’t open the bottle until it’s reached room temperature. Never put an opened bottle in the fridge. Same applies when storing in sunlight. If the eyelash glue is left in sunlight this could heat up the air inside the bottle causing condensation. H20 (water) binds with eyelash glue causing it to cure.
- Read manufacturers instructions. Lashbase have their MSDS sheets online
- Keep in original container.
- Keep in a dry location.
To help determine if your salon has high or low humidity it’s good practice to buy a hygrometer. These can be bought cheaply online. If you find your eyelash extension glue is going gloopy and forms a thick layer across the top it’s probably too humid in your room. I use tin foil inside my ring holder, which can simply be replaced as the glue starts to go gloopy. This saves you money on glue rings as you don’t need a new one every time.
Lashbase eyelash extensions glue ideal humidity for their glue is 40-70%.
To increase humidity in your salon open the window if it’s a damp day, place water in the room, buy a nano-mister, get plants.
To decrease humidity in your salon close windows, turn on the heating or a fan heater, use a dehumidifier, do your washing another day (never dry damp clothes in the house), no plants, open windows if the dry day.
It’s best to have a play and see what works best in your salon/ country for increasing and decreasing humidity. There are some great discussion boards on the Internet for eyelash too. Check out Salon Geek. It has loads of tips on it.
I have taken this quote from Wikipedia to help you understand the science behind the glue.
“In general, cyanoacrylate is an acrylic resin that rapidly polymerises in the presence of water (specifically hydroxide ions), forming long, strong chains, joining the bonded surfaces together. Because the presence of moisture causes the glue to set, exposure to normal levels of humidity in the air causes a thin skin to start to form within seconds, which very greatly slows the reaction. Because of this cyanoacrylate is applied thinly, to ensure that the reaction proceeds rapidly and a strong bond is formed within a reasonable time.”
Lashbase adhesive advice:
“LashBase adhesives polymerize, respectively cure by the catalytic activity between the humidity in the air and the humidity of the adherents. The higher the relative humidity is (e.g. in a room) the faster the product cures. Best atmospheric conditions for good, reliable bonds are between 40 to 70 % relative humidity. If humidity is too low (< 30%) setting time can become very slow; if humidity is too high (>80%) a so-called shock polymerization takes place. The latter provokes a certain shrinking process of the adhesive layer, which leads to less bond strength.
Temperature influences the time of the chemical reaction very much. Generally, it can be said that a 10°C hike in temperature results in twice as fast polymerization time. This is equally valid for LashBase adhesives. The optimal room temperature for curing of these adhesives is between 20 and 24°C.”
If you have any more tips or comments on his blog please do comment below. I am always wanting to learn new things.
Some months are harder to control humidity than others. It’s always a good idea to know your area.
Eyelash extensions glue (Ethyl cyanoacrylate) & humidity
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Thanks so much for this
I was very impressed at what ive learned the last few days. I didn’t know anything about the humidity in salon room what harm it was doing to the adhesives, I thought the adhesives were old or gone bad, even thou they were brand new bottles from buying expensive to not so expensivclients coming back to me bc there eyelash extentions had fallen off or a few falling off.I thought all my adhesive were bad. And some of my other clients there lash extensions did stay on, but still loosing clients n them paying good money for it, I was looking bad. This about the humidity vs dehumidifier I or we was not tought in beauty school, my room is small so I need to purchase a dehumidifier n a hygrometer, in the name of Jesus hopefully it will help.And at times i kept wondering why my adhesives were runny or it would b a good round dot but also got gummy right away, but I didn’t know why until I started doing researches on the matter, I was loosing to many clients n spending to much money on adhesives. Could u pls tell me which is the best adhesive to buy N also one where my clients could go swimming with? I do the mink n silk lash extensions n syn.silk n syn.silk. Thnk u
Hi. I use Lashbase glue. Use as little glue as possible when placing lashes. All the glues are pretty much the same in my opinion.
Don’t forget to really stress how important aftercare is. Sealant and keeping them clean. Clients are fine to go swimming with lashes on, but advise goggles and apply sealant.
Hello, my daughter works in a saloon so it was useful for her. It’s important to consider all the technical information. As to me I am an “old dog” who won’t learn new tricks, so I prefer natural remedies for extension of the eyelashes, including balms like “Cherish Lash”. They are very helpful and make my lashes look younger and prettier.