Heat and Humidity Effects on Lash Glue

If there's one thing we know about Lash Glue for Eyelash Extensions, it's that it can be fussy. Even slight changes in your temperature and humidity levels can change your glue's drying time so much that it will have a negative impact on your retention longevity. Any seasonal change brings with it changes in the humidity and temperature, but summer brings additional stumbling blocks with it. If you ever find yourself struggling with your lash extensions retention in the summer, you've come to the right place – here are our tips and tricks for great retention in the summer months.

Temperature vs Humidity

While it is humidity that has a greater effect on our lash extensions glue's drying time, we're much more likely to notice a change in temperature than we are a change in our room's humidity. 

Keeping our room temperature as close to 20-22ºC as we can is ideal, as higher temperatures speed up our glue and can make working uncomfortable for us and our clients. It is therefore important that we make some changes to bring temperatures down, and to keep everyone comfortable. Two common ways of doing this is of course to open some windows (which is excellent for ventilation) or to put on the air conditioning (if you're lucky to have one). 

These solutions have slight drawbacks, in that an open window can lead to an increase in humidity levels, and air conditioning can decrease humidity levels the longer it is kept on for.

Just to keep on top of your room conditions, we highly recommend that you invest in a Digital Hygrometer so that you can keep on top of your temperature and humidity levels, and can ensure that your glue is being used in the best conditions.  

What To Do If Your Humidity Is Low 

Low humidity is sometimes overlooked when we talk about the factors that affect our glue, and while it doesn't necessarily make our retention  worse  as the lash adhesive still has plenty of time to cure after you place the extensions on the natural lashes, what it can do is make it more difficult for us to work in the way that we're used to. Why is that?

Let's say we're used to having a temperature of 20ºC and a humidity level of 55%. We place our extensions on the natural lashes within 1 second of dipping it into the eyelash glue, so we use Lady Bond. Thanks to our air conditioning, our temperature is still at a comfortable 20ºC, but our humidity level has dropped to 35% and our glue is taking longer to cure as a result. This can lead to our extensions leaning to one side and making the finished lash set look messy, and can also increase how many stickies we end up with. 

So, how can you increase your humidity in this case? The good news is that there are a few different things you can do.

• Get a humidifier. Humidifiers come in all shapes and sizes at quite reasonable prices, so you can get something to suit your needs and your salon's aesthetic.
• Take a Microfibre Brush and add little droplets of water along the eyepatch. Be careful that these don't run down the the lash line, as this can cause shock polymerisation. 
• Use Booster on the lashes to give the glue more to grip onto. Booster has an alkaline pH which gently lifts the hair cuticles ever so slightly, giving the glue more surface area to bond with, whilst also speeding up glue's drying time.

What To Do If Your Humidity Is High

High humidity will cause your lash glue to dry much faster than normal, which can lead to retention issues as the glue will have begun curing on the way to the lash, and is then unable to form a strong bond between the extension and the natural lash.

There is less you can do to reduce humidity, but there are still a couple of things you can try which will make a difference to your work and your retention times. 

Option 1 is to get a dehumidifier. Ideally, one which dehumidifies and purifies the air so that you don't have to worry too much about glue fumes either. The only downside to a dehumidifier is that they're not usually very pretty and can be quite loud too, but they can really help with your glue issues during these months of high humidity.

The second, and arguably better, option is to use a lash glue that cures a little slower.

High humidity can cause your glue to dry up to one second faster, so whichever glue you use, you're likely to struggle in this case. Swapping to a more gradually curing lash extensions glue for the summer months will be a big help with this. 

• If you usually use Lady Bond, try swapping to Satin Bond 
• If you usually use Flexie, try Lady Bond
• If you typically opt for Power Bond, try either Flexie or Royal Bond.

As you work, try to also replace your glue drop more regularly to ensure the drop is fresh. Read all about swapping to a slower drying glue for the summer here.

Is There Anything Else to Consider?

Something else to keep in mind is that during the summer months, it's more likely that clients will be using facial products or doing activities which can have an impact on their retention. 

Take extra care to carry out a thorough Pretreatment Routine to ensure all traces of sweat, makeup and sunscreen have been cleaned from of the lashes, and consider using Superbonder to finish off your lash sets so that they can get to the beach or the swimming pool even sooner.

Lastly, be sure to warn your clients that they may need to come back for infills sooner during the summer, and be sure to remind them of the best aftercare practices, to keep their lashes clean and healthy too.