Who doesn't have at least one hair treatment product at home?
It is very likely that the entire range of care products can be found in every household.
We all forget that eyelashes and eyebrows also need such care, as they are too professionally colored and curled. Are these fine hairs really so frugal that they can be done with anything ...
In order to understand what care can do for eyelashes, let us have a quick look at the structure of the fine eyelash hairs.
It is not much different from our hair, because also consist of around 80% keratin: The outer layer is a cuticle. It consists of several layers of dead, pine-cone-like horn cells. If it is not completely damaged, it is flat and closed like a roof tile, which changes with treatments.
This outer layer now envelops the cortex. These are keratin proteins that have been twisted into fine threads called filaments. Several of these strands in turn form larger units, the fibrils.
Different types of cross-connections are created between all these strands that ensure the stability of the hairs, for example hydrogen or sulfur bridges. By separating these bridges, the shape of the hair can be changed, either only briefly (washing and blow-drying) or in the long term through chemical interventions (perming or coloring).
The pith is located right inside the hair, the function of which is not precisely known. It is not so organized, sometimes has cavities of different thicknesses and is not the same for all people.This is perhaps the reason for the failure of some treatments to be found. The keratin-forming cells are ultimately located in the hair follicle.
But there is a bigger difference between hair and eyelashes:
While hair has a life cycle of several years, it is only two to three months for eyelashes.
Where does the care start?
At first glance, because of the short lifespan of the eyelashes, eyelash care does not seem to be as important as it is with hair that becomes brittle or straw-like without care.
But eyelashes and eyebrows should also be easy to comb, shine and not break. That is only possible with healthy structures. Daily cleaning, the use of make-up remover and mechanical damage alone put a strain on the structures of the eyelashes and eyebrows.
For this reason alone, salons should provide information about daily home eyelash and eyebrow care and offer products for this.
Lifting and coloring
However, care becomes very important if you consciously intervene in the structures of the eyelashes and eyebrow hairs in the studio in order to carry out professional treatments, for example an eyelashlift or a browlift:
Here, alkaline solutions are used to swell the outer cuticle layer of the hairs in order to chemically separate the sulfur bridges of the keratin structures underneath. After the new shape is achieved, new sulfur bridges must be restored by acidic solutions, and the outer cuticle should lie flat again and close.
It is similar when coloring the eyelashes: Here, too, the outer protective layer of the eyelashes or browbones must first swell so that the color pigments can then be permanently stored in the hair in a chemical process. Then the cuticle should close again.
It is obvious that damaged hair structures need powerful support from care products after these chemical processes to support their regeneration.
But which care ingredients should be recommended?
The silver bullet in nursing
Castor oil - the oil obtained from the seeds of the miracle tree became famous for its versatility as early as the middle of the last millennium.
The oil supplies not only the skin, but also the hair with moisture. Preferably applied overnight, it can achieve its full effect: as it is hydrophobic, it prevents the eyelashes from drying out. It also penetrates between the cuticle and gives eyelashes and browbones suppleness. Castor oil also helps to strengthen the eyelash structures and, with regular use, strengthens the hairs.
If eyelashes or eyebrows have been lost as a result of drug treatments, castor oil supports the restart of the growth process.
The oil is applied either neat with a cotton swab or more simply with a ready-made eyelash and eyebrow balm and the brush it contains. Any salon that offers eyelash or eyebrow treatments should have an eyelash and eyebrow balm in their range for sale. A high proportion of the oil is important: Castor oil (INCI name: Ricinus communis Seed Oil) must be very high on the INCI list.
The quick help
In addition to moisturizing ingredients such as castor oil or panthenol, the addition of proteins plays the greatest role in the care and repair of the hair: Wheat proteins (INCI name Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein) or, for example, silk proteins (INCI name Hydrolyzed Silk) are representatives that do not differ only place them around the eyelash and eyebrow hair in a lovingly protective manner in order to prevent all harmful influences. Since the cuticle is not always completely closed by the professional treatments, they can penetrate into the inside of the hair and help store themselves in the keratin structures - until they are washed out again. This cementing effect helps to keep eyelashes and brows supple.
A cure with keratin proteins (INCI name Hydrolyzed Keratin) is particularly successful. Keratin is also stored directly inside the hair. Damaged structures can recover and are closed again as the gaps are filled. In this way, a keratin treatment revitalizes eyelashes or eyebrows and helps to create supple, shiny hair.
Maintain - but how?
Do you put cream on your hands before washing? Certainly not. So that care can also work, it is the end of every treatment. Using care during a treatment, for example during a lifting, is not expedient because it is washed out again if further treatment steps such as fixing, coloring or cleaning follow.
A keratin treatment makes sense to end every eyelash curl or coloring treatment. Like the hair treatment at the hairdresser's, the application of a keratin booster, also known as lamination, is a small service with a big impact: It imparts treatment skills - offered either as a candy or as an additional service for a small surcharge.
Applied with a microbrush, the water-soluble keratin must be given time to penetrate the hair structures.
For studios that carry out professional treatments such as eyelash lifting, browlifting or dyeing, it is easy to recommend and sell the products for daily home eyelash and eyebrow care: In addition to the moisture-stabilizing balm with castor oil and panthenol mentioned above, there is also lamination -Fluids with keratin for sale that ensure the continuation of the keratin cure from the studio.
In this way, your customers come one step closer to their desire for shiny, supple and resistant eyelashes and eyebrows every day.
Hartmut Schwanke - The author has accompanied product development and production at Wimpernwelle GmbH as a partner since 1995. In addition, he is responsible for all international business relations as Sales Manager.