Confessions of an Eyelash Extension Junkie

Long, lush lash extensions are poised to become the new mani/pedi, not to mention a multi-million dollar beauty business. There's only one problem: Once you start getting them, you can't stop.

I first found out about the addicting world of eyelash extensions from my friend, Aubrey, an OB-GYN med student who spotted miles-long lashes on a patient in the delivery room.

"I was about to pull out her baby, and she said, 'Oh, it's my little gift to myself. I get my eyelashes done,'" Aubrey recalled.

No sooner had she brought a new human life into the world than Aubrey headed to JJ Eyelashes in New York, shelled out $120, and laid down on a paper-lined massage table for an hour and a half while a technician with very nimble hands and teeny tweezers meticulously glued 80 (remarkably-real-looking) individual silk lashes to her real ones.

The effect was powerful—a voluminous fringe of gorgeousness that lasts around three weeks. Evidence: Aubrey showed up makeup-less and unshowered to our next manicure date looking like a regular Brigitte Bardot.

Though I'd always been pretty happy with my God-given long (yet straight) lashes, I was sold, and so were five more friends...and counting.

"The market is like a contagious disease. When I give one girl services, she brings in friends, and it just keeps multiplying," May Lee, founder of JJ Eyelashes, told Cosmopolitan.com. "Once you have the lashes, you realize how important the eyes are to looking beautiful."

If JJ's success is any indication, eyelashes are poised to become the new mani/pedi, another by-appointment step in our high-maintenance beauty ritual of cuts, colors, brows, and Brazilians.

Between her two Manhattan salons, May's team sees up to 75 clients per day, at at least $120 per lash-enhancing (prices go up to $200 per session for the "black diamond" package of 120 synthetic lashes). In case you're counting, that adds up to as much as an estimated $2.8 million in annual sales, (though JJ, which has plans to expand to a third salon and franchise opportunities, doesn't confirm numbers.)

"The market is growing," Ericka Rodriguez, JJ's marketing director, tells us. "You have an eyelash extension shop opening every other day now."

Barbi, Fabulash, Blink, and Bling Lash are just a few of the dozens of eyelash outfits cropping up across New York and Los Angeles, enhancing both lashes and another priceless commodity—self-confidence.

"You look so refreshed," one friend told me as I batted my extra 80 lashes from JJ. "Did you get a blowout?" Drunk on compliments, I stopped wearing eye makeup altogether, and still felt beautiful. (Bat, bat.) This is to say nothing of the soul-soothing nature of the actual lash-plumping process, which includes a divine simultaneous foot massage at JJ.

"It's the only time when I'm quiet for two hours," Cosmopolitan deputy editor Marina Khidekel shared of closing her eyes and relinquishing her phone. "It's almost a type of meditation—I've come to look forward to it."

But there is a dark side. Somewhere around the one month after application mark, (if not sooner,) the honeymoon winds down and things start getting wonky. A cluster of lashes falls out in your towel post-shower. A few silky strands begin to go rogue. You resort to some mascara to keep the dream alive. As the lashes dwindle, so does your self-esteem.

"I look like a hairless cat when they go away," Aubrey lamented. Even my legitimately-long natural lashes, once a source of pride, suddenly seem stubby.

The only solution? Go back for one more session, which isn't exactly manicure-easy when the price of admission tops $100. Soon, I'm a lash junkie, telling myself I'll stop going after Christmas, then pushing the quit date past my January birthday. Now I'm just lashing out, looking for reasons to continue. (Does President's Day count?)

"You're not going to like your original eyes without the lashes, so that's why it's addicting," May says matter-of-factly. "Which is good."

Good for business, but what about our natural lashes? A scary account in the Daily Mail today showed the effect of an allergic reaction from lash extension glue, though May says the allergy is rare, and hypoallergenic glue is an option. She assures me that as long as synthetic lashes are applied properly, the real ones will be just fine. Her money's where her mouth is: She's been flashing falsies for the last six years.

Marina may or may not end up doing the same.

"I might just suck it up and do it again… for the rest of my life," she said with a laugh. "It's like Brokeback Mountain. I don't know how to quit them."

Photos Courtesy: JJ Eyelashes

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