You leave the salon with fresh lash extensions, and a few days later you’re pulling them out – along with your natural lashes. Or you peel off your glue-on strip lashes and feel your own lashes coming off with them. Or maybe a run-in with a metal eyelash curler ended in disaster?
Well, let whoever has never been in one of these situations cast the first stone.
But lash loss isn’t only the result of beauty treatments gone wrong. Sometimes it’s linked to:
- Hormonal changes, triggered by stress, for example
- Health issues or chemotherapy
- An allergy to the cosmetics you use
The good news is that eyelashes do grow back and, over time, they should return to their original look.
How long does it take for eyelashes to grow back?
Each eye has 100–150 lashes on the upper lid and 50–75 on the lower one. That’s why every single one is worth its weight in gold!
The best way to get your natural lashes thick again is… time. How fast your lashes grow depends on your genetics and overall health, and it usually takes up to 6 months. That’s why a healthy lifestyle and supplements are so important to speed up the process.
Regrowth time depends on the three phases of hair growth, which lashes go through too: anagen, catagen and telogen. If you want to understand every phase in detail, we highly recommend this explainer by trichologist Tomasz Kochańczyk (in Polish). Below, we sum them up briefly.
- Anagen (active growth phase) – the time when your lashes get the nutrients they need from your body to grow long and beautiful. The anagen phase lasts about 30–45 days (other sources say 60–90 days). During this time, your upper lashes grow about 8–12 mm.
- Catagen (transition phase) – the period when a lash stops receiving nutrients. Lashes in this phase can fall out if you tug at them, for example when pulling off lash extension clusters. In these lashes, the bulb is barely visible.
- Telogen (resting phase) – the period when the hair follicle is empty and no lash grows from it. During this time, it gets ready for a new lash. This phase lasts about 100 days. Good supplementation and a healthy lifestyle shorten the resting phase.
Keep in mind that each lash – or rather each hair follicle – goes through these phases at its own pace. That means you’ll need some patience if you want to enjoy thick, healthy lashes again.
Speed up lash regrowth with diet and supplements
To speed up lash regrowth, the right diet is a key piece of the puzzle. A nice bonus: a good diet benefits your hair and skin just as much.
To support lash regrowth, your diet should include plenty of protein. Protein supplies your body with the amino acids it needs to produce keratin.
Another important nutrient is biotin, which you’ll find in nuts, kale, onions and cauliflower.
Eating more fruit and vegetables rich in vitamins A and C should also be high on your list. Avocados, citrus fruits, strawberries, blueberries and the like will help bring your lashes back to good condition.
Another key nutrient is niacin (vitamin B3). It boosts circulation, which stimulates hair growth. You’ll find this vitamin in meat (poultry, fish), but if you don’t eat meat, add avocados and green peas to your diet.
The last important nutrient for lash regrowth is iron. You’ll find it in dried fruit, dark chocolate, seafood and beans.
If you can’t get enough of these nutrients from your diet, consider taking them as supplements!
Do lash growth serums work?
There’s a wide range of lash serums and conditioning gels on the market. You can use them on their own or under makeup. Some mascaras also contain conditioning ingredients, such as lipid or peptide complexes, that can support lash growth.
Products with bimatoprost – an active ingredient that stimulates hair growth – are especially popular.
These products can really help you in your quest for beautiful lashes, but you shouldn’t rely on them alone and forget about diet and good sleep 🙂
How can you prevent lash loss in the future?
Healthy habits will help keep your natural lashes in the best possible shape. Small changes can bring big results!
- Keep up a healthy lifestyle – yes, yes, we know. Easier said than done. But this list wouldn’t be complete without a mention of nutrition and exercise!
- Remove your makeup gently – vigorous rubbing is bad news for your lashes. Swap cotton pads for an oil-based makeup remover and make double cleansing your new best friend!
- Skip glue-on lashes – lash clusters and glue-on false lashes are often the root of all the trouble. Try magnetic lashes instead – they don’t require any glue on your lash line
- Don’t curl lashes with mascara on – these innocent-looking tools can be deadly for your natural lashes, especially if you curl lashes that already have mascara on them!
Ditch products that can damage your natural lashes
That’s the best way to sum up our advice. If you feel that any of the products you use is harming your lashes, maybe it’s time to consider an alternative?
At Wink Beauty, we want everyone to enjoy beautiful makeup – and to feel beautiful without it. We offer eight models of magnetic strip lashes that give you comfort and a gorgeous look with no glue and no lash-wrecking curlers.
We’re keeping our fingers crossed for the speedy return of your beautiful lashes!