Lesson Learned! Tinting Eyelashes At Home: Not A Good Idea

I definitely didn’t see this mistake coming. While I was in beauty school in Pittsburgh in the ’90s, there was a popular, temporary eyelash tint product by Roux favored by students. While the results looked good, they didn’t last very long—it was a wash-in, wash-out formula. So, I got this idea in my head: if I was super careful, I could just tint my eyelashes with permanent hair color to get a similar look that would last longer. Without thinking it through, I went for it.

I put Vaseline under my eyes to protect my skin and lightly painted black hair dye onto the tips of my eyelashes. The color started to travel down the length of my lashes and expanded for full coverage. I left it on for 15 minutes and rinsed. It looked incredible … for about an hour. Then, my eyes started to tingle. What I didn’t know—since I’d never colored my hair before—was that I was highly allergic to the dye.

As I started to rub my eyes, not thinking anything of it, realized the sensation wasn’t going away. Then my eyes really began to itch. I looked in the mirror, and they were completely red, swollen, and actually oozing. I had to go the emergency room. None of the doctors in the ER believed it; and there was nothing they could really do besides give me an antihistamine. Rinsing didn’t help because the color was actually embedded in my lashes. So, for a week I had puffy, swollen eyes, and I had to go to an opthamologist to make sure I didn’t ruin my sight for good. Luckily, I didn’t. Needless to say, I wouldn’t recommend DIY lash tinting to anyone.

But there’s a bigger lesson here. Before using any new product, especially in the eye area or on sensitive skin, test yourself (or your client) to make sure there are no allergic reactions before going full-force with it. A simple skin test on your arm or underarm is a good indicator for most products, whether liquid, cream, or powder—swipe on a little bit, leave it on for several minutes, and see how the skin (or hair) reacts. If you start to feel any weird sensations or notice redness or swelling, stop right there. It’s just not worth it. Instead, look for a swap that’s free of allergens, dyes, and perfumes—but test that first, too. There are plenty of beauty options safe for sensitive types these days, but everyone’s different, and it’s best to just take the extra time to proceed with caution.

As told by NYC-based hair stylist Louis Angelo