Welcome to The Lash Association for Safety and Health (The L.A.S.H.). It is my utmost privilege to hold this prestigious office. I deeply value this great opportunity to serve and invite you to join our two-fold mission: The L.A.S.H. Academy and Public Health and Policy.

     The Lash Association for Safety and Health is a professional organization that is dedicated to improve eyelash extension outcomes through education, research and maintenance of high standards of eyelash extension practice and care. For this purpose, we have teamed up with an excellent group of physicians, scientists and eyelash extension professionals on the Board of Directors and Advisory board to offer consumers and professionals information and training on eyelash extension products and care.

     Recently, Health Canada’s Consumer Product Safety Program banned the use of cyanoacrylate adhesives for eyelash extensions. Hence, the sale of cosmetic products containing cyanoacrylate adhesives for use in the area of the eye is prohibited in Canada. Unfortunately, until there is a change in Canadian policy the eyelash extension industry will decline and will no longer be able to sell or use adhesives in Canada. We certainly respect Canada’s position; however we disagree with its policy because cyanoacrylate is perfectly safe as an adhesive if applied properly by a trained professional. This is also seen in Figure 1. as reported by one of the industry leaders, that there has not been any eyelid bonding with the use of cyanoacrylate adhesives in service for over 4000 eyelash extension clients.

    The emergence of the ban in Canada has imposed an urgent call for the eyelash industry to unite and work with Canadian officials and other countries to educate them about the safety of our products and services and to establish a set of industry standards for the application of eyelash extensions. Therefore, to accomplish this task, we have created The Lash Association for Safety and Health.

    This will be a great forum to unite together as an association of professionals to ensure the continuance of the eyelash extension industry. In an estimation by the South Carolina Esthetics Association, the revenue potential of the industry is an average of $150 - $300 per procedure which could turnover about $45,000 a year for three procedures a week (www.scesthetics.org). We have a clearly illustrated estimation for potential revenue in Figure 2. While eyelash extension practices have the potential to produce great revenue and impact the economy, we still have to work together to ensure that it is sustained.

 

Sophia Navarro

President

The L.A.S.H.