How Lash Serums Affect Lamination Treatments
Table of contents
Lash Serums vs Lash Lifts
Why some “mystery clients” never lift the same (and how to stop guessing)
If you’ve ever had a client whose lashes should have lifted beautifully… but instead processed unevenly, felt resistant, or dropped faster than expected, here’s the part no one talks about:
Your technique might not be the problem.
**Their lash serum might be changing how their lashes behave**
Not all lash serums work the same way, and they don’t leave the lash in the same “condition” for a chemical service like a lash lift. This post gives you a simple framework to spot patterns and make smarter decisions during processing.
Serum brands rarely publish controlled data about how their products affect professional chemical services. So this article focuses on repeatable patterns commonly observed in treatment rooms and the safest way to respond to them.
The lash lift variable most artists forget to screen for
Most consultations cover previous lash lifts, lash health + homecare and sensitivity history.
But far fewer artists consistently ask:
“Are you using a lash serum? If yes, which one?”
Even when the client says “yes,” they often don’t know what type it is. That matters because different serum categories commonly create differences in:
- porosity / cuticle condition
- processing predictability
- how well the lift holds
- how much hydration support the lashes need after the treatment
The three serum categories that matter for lash lifts
For lash lift work, serums are easiest to think of in three practical buckets:
- Peptide-based conditioning serums
- EGF-activating / growth-factor-style serums
- Prostaglandin analog (or prostaglandin-like) serums
1) Peptide-based serums
Common pattern: lashes often feel “well-conditioned” and can be slightly more resistant to penetration.
What artists often notice:
- lashes feel flexible and “healthy”
- lashes look shiny like acidic lashes
- lift result is stable
- lashes tend to hold hydration well
What this can mean during a lash lift:
- Peptide‑serum lashes are healthy, flexible and well‑hydrated. That smooth, conditioned surface means that it takes lifting lotion longer to penetrate the hair.
- A proper primer matters here because peptide‑serum lashes need help with cuticle access, not stronger chemicals. Traditional alcohol‑heavy primers do open the cuticle, but they do it by rapidly and unevenly thus causing damage to the cuticle. Uneven cuticle also means uneven access for the lifting lotion to penetrate.
Easy Lift Primer creates that access in a more controlled way. It opens the cuticle a bit more slowly and without dehydrating the fibre, so the lotion can enter evenly and cuticles are not damaged in the process. A bonus benefit is that Easy Lift softens the lashes, making it much easier to glue onto the shield.
Practical takeaway: use a primer that opens the cuticle without stripping moisture. Alcohol‑based primers work, but they’re harsher than necessary. Easy Lift provides the same cuticle access in a gentler, more predictable way, after which your usual timing applies. Without using a primer at all, processing times for peptide‑serum clients may end up slightly longer simply because the lotion needs more time to reach the cortex and because peptides strengthen the internal keratin structure, which naturally slows the initial softening phase.
2) EGF‑activating (growth‑factor‑style) serums
The EGF-activating serums like our Lash & Brow Filler, work by reawakening dormant follicles. These serums stimulate keratin and melanin production and trigger growth in follicles stuck in telogen arrest (a condition where hair follicles remain in the resting phase instead of cycling back into active growth, leading to thinning or sparse lashes and brows). Result: new hair growth in bald spots and visibly denser lashes.
Common pattern: lashes can lift beautifully, but the predictability of processing changes during the first months of use.
What artists often notice:
- lashes feel strong, healthy and flexible, similar to peptide users
- clients may have more baby lashes entering the anagen phase at once
- the lash line can look slightly uneven in density because of all the new growth waking up
- the lift result itself is usually stable, but the grow‑out can look faster or patchier early on
What this can mean during a lash lift:
- the presence of many fresh anagen hairs means different parts of the lash line soften at slightly different speeds
- this doesn’t require stronger chemicals — it requires attentive lash checking during lifting step to catch the moment lashes in different growth phases begin to soften
- the early “unpredictability” comes primarily from rapid growth‑phase changes, **on top of the cuticle‑softening and structural‑strengthening effects EGF boosters create inside the hair. **
- as the client continues using an EGF‑activating serum, the initial surge of new anagen lashes gradually settles. This doesn’t create perfect uniformity, but it does reduce the extreme concentration of baby lashes seen early on, so the difference in softening speed between new and mature hairs becomes less dramatic
Practical takeaway: EGF‑serum clients aren’t difficult — their lash lines are just going through a shift in growth‑phase distribution so you need to check lashes for readiness **more frequently ** during this early phase because new and mature hairs won’t soften at the same speed. Use a gentle primer to speed up cuticle lifting before Step 1.
3) Prostaglandin‑analog serums
Common pattern: the most noticeable changes in the lash line — and the highest variability during lifts.
What artists often notice:
- lashes can become drier, more porous or slightly brittle over time
- lengths become extreme, but the structural quality decreases
- lashes may grow in irregular directions
- portions of the lash line may soften quickly while others lag behind
- retention after the lift may shorten because the lashes outgrow the curl faster
What this can mean during a lash lift:
- prostaglandin lashes often have inconsistent porosity, so the lifting lotion enters quickly in some areas and slowly in others
- this increases the risk of patchy softening, not because of the product but because of the lash fibre itself
- these clients require earlier and more frequent checks than any other serum group
- anything dehydrating or aggressive makes the problem worse — these lashes need controlled access and strong post‑lift hydration support
- prefer using cysteamine‑based systems to prevent overprocessing if parts of the lash line soften early. Read our blog post on cysteamine-based lash lift.
Practical takeaway: to avoid patchy lifting, begin checking lashes earlier than usual and continue checking frequently. Check lashes in more areas than you normally would. Use a gentle cysteamine-based system and finish with intensive hydration products, because these lashes lose moisture more easily and need extra support to stay smooth and stable after the lift. Make sure to recommend a hydrating and nourishing home use product after lamination. Read our blog post on lash lift aftercare.
The simplest way to upgrade your lash lift consistency
Add one sentence to your consultation:
“Are you using a lash serum? If yes, is it prostaglandin based?”
If they don’t know, ask for the name and check the ingredient list together - here is how to identify prostaglandin‑based serums.
Stop treating timing like a fixed recipe
Your timer is a guideline. Your lash checks are your truth.
This matters most for:
- new serum users (any category)
- prostaglandin-based serum users
- clients whose lashes already look porous/dry/stressed
Aftercare plays a role in how well the result maintains its shape
The first 24 hours are when lashes still carry the nourishing ingredients from the final step, so they are not at risk of losing hydration. What matters here is simply avoiding anything that could disturb their newly‑set shape while the lashes settle. This means that no serums should be used for the first 24 hours after the treatment while the body naturally re-structures some of the disulfide bonds.
Always maintain realistic customer expectations: first-time EGF-booster users and all prostaglandin-serum users may notice their lift growing out sooner — typically around two weeks earlier — simply because their lashes grow more quickly than usual.
