So, you’ve seen girls rocking their lash extensions, and you’re probably wondering why eyelash extensions are so popular. You might even wonder if eyelash extensions are a simple fad or a trend.
Read on to find out the 7 crucial reasons why lash extensions are so popular, actual market data on eyelash extensions, and how they are reshaping the beauty industry by making their own product category.
Let’s get started!
Why Are Eyelash Extensions So Popular
Eyelash extensions have become increasingly popular given their ability to add volume and length to natural lashes. Women love the fact that lash extensions make their eyes look younger, beautiful, alert, and gorgeous besides saving up on makeup chores like applying mascara.
Here are the 7 most common reasons why eyelash extensions are so popular.
1- Mind-Blowing Transformation
Eyelash extensions completely change your appearance. They make wearers look young because lush and curly lashes are a sign of youthfulness. To do so, lash techs add one or more extensions per natural lash.
False eyelashes can open up your eyes and make you look bright without wearing any other makeup product. Moreover, looking great is always the best way to pump up your self-confidence.
2- Aren’t Permanent
Lash extensions are semi-permanent. Just like you can change the color of your lipstick whenever you want, you can change eyelash extensions styles at a whim.
They are attached to your natural lashes using a special glue that disintegrates naturally in six to eight weeks.
If you wish to change the style quicker than the natural timeframe, salons can safely remove lash extensions. This also lets you play with different styles of fake lash styles like natural, doll eye, cat eye, dramatic, and other personalized choices.
Pro Tip: I have a detailed guide on how to choose the best style of eyelash extensions for different eye shapes here!
3- Personalized For You
An eyelash extension session is where the lash tech customizes individual lash extensions for your eyes based on their shape and the texture, length, curl, and thickness of your eyelashes.
The artist then creates a personalized style for you called ‘lash mapping’ by tweaking different curls, thicknesses, and lengths of lash extensions. Because perfect facial symmetry is a rarity, the style might even differ for both eyes of the same person.
Lash extensions reshape your eyes and can even resolve hooded eyes, mono eyelids, small eyes, and more.
4- Save Your Time
The best reason why eyelash extensions are a big hit among millennials aged 18 to 35 according to the Brandon Gaille statistic is that extensions save huge amounts of time on an otherwise lengthy daily makeup regimen.[1]
You don’t need to apply a million coats of your mascara or fight with the tape to create the winged liner style to make your eyes pop with fake lashes.
There’s that added benefit of waking up with gorgeous lashes as well but it also significantly cuts down your need to apply eyeliner or mascara because lash extensions naturally make your eyes look defined with thicker eyelashes.
5- Short Sessions
With sessions taking as little as two hours, it’s quicker than a hair smoothening or Brazilian blowout to get semi-permanent lashes today.
The lash artist starts by cleaning your lashes, primes them, sticks the tapes, conducts lash mapping, and finally applies lash extensions.
Once the session is done, you don’t need to get your new lashes retouched for around a month or more. If you keep the lashes clean from eyelash mites and bad makeup products, your false lashes will last a long time.
Pro Tip: Did you know that a full set of classic lashes typically lasts 90 to 120 minutes? I have a complete guide on how long it takes to apply lash extensions and why right here!
6- Not Just For Special Occasions
While strip lashes last less than a day, eyelash extensions come packed with more benefits. It needn’t be a look you can wear just for a few hours.
You can wear extensions for weeks before and/or after important events like weddings, graduations, proms, homecomings, birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, and the like.
7- Affordable In The Long Run
While it may look like $200 to $300 for an initial set of eyelash extensions is expensive, when you do the math, extensions are not that expensive if you maintain them well.
Most salons will charge a very reasonable fee for refills, typically between 50$ to 100$. For those who’re committed to proper lash aftercare, extensions can still look gorgeous after 4 weeks.
Pro Tip: I have conducted a case study to know how much eyelash extensions cost on average for classic, hybrid, and volume sets!
Therefore, aftercare and refills are key for affordable yet beautiful lashes.
Eyelash Extensions Market Research
According to a report from Grand View Research, Inc. published in September 2019, the false eyelashes market will register a 5.4% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) over the 2019 – 2025 period.[2]
Key takeaways from the report:
- Individual false eyelashes are expected to have the highest CAGR of 6.0% from 2019 to 2025. This product category is expected to grow at a faster rate when compared to the other product categories (strips, clusters, others).
These findings come as no surprise to me given how damaging some of these products can be for your natural lashes. If you want to know more about cluster lashes and why you should avoid them, check out our full article on cluster lashes. - Synthetic lashes already account for 60% of the market when compared to natural lashes. Moreover, their market share is expected to grow at a faster rate than their natural lashes counterpart.
This interesting statistic confirms what we have been advocating for years. At Divine Lashes, we only use synthetic lashes.
If you want to know more about the differences between synthetic and natural eyelash extensions, check out our full article on the different types of eyelash extensions. - Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing market through 2025 with an impressive 6.6% CAGR. The U.S. enjoys a strong number of manufacturers creating a strong foothold for the product in years to come.
Redefining The Beauty Industry With Complementary Products
Because lash extensions are used by millions today, women need products that are compatible with lash extensions.
Users need water-based cosmetics and makeup removers that don’t pull, snag or tug onto extensions. Popular cosmetic brands are already manufacturing products that cater exclusively to lash extension wearers.
The creation of this entire ecosystem of complementary products is proof in-itself that dominant brands see eyelash extensions as a trend that’s there to last.
When lipstick became popular, lip liners, lip brushes, and lip primers gained mainstream attention too.
In the same way, the advent of eyelash extensions has paved the way for many products like lash cleansers, lash wands, lint-free applicators, lash fans, and even silk pillowcases (for preventing damage to lash extensions while sleeping) today.
On top of it, lash extensions can get damaged in the presence of oils, waxes, and salt in cosmetic products.
That’s why you need special mascaras, eyeliners, eyeshadows, eye primers, and eye makeup removers if you’re regularly wearing eyelash extensions.
Serums that promote the growth of natural lashes underneath lash extensions are another new product that complements fake lashes.
Pro Tip: Did you know that certain lash serums can be used even if you wear lash extensions? Full details here!
Another interesting product is cooling eye masks designed specifically for lash extension wearers.
Eyelash Extension Trends
According to Google Trends, the eyelash extensions topic has enjoyed continuous growth in search queries since 2004.[3] The number of searches experienced a steep decline in April 2020 which was almost immediately recovered.
The COVID-19 pandemic explains this decrease which was experienced by several other topics in the beauty field.
Final Thoughts
Eyelash extensions are one of the biggest innovations in the beauty industry and are far from a short-term craze. It’s a booming trend that’s rapidly becoming the crowd favorite all around the world.
The market size of the industry is set to expand to a few billion within a couple of years according to economists.
With lash techs satisfied and even proud of their work, lash extension is a fairly new industry that’s quickly booming into a popular field.
For customers, lash extensions can reshape the eyes and face besides adding youthfulness. It saves time for busybodies and getting eyelash extensions isn’t a tedious procedure like plastic surgery.
If you look at the industry as a whole now, it’s set for mushroom growth and vigorous development in the coming years. Eyelash extensions are a trend that will last.
Have another opinion? Share it with our eyelash extension community in the comments below.
Stay beautiful!
– Asako 🙂
References
- Brandon Gaille (2019). 33 Eyelash Extension Industry Statistics, Trends & Analysis. Retrieved from https://brandongaille.com/33-eyelash-extension-industry-statistics-trends-analysis/ (Accessed on 19-3-2021)
- Grand View Research, Inc. (2019). False Eyelashes Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Strips, Cluster /Accent, Individual), By Constituent (Natural, Synthetic), By Distribution Channel, And Segment Forecasts, 2019 – 2025. Retrieved from https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/false-eyelashes-market (Accessed on 19-3-2021)
- Google Trends. Eyelash Extensions Topic. Retrieved from https://trends.google.com/trends/. (Accessed on 19-3-2021)
