Are You Using Your Eyelash Curler All Wrong?

Generally, people fall into two camps when it comes to eyelash curlers: You either know what you’re doing and can’t live without it, or you refuse to let the Medieval torture device near your precious eyelashes. Well, even if you’re an experienced eyelash curler user, it turns out you might not be using your curler to the best of its potential. After chatting with L’Oréal makeup expert and educator Gabriel Almodovar about our curler fears, we think we might have cracked the lash curling code. Here’s what we learned.

An eyelash curler can make your eyes look bigger.

The first thing to note before getting into exactly how to use one is to understand what an eyelash curler really does. “The purpose of an eyelash curler is to put a bend in your lashes to help create the illusion of a bigger eye,” Almodovar says. He goes on to add that curlers are curved in order to mimic the curvature of your lash line when you bend them upward.

Use one hand when you use an eyelash curler, and get close to your eye.

“I use a full curler and put it as close to the lash line as possible,” Almodovar notes. “I open and close the curler about five times on each eye and do it again if I want more curling. I also like to do the process with just one hand to have the natural movements of my hand create a series of bends — which look more like a curl than just creating one 90 degree angle.”

Make sure your lashes are hydrated but not wet.

If there’s one big takeaway we learned from Almodovar’s lash wisdom, it’s that your lashes should not be dry or wet, but lightly hydrated. “Wet lashes could stick to the curler and cause you to prematurely yank them out,” he says. Alternatively, “if they’re dry or brittle, maybe skip curling all together. The last thing you want to do is curl a brittle, dry lash and have it snap off instead of curl.”

Apply your falsies before curling your lashes, and always apply mascara AFTER you use your curler.

To avoid your lashes from sticking to your curler, it’s important to always curl your lashes before applying mascara. But if you’re wearing faux lashes, apply them first. “The best time to curl lashes when using falsies is after you’ve applied the faux lashes,” says Almodovar. “The curler not only curls both your natural and fake lashes together, it also makes them look more like one as opposed to two separate sets of lashes. Then, add mascara after curling to blend them into one unit even more.”

How To Use An Eyelash Curler  

1. Anchor your arm on a table with a lash curler in one hand.

2. Place the lash curler as close as your lash line as possible.

3. Open and close the curler a few times until you reach your desired curl.

4. Apply mascara.