help! wrecked stumps of eyelashes / piss holes in the snow

[alltoomuchrightnow]

So...I did the most stupid thing. I had long eyelashes that my friends envied and was always being asked if they were false. For some reason this wasn't enough for me, even with lash building mascara, and I wanted to go the extra mile..have some oompth for a festival and also being lazy and thinking it would save time in morning so back in May I decided to go for extensions. Not the party ones but the ones that last longer. The salon told me it would not harm my natural lashes and I wouldn't lose many. Wrong! They lasted two months..which was great.. I gently soaked them off at home... but I lost a lot of my lashes. Still quite long but not many left and so spread out/ gappy. I should've stuck with waiting for them to grow back... but, I had got so used to the falsies.. couldn't stand the gappy look, so , back to the salon (I moved, so different one now, this salon says the complete opposite.. that of course you will lose lashes.,,) Since then I've been having 'party lashes' applied...which usually last well on me, two or three weeks. Except..it's a terrible habit to get into, at least for me. Last night I soaked them off.. half were falling off anyway (taking my own lashes with them)... and I was shocked at the two piggy eyes staring back at me. Still long lashes on the bottom line.. on the top line, nothing but tiny short stumps, well spaced out.. I wish I had never ever done this in the first place. I looked in my magnifying mirror --to depress self further)... pale thin spaced out lashes, bald in places,only a few mm long. :-( I put some mascara on to try and counteract the dead eye look and it just highlights the stubble , that is the only way i can describe them.. stubble :-( I have the eyes of a burnt out field!
So the burning q is.. why are they like this? Have they broken off? Or are these ones that originally got pulled out and being very slow to grow back? It looks so bad.. my eyes are my best feature. Or were. I've tried Rapidlash in the past when I didn't need to..grrr but it stung so I discontinued.
Is there anything to speed up growth? eg dietary etc.. has anything else had this and how long before they looked normal again.. could they ever get back to former glory? I feel like hairless freak.
Also getting really puffy on upper lids..and not having long lashes to distract.. tried cold pads on them, any ideas to quickly de puff?

I have never ever used stick on lashes myself.. only ever had applied in salon.. i don't think my hands would be steady enough! maybe should give it a go..do they work well on very watery eyes though.. the reason i had my falsies done were that my eyes stream so much and they always stayed put for ages..

I mean even the tube mascaras like Blinc would just come off on me within hours and i'd get tubes all over my cheeks and lids.. so it was nice to have the false lashes and never have to retouch or flick off the annoying bits or get them stuck in eyes...

You could, for the mean time, try single false eyelashes. My sister uses them and I apply them for her so if you have a friend with a steady hand, you could give them a go. They look natural enough when they are on. I know it's not a permanent solution but might help you feel a bit better while your natural lashes grow back

I understand how distressing this must be for you as i had alopecia a couple of years ago when most of my eyelashes fell out and remaining ones were so brittle they just broke off. I hated having to leave the house, but in reality other people prob wont notice very much. One trick i learned was that using eyeliner gave the illusion of thinker eyelashes and distracted from those horrid gaps. I was shocked at the difference it made as i never wore eyeliner previously

yeah cos I look like it's still Halloween. I think a friend with steady hand could be the answer! even the odd few singles would be better than patchy stubble. do you know which ones your sister uses?
It's like shaving my legs since i was 12..even though I'm not very hairy..which I'd never started! Same with plucking brows in my 20s.. now 42 and they never grew back... I really am hairless freak! :-(

sorry to hear that MillyMollyMandy and it does make me feel very selfish as this, to myself, was self inflicted. I did need a huge confidence boost but should've been happy with what nature gave me... especially as they were so naturally long...,. i was actualy thinking earlier about Gail Porter and how she lost every hair on her body and I should quit moaning..

WISH I'd never started, i mean...

Before you go to bed, put a big swipe of Vaseline on each eyelid over your remaining lashes. It's like a hairy fertilizer on them.

I feel for you. I did the extensions thing and loved the look for about 3 days. The aftermath is not good. All i can tell you is they DO grow back but I guess you have to wait for a lash life-cycle, which for me was about 5 weeks. The gappy bits. Such a bad look.

Chin up, you will be cow-like by Christmas!

i can recommend rapid lash, get-lashed and all those products. my lashes were gappy and stubby after pregnancy and this did the trick ,.

how does Vaseline work?!i thought that would inhibit growth, doesn't it block everything? it's worth a try... rapid lash i tried a couple of years ago but left me with red stingy lashline, i'm pretty sensitive

(but ironically am fine with strong lash glue)

Nope it doesn't block anything. It moisturises and conditions the lashes, they grow nice and strong. I've used it since I was 18 years old. I put some on a cotton wool bud and use like mascara, or if I'm tired just rub a blob on before closing my eyes.

really ? that's interesting. but is it very hard to remove when you want to put on makeup?
I tried some eyeliner , Milly, Blinc's brown liquid one but liquid is way too harsh (sharp lines) with no lashes to soften the effect. I can't use pencils for the softer effect, as never found one that didn't smudge badly and then irritate... i have oily lids as well as being watery.

You put it on at bed time. By the time you've woken up it has all soaked in.

What about eyeliner with a dark eyeshadow over it smudged to soften the look?

I wouldn't do anymore false eyelashes. I alway lose some when taking off false singles. It'll just make it worse. I'd just put up with it and try some of the regrowth suggestions. It'll be fine by Xmas.

Jojoba oil is supposed to be good for eyelashes in much the same way as Vaseline mentioned above.

Vaseline is great. It's filled out the gaps in my eyebrows and I now have nice, strong (threaded) brows.

I mean, it made the hair grow... It's e

Sorry - silly phone.

It's wonderful as a night moisturiser, too. Wish I'd known about its benefits when I was 18.

I can second the vote for Vaseline as a night moisturiser - it's brilliant, even outperforming some fairly expensive creams I've tried.

Eyelure strip lashes are your friend!
No loss of natural lashes, they look great and practice will make perfect (or a friend with a steady hand). I'm a lash addict so have tried most brands, but IMO these are easiest to fit & look good.

I do sympathise with anyone who's lost their lashes - I tried extensions & ended up losing them all on my right eye. I looked like the guy from clockwork orange

Princess!!! poor you! shouldn't laugh but my friend just went as him for Halloween fancy dress. Will Eyelure stay put on watery eyes do you think?

wonder what it is in vaseline that makes hair grow? so if you rubbed it on hair line for example..would normal head hair grow quicker?!