During my figure contest prep for the OCB Midwest States, my eyelashes fell out. This was a complete surprise to me, and I did not understand what was going on. My eyelashes are always long, but not too thick so I try to take care of it.
One morning I woke up to find two areas sans eyelashes. The spots were in the same exact areas on each upper lashline. I tried to think of what I did to make my eyelashes fall out and could not think of anything at the time. Looking back, there were several obvious reasons my eyelashes fell out. I wasn’t sure if my eyelashes would grow back, but with changes in my routine like my diet, change of mascara, false eyelashes and relinquishing my eyelash curler, I found that it was fixable with time.
Giving lashes that curly bounce
For years I used an eyelash curler to accentuate my almond eyes. The curler did its job but I realized any mascara left on my lashes acted as an adhesive. It would cause my eyelashes to stick to the curler, and one or more eyelashes would be lost in the curling process. When my eyelashes fell out, I stopped using my curler.
Removing waterproof mascara too roughly
Mascara serves its purpose to create longer lashes, while waterproof mascara keeps it in place to keep from smudging and smearing. Unfortunately, waterproof mascara is more difficult to remove and I wore it a lot. The extra rubbing to remove the mascara damages the lashes at the follicles, stunting growth or causing it to fall out. Although I love waterproof mascara, I now minimize its use for those moments of heavy perspiration, swimming, rainy days and on figure competition days. I also remove the mascara gently with an eye makeup remover.
False eyelashes
Eyelashes make a big difference in the way your eyes pop, so the popularity of falsies have increased. False lashes are easy to apply, but the overuse can have a negative impact on your lashes. Continual gluing and stripping the lash line can cause lashes to fall out, or damage the follicle so the lashes do not grow back. Although I didn’t use it often, I did use falsies with extra glue on competition day. When the falsies were removed, I lost lashes in the process.
Nutritional changes
Food plays an important role in everything we do. It fuels our bodies with the proper nutrients and gives us fuel for everyday activities. During the last contest diet, I noticed the food restrictions were affecting everything from my skin to my eyelashes. Although I was eating the right combinations of fats, carbohydrates and proteins, it was not enough to sustain my body.
Changes in the thyroid
Often during contest prep, thyroid conditions are caused from several dynamics of contest prep and is probably another reason for my eyelashes falling out. As long as the thyroid is not permanently damaged, and it goes back to normal, the lashes will grow back.
Andrew Weil, M.D.