Natural Ways To Grow Longer Eyelashes

Natural Ways To Grow Longer Eyelashes. Graphic – herbshealthhappiness.com. Photo © shutterstock.com (under license)

Women the world over are often on the lookout for ways to improve the appearance of their eyelashes. The word “appearance” is the key here, and it is widely used in the beauty industry because until recently there was no proven method to make lashes grow any more than the length determined by you genes!

Longer eyelashes have been seen as a sign of greater attractiveness for millenia – the accepted explanation for this connection is that the dark color of the lashes provides more contrast with the whites of the eyes and therefore makes the eyes more noticeable. Healthy looking eyelashes are also an overall sign of vitality. An added bonus is that longer, thicker lashes will also keep more dust out of your eyes, which is the primary purpose for their existence after all!

Eye makeup has been around since the bronze age and was popular in ancient Egypt. Even though we now know that eyelash length is determined by your genetic code, this hasn’t stopped the scientists from trying to find a way to change things and they have recently found that certain drugs will affect the hormone that governs hair growth – this has opened the door to the recent appearance of eyelash growth serums on the market. Some of these have been tested and shown to be effective but they are often very expensive and many have not been approved for safe use by the FDA.

More women are now looking for a natural alternative to chemical drugs when it comes to choosing their cosmetic products and research has been done into natural ways to achieve the desired effect without artificially causing the lashes to grow longer. Lashes take approximately 8 weeks to grow fully and one of the best approaches is to prevent them from falling out prematurely, allowing them to grow to their full length, and to help them to grow thicker.

Many will know that too much use of cosmetic products can actually cause damage to the natural health and growth of their skin and hair – this includes problems with eyelashes breaking or falling out, which can be caused by the glue used for attaching false eyelashes as well as by too much brushing or applying mascara very regularly.

The best and safest methods seem to be to increase the dietary intake of particular nutrients that encourage overall healthy hair growth (and better general health!) and to apply the right kind of moisturiser – both of these methods are likely to give the lashes greater strength and flexibility.

So, let’s have a look at the factors that increase healthy hair growth:

– Adequate protein is most important – a diet that includes eggs, fish, beans and nuts will provide what you need.

– Look for foods rich in B-complex vitamins such as vegetables, grains, eggs and legumes (peas and beans).

– Vitamin C from foods like citrus fruits, berries, leafy greens and potatoes.

– Vitamin E from olives, sunflower seeds, avocado and almonds.

– It is also possible to take vitamin supplements although many nutritionists say that “wholefood supplements” are much more easily absorbed than synthetic ones – this shows that deriving your vitamins from food can be the best approach.

Alternative moisturisers that are said to benefit your eyelashes include vaseline (not natural of course!) and (more naturally) olive oil, castor oil or vitamin E oil – it has also been recommended to use olive oil infused with lemon peel. These can be applied gently to the base and shafts of the hairs with a clean mascara brush before going to sleep. It will be necessary to remove the oil the next morning with a natural face cleanser before applying makeup and to prevent dust sticking to the residue of the oils during the following day.

There are also a few myths about ways to treat your lashes for improved growth that include pulling and trimming them – these methods have now been shown to be ineffective.

A guaranteed (though of course not natural!) way to increase the length of your lashes is to have a hair transplant that incorporates follicles from head hair into the eyelids – however, this is a procedure that usually costs thousands of dollars – the transplanted hair will grow much longer than normal and needs to be curled and trimmed regularly. It could provide a good solution in extreme cases of hair loss or irretrievable damage.