Lashes to Maybe Literally Die For

This spring I visited Taiwan to see about resuscitating my Chinese by applying to Normal University's summer program (although I got in, I stayed in NYC for some entrepreneurship experience instead). This was about at least the tenth time I came, my parents hailing from Taiwan and taking me on trips to Asia EVERY year since I was three...no hyperbole here.

Two things struck me as most different from my previous trip last summer. The first was how much traffic increased (no doubt a sign of economic recovery after China somewhat unfroze relations by, for example, allowing direct flights between the two just last year in June of 2008-great help when there's such heavy trade on the line). The deterioration then was so apparent I thought there was some China-esque anti-pollution government mandate in effect when for an entire string of weekdays major roads were void of traffic even during rush hours.

But, and here comes the blog-related stuff, the second most visible change was how many girls were wearing eyelash extensions.

Now Asian obsession with longer eyelashes has been around for a long time, with Asians having characteristically (and being one myself, let me say frustratingly) short, straight and sparse fringes. I've even emailed Jared Diamond, the author of my favorite book Guns, Germs and Steel, on this subject about the origins of human societies. I'll let you know if he responds. Maybe Asia just wasn't as dusty back then so we didn't need as many eyelashes. Then again there is no race gene so it might be anyone's guess.

So from this we see that several innovations to enhance eyelashes have stemmed from Asia from the famously infallible $19 Shu Uemura eyelash curler and their insane false eyelashes (loved by the likes of Jennifer Lopez who had custom-designed fox or mink ones to wear to the Academy Awards in 2001 with a "Tokyo Lash Bar" that's been making waves in the industry) to Imju's Fiberwig, the first mascara that uses fibers and a formula to form individual tubes around each lash. I also saw heated eyelash curlers in the aisles of Watson's (aka Rite Aid of Asia) and had been bringing them back for friends a decade before beauty retailer Sephora had them here.

So plain mascara isn't good enough anymore, as about half of Taiwanese girls I saw there had obviously glued on a pair of fakes-a big change when I only noticed them on Sogo and Xin Guang San Yue department store salesgirls last year. When I asked a girl about her false set, she just said everyone else had them and saw it as no big deal.

(But they are if you consider these things are a couple bucks (to $20) a set, you've got to take the time and effort every morning to glue the lashes on and risk tearing out a few real ones, and they're as reuseable as fake nails.)

While I couldn't find specific numbers to find out exactly how much sales in these things have risen, there's a lot of news on this new focus on eyelashes not just in Taiwan but in the US.

In fact, there's been talk about a "mascara indicator" to replace the "lipstick indicator," which Estee Lauder Chairman Leonard Lauder coined when right after 9/11 deflated the economy he noticed lipstick sales were stronger than usual. But the indicator was debunked this year when it seemed lipstick was actually not impervious to the economy, tanking six percent earlier this spring. On the other hand, according to WWD, mascara sales jumped 6.68 percent which made some hail mascara as the new indicator (with a methodology about indicators which I have major beef against, but that's a whole other story). This mascara trend was noted as early as last October by the WSJ. Although no specific mascara data is available (NYU doesn't have access to NPD group unfortunately), Euromonitor International shows (big surprise) the US leads the pack with Japan in second when it comes to spending on lip and eye make-up products.

But now, it looks like the West is leading the craze for lusher lashes with our own way - tools and harmless inky black stuff, a method used for centuries, is no longer good enough. We need prescription drugs!

So in the last year, we've been seeing a lot of new lash-growers on the market.

Latisse was the first-a prescription drug for nothing but longer lashes brought to you by Allergan, the people that gave us Botox. Latisse is made from a prostaglandin (in this case, Bimatoprost), a chain of fats that's used to treat glaucoma. Actually, it was glaucoma patients who discovered this eyelash side effect in their battle against blindness. So now we've got perfectly healthy people like Latisse spokesperson Brooke Shields using drugs that glaucoma patients have no choice but to use.

Allergan's Latisse actually came out this year (and was slapped by the FDA for downplaying risks on its website last month) but it wasn't the first to discover prostaglandins' effect on lashes. Jan Marini Skin Research came out with their first lash booster back around 2005 but then the FDA had US marshalls seize $2 million worth of the stuff in 2007 when it turned out JMSR never applied for FDA approval (some say Allergan tipped them off) for including in the casual product a drug that could cause eye inflammation and BLINDNESS from nerve damage.


Of course JMSR had their own version of events saying they had discontinued sales in 2006, and then introduced a new version last year that now just vaguely lists among ingredients "proprietary peptides" and "other essential factors." Other similar products touting the same effect are Revitalash, Peter Thomas Roth's Lashes To Die For, Lilash (all of which use prostaglandins) and Talika's Lipocils (which has all natural ingredients and being a previous user, I can't say whether it works).

But here's the bad. Peter Thomas Roth warns its unsafe to use the product if you're pregnant or under 18. Latisse's possible side effects are darkened eyes (as in pupil color), itchy, dry or red eyes, red eyelids, darkened skin where the solution is applied. Allergan also cautions that contact lens wearers should remove their lens and wear them 15 minutes after application, and also for users to discontinue use if "visual acuity" is compromised (ie you turn blind).

I was turned off by the products when I read the "don't use if pregnant or under 18" warning. And anything that might compromise your eyesight is probably not the best-it might be depressing if you use what glaucoma patients use and turn into an eye-problem patient yourself. Until we see what happens after long term use (for me, that's around 50 years, at which time I probably won't care so much about the length of my lases), I think I'll stick with plain old mascara.