Time to anti-age your eyelashes!

Believe it or not, they go grey and thin — just like your hair. But don’t despair, there’s LOTS you can do...

YOU MAY not want to know this — so shut your eyes now — but if your hair is going grey, there’s worse to come. Your eyelashes may be starting to turn grey, too.

It’s perfectly natural: the hair follicles from which they grow just give up on producing melanin, the pigment that gives them their colour, though it doesn’t usually happen before your hair is grey.

And going grey isn’t the only thing we have to worry about. Thanks to changing hormone levels, lashes naturally thin as we get older, too. This leaves us with less definition around the eyes and can make us look more tired.

You could resort to just piling on extra mascara — but if you want something more permanent, there’s plenty you can do to counteract it. In fact, there’s a bewildering array of options to improve the way your lashes look.

Here’s our pick of the treatments that can really make a difference . . .

FAKE IT WITH EXTENSIONS

WHAT IT INVOLVES: Individual false lashes made of synthetic mink hair are carefully glued, one by one, on to your own lashes, to boost length and volume.

WHAT’S IT LIKE? This is a painstaking and lengthy business, depending on how many lashes you are having applied.

Most people only have the upper lashes enhanced. You can have anything from 30 to 40 individual hairs added to the outer edges of the eyes, or get a full set of around 120 — that’s one stuck to every lash on the upper eyelid.

All of this can take up to two hours, but it’s painless. You just relax with your eyes shut while your lash technician does all the work.

VERDICT: If it’s done well, extensions are flattering and addictive. But finding the right salon and technician is crucial: ask for pictures of the results before you commit. It’s easy for bad extensions to look obvious and tacky.

Once they are on, you can’t feel them and you should be able to skip mascara for as long as they stay on — usually about six weeks.

DRAWBACKS: Unless you treat the extensions with immense care, particularly when taking off eye shadow or liner, their weight can weaken your natural lashes, so the treatment should not be done repeatedly, however tempting it is.

It’s recommended you have a break of a few months between each set to let your lashes recover.

WHERE AND HOW MUCH? Up To My Eyes in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, charges from €90 for basic extensions. Visit uptomyeyes.ie

PERFECT PERM

WHAT IT INVOLVES: Perming and tinting your lashes. Perming adds curl, making eyes look more open, while tinting darkens the hairs, so they seem thicker and more defined. Results last for around six weeks.

WHAT’S IT LIKE? A painless and quiet process that takes just over an hour as you lie, eyes shut, on the treatment bed.

A curved sticker is placed on your eyelids and the lashes are pressed up on to this. It doesn’t hurt, and it holds them in shape for the perming.

Perming solution (which breaks down the chemical bonds in the hair that hold it straight, so it can bend) is applied and left for ten minutes. This is followed by a fixing solution, which sets lashes into the new, curved shape. Finally, a professional tinting solution is applied to both the upper and lower lashes.

VERDICT: This is particularly brilliant if you are going grey. I’ve been having this done for many years. I love how it makes me look more awake and my eyes appear more open. I usually don’t need mascara for two weeks.

DRAWBACKS: You have to keep your eyelashes dry for 24 hours (that means no showers, crying or sweaty exercise) while the perm sets, then you can treat them as normal. WHERE AND HOW MUCH? Nouveau Lashes offers the LVL lash treatment in salons nationwide, from €55 (nouveaulashes.com).

BOOST GROWTH

WHAT IT INVOLVES: Lumigan, a prescription medicine, is applied to the roots of the lashes to make them grow longer and darker. This is normally used for glaucoma (where pressure builds up inside the eye due to fluid accumulation) but, after betterlooking eyelashes were reported as a side-effect, cosmetic doctors were soon adapting its uses.

You need to find a cosmetic doctor who can prescribe Lumigan, rebranded as Mylash.

WHAT’S IT LIKE? At €120 for a 3ml bottle, it’s pricey, but I find each bottle lasts at least four months. Every second night, I ease a tiny drop out and, using a disposable application brush, apply the liquid carefully between the roots of my upper eyelashes (good light and a magnifying mirror help).

VERDICT: After six weeks, there’s a remarkable difference. My lashes are so much longer, they touch the lenses of my glasses. They are also a little darker.

DRAWBACKS: These are fairly serious. It has been noted in studies that using Lumigan can discolour eyelids. That may be why mine look slightly purple — a little like a bruise. But it’s easy to cover with make-up and it’s a trade-off I’m willing to make for the sake of longer lashes.

Lumigan has also been observed to bring about changes in eye colour, particularly in light irises. It doesn’t happen often, but if it does, the change is likely to be permanent. I have a greenybrown spot in one iris, which didn’t used to be there.

The treatment also makes my lashes grow very straight. To make the most of them, I need to curl them or have a perm.

WHERE AND HOW MUCH? Eyelash queen Sue Marsh works with Mylash founder Dr Tom Walker and supplies Lumigan and micro brushes (€120, mylash.org).

. . . OR TRY A TATTOO

WHAT IT INVOLVES: Tiny dots of pigment are ‘tattooed’ along the lash line to give the illusion of thicker lashes.

WHAT’S IT LIKE? More than a bit terrifying. It takes a leap of faith to submit to a treatment where a tattoo needle is whirring away millimetres from your eyeball.

And, yes, despite anaesthetic cream, each burst of needling is remarkably uncomfortable, however much I am told to think of it as ‘just a quick scratch’.

VERDICT: Brilliant. After all the fuss I made about having it done, I am so glad I did it. The roots of my lashes look much thicker and they frame my eyes, making them look wider and brighter. The effects should last for around 18 months, before starting to fade.

DRAWBACKS: After treatment, the pigment must be kept dry for seven to ten days and treated with a healing balm. You can’t wear contact lenses or make-up for a week.

WHERE AND HOW MUCH? Elizabeth Oakes runs clinics across Ireland (elizabethoakes.ie). Her New Eyeliner treatment costs €300 for top and bottom line.

Butterfly Effect salon in Dublin 14 offers Taffy (a type of microblading) and ODED (a pigmentation method), €199 for top line or €350 for both top and bottom, bepermanentmakeup.ie.