How to get the most from your lash trays

It’s happened to every lash artist I know.

You pull out several strips in different lengths of lash extensions from your lash tray to apply a full set or a touch up for your client.

Once you’re done applying their lashes, you look at your palette only to find that you have a bunch of unused lashes left on those strips that can’t be reused for another client.

So what happens? You have to throw those lash strips away.

For the longest time I thought I could avoid wasting lashes in this way by cutting the amount of lashes I thought I needed from the strip using a small pair of scissors. But even in doing that, although I wasted less lash extensions than before, there were still a lot of unused lashes that could have been used on other clients.

If you’re a lash artist that saves trays for clients somewhere, you may be wondering what the fuss is all about. But see, I don’t like to manage storage for individual clients. In my opinion, it only takes up space.

Even if you’re working with a loyal client, they could drop off at any time for their own reasons. So I prefer not to store anything for anyone and operate my business in the moment.

But thanks to a great tip from the Lash Bible by Teresa Smith, I’ve discovered a better, more efficient way to use only the lash extensions I need for my clients by using an 18mm rotary cutter.

With the rotary cutter, you can cut a precise amount of lash extensions from the strip without dragging lashes (which sometimes causes them to pop off of the backing strip). It’s also great for trimming extensions to a shorter length at the base of the extensions.

One of my favorite uses for this rotary cutter is that I can simply cut small strips of lashes without pulling the entire strip out of the tray.

Before using this device, I would pull out an entire strip, cut what I thought I needed with a pair of scissors and place the remainder of the strip back in the tray. I always wear gloves but in my opinion, it’s more sanitary to leave things intact and only pull out what you need.

Now when I’m working with a client, I can be more conservative in the amount of lashes I pull out. If I need more, I simply cut a sliver more off of the strip using this rotary cutter and I’m good to go.

This results in less waste so I get the most use from my lash trays.

If you want to get this rotary cutter, you can get it by clicking my affiliate link to Amazon. I promise, it will definitely save you a lot of wasted lashes so you have more to use on clients and you make as much as you can from each of your lash trays.

To get your hands on more great tips like these along with some awesome lash maps for various eye shapes, get the Lash Bible series by the original creator, Teresa Smith here.