Salons are magical places where women get to forget their woes, read trashy magazines, and come out feeling like movie stars. But as many of you know, for a clean girl, the beauty parlor is a place shrouded in dangerous mysteries, where products and treatments are pumped out of big unmarked bottles and toxins waft through the air. And where there is no legal requirement to reveal ingredients.
As it so happens, S and I are currently doing a little research on some of the more nefarious treatments happening in salons these days. But no research is complete without you guys, our fingers on the pulse.
What treatments are you (or your not-so-clean friends) getting these days? Some we’re looking at are: gel nails, Brazilian blowouts (yep, still popular), and these new eyelash growth potions. But are people also still getting perms, going to tanning beds, and using hair relaxers? Have you heard of anything else creeping on the scene?
As you guys know, in these parts, the salon is no longer our main hangout. Sure, we’re getting occasional manicures but even the so-called natural polishes are hotly debated (see comments). We also both go for occasional highlights. It’s been about a year since I got mine, and yes, I’m currently debating a spring pick-me-up (and I dreamt I dyed my hair red last night!). But, while far from clean, these treatments are pretty vanilla compared to some others.
Help your girls out here, and tell us what you—or your friends and colleagues—are getting done.
It’s a new medical condition and—according to Latisse, the first FDA-approved prescription eyelash growth treatment—it’s sweeping the nation.
They call it: “inadequate, or not enough lashes,” and who would want that?
While the controversy around this product may be old news to some, the company now boasts ”1.5 million bottles sold” on its website. Clearly people have not been deterred by the risks associated with this stuff. So what is it? Latisse claims to dramatically lengthen and thicken lashes in a matter of eight weeks. Its roster of lash-deficient dames includes Brooke Shields—am I the only one who sees no difference between her before and after pics?—Claire Danes (whose after picture looks like lash extensions) and other beauties.
Does Latisse work? I haven’t tried it, though this study from Clinical Ophthalmology seems to suggest it may. But here’s what else it can do:
—Turn blue eyes brown, permanently
—Cause skin discoloration
—Cause hair growth in unwanted places
—Cause conjunctivitis, and red itchy eyelids (sexy!)
To boot it costs $120 a month and if you stop using it, your lashes will return to their paltry, inadequate former selves. This blogger documented her experience, and again, I’m just not seeing the difference (are you?). She also experienced said redness and itchiness, but has brown eyes so wasn’t concerned about that.
We’re not sure why FDA approved this stuff in the first place, but they did send a warning letter to the company last year for downplaying its side effects. To see those particulars take a look at this post on the Consumers Reports’ Health Blog, and the accompanying video.
So has anyone tried it? We love long lashes as much as the next girl, but is it worth the risk? (You can probably guess our answer.)
Image via.
