During your career as a lash or brow artist, you may be asked to perform a treatment on a client who has recently passed away. This may come as a shock to some people but is becoming increasingly popular in our industry.
You may be asked by the client themselves beforehand or by a family member after your client has passed away.
If asked by your client personally, be honest with them if you have never had a request like this before, if you feel you would like to carry out this treatment you should sit down with your client privately and listen to their exact wishes as you may not be able to give them the style they would normally have but ensure them that you will do your utmost to replicate their request.
If a family member approaches you to carry out the treatment, again, you would sit down privately with them and listen to their wishes, always remember that you know what style your client would normally have for their lashes and you may have to explain to the family member that it might not be entirely possible to style them as normal but, again, reassure them that you will do your utmost to replicate the style required.
Some people ask for their hair to be styled or for make-up to be applied and now they can request for lashes to be applied as well, which shows how much the lash industry has evolved.
This is where our professionalism comes to the core!
Some people may not feel able to perform the treatment, especially if they have never experienced seeing or touching someone who has passed away, but I hope this article will give you some insight as to how you would go about this and what is involved in the treatment if you are ever requested to carry it out.
Lashing someone who is deceased is maybe a daunting task, but it is also a very rewarding one.
It may be a good idea to meet with the funeral directors and maybe allow them to show you around the area where you would be carrying out the treatment, just to familiarise yourself with the surroundings.
They can also give you an insight as to how the person will look and feel compared to when you styled them before they passed away.
When someone dies, the body has to be taken through the embalming process. The purpose of embalming is to disinfect, temporarily preserve and restore a person's body to a more natural appearance to allow for the viewing of the body.
After embalming is complete, cosmetics can then be used if requested by the deceased or deceased’s family; this can be a full make-up, a certain hair style and/or a full lash/brow application.
If you are requested to carry out any type of lashes on a client who has passed away there are a few things you need to take into consideration:
The type or style of lashes the client normally had from you may not be achievable, having previously discussed this with the client or family beforehand will allow you to be prepared for what you can achieve.
The timing of the procedure – if you normally spent 2-3 hours styling your client, you may not have that amount of time allotted to you and you may need to make some compromises to ensure you can finish the treatment in the allotted time, check with the funeral director to find out how long you have to carry out the treatment.
Cleansing – The cleansing process is carried out during embalming, so, there is no need to cleanse the lashes, just brush through gently to separate or de-tangle before you begin the process.
Isolation – this is going to be more difficult as you will not have the same flexibility around the eye area. The eyes will have been closed prior to your treatment, do not worry too much about isolating each individual lash for this particular treatment, you will use your brush more than your isolating tweezers. Closing of the eyes involves eye caps which work a lot like contact lenses in the way they are inserted. Eye caps are plastic and serve two purposes: they maintain a natural curvature of the eye, and they have little ridges to help keep the eyelids closed.
You may want to create a lash map beforehand, although you will be familiar with your clients mapping, in this situation it may help you if you are maybe nervous about carrying out the treatment, even just to have the lash map next to you to give you some reassurance.
Eye gel pads/tape – as it will be difficult to apply tape it is best just to slip or slide the eye gel pads under the lashes. There is no need to cover the lower lashes, but the eye gel pad will prevent any adhesive going on the skin or lashes sticking to the skin. They will also prevent the tweezers from causing any unnecessary dents in the skin, again, use your brush.
If you have difficulty applying eye gel pads just leave them off and be aware of your pressure with the tweezers to avoid dents and use a minimum amount of adhesive to avoid getting it on the skin.
Due to the massive reduction in body temperature and the natural lashes being more brittle your adhesive might take longer to dry so try to use a quick drying adhesive if you can.
If you normally apply volume to your client, you might want to pre-make your fans the day before to cut down on time and also if you are feeling nervous.
If you think you are going to struggle with the treatment at all you may want to apply express lashes, you will still be able to achieve a beautiful set of lashes for your client.
You may want to take with you an adjustable beauty stool as the client will be laid out in their coffin and you will be unaware of the height you need to be sitting at to comfortably apply the lashes.
Being well prepared in advance will make the whole experience a little easier for you and allow the treatment to be carried out smoothly, professionally and with great care.
To be asked to lash a client who has passed away is a privilege and an honour, it means that they and the family trust you and appreciate your service to your client.
You may want to request that a family member or members, or a funeral director be with you in the room just to put you at ease, or, if the family member struggles whilst being there, the funeral director will be on hand and they are familiar with these types of requests.
If you have never seen or touched someone who has passed away, it may come as a shock to you how cold the person feels. It is extremely hard to explain, and everyone experiences it differently, please be prepared for this, they will be extremely cold. A good idea is to wear disposable gloves and also place a small towel on the client’s forehead while you work, this will make the treatment much easier and more comfortable for you.
Ensure that you have organised all your tools and equipment beforehand and only take with you what you will need as you may not have a lot of space to work, this is why it is a good idea to see the area and set up of the room before the actual day of the treatment.
You will be sending this person on their last journey with beautiful lashes, take a deep breath, be confident in yourself and remember them as they were and how good you made them feel when you lashed them in their physical life.
I hope you found this article helpful.
If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me.
Kim Gibb
Would you feel comfortable carrying out this treatment?
- 0%Yes
- 0%No
- 0%Depending the circumstances