Lid & Lash Care - The Essential Guide
Good eyelid and lash hygiene is important for all of us.
Eyelid and lash hygiene removes debris, make-up, oils, bacteria & bacterial toxins and biofilms - possibly more than you realise. This not only reduces irritation and inflammation in the short term but also supports long-term eye health, comfort, and clarity—as well as minimizing lash loss.
Good lid and lash care helps ensure:
Comfort and Clarity of the Eyes: Prevents irritation, redness, and inflammation, including Dry Eye, Meibomian Gland Dysfunction and Blepharitis
Healthy Eyes: Reduces bacterial buildup and the risk of infections
Reduced Lash Loss: Cleans debris that may otherwise cause lashes to weaken and fall out. Looking after your eyelids and lashes helps them look their best
How to Care for Your Lids and Lashes
Your routine depends on whether you're maintaining healthy lids, trying to ensure your lashes and eyes stay looking their best or if you’re managing specific conditions like Blepharitis, Demodex mites, or Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD). In most cases, it involves gentle cleaning along the lash area.
The basics involve ensuring you remove your eye makeup every day! Beyond that, your eye care professional may recommend lid cleansing twice daily to help get on top of blepharitis, styes, dry eyes or meibomian gland dysfunction.
Best Practices for Lid and Lash Cleansing
Use care products formulated for use around the eyes
Apply the Product - use a cotton pad, a lash cleaning brush, a cotton tip or your clean finger with a lid and lash cleansing product, like the Elin Eyes Range. Focus on the lash base and eyelid margin, where bacteria, mites, and debris often gather.
Gently clean - close your eyes and wipe the solution back and forth along the lash line. Avoid scrubbing too vigorously and getting the product into the eye.
Rinse with water or using a clean, wet face cloth, if you prefer
Repeat for the other eye - always use a fresh wipe or pad to prevent cross-contamination.
If you’re wearing eye makeup, you may benefit from a double cleanse, either with the same product twice or with an oil-based cleanser followed by a foaming cleanser.
Whether you do this before or after washing your face is up to you.
Ever been told to use baby shampoo???
Step away from that bottle!!! While using baby shampoo to clean around your eyes won't cause stinging and will get them clean, it also has been shown to have harmful effects.
Wait?? If it's safe enough for a baby, it has to be safe enough for the eyes! Right?
Baby Shampoo can have ingredients that rank as a 'moderate to high hazards' on www.ewg.org and can cause eye allergies. Baby Shampoo can also make the eyes drier as it can damage the small goblet cells on the eye surface, which make part of our tears.
Instead, stick to products designed for eyelid and lash care—they’re safer and more effective for maintaining eye health.