Curled eyelashes are pretty much mandatory if you want to feel like your makeup is really spot on. Problem is some people seem to have a problem where their eyelashes won’t curl…like at all. I’ve heard it a ton of times, and I’m always like a detective, interviewing them about their habits and trying to figure out what to do.

If you are just starting to dive into the world of eyelash curling and you are having issues you can start by reading THIS POST ON HOW TO GET YOUR EYELASHES TO STAY CURLED and then THIS POST ON HOW TO CURL YOUR EYELASHES PROPERLY. If you have already tried all of those tips and you aren’t getting the results you want then I have one more tip that might help.

If you find that your eyelashes just aren’t taking a curl, or that when you curl them they just become a mess and they sort of splay out in different directions instead of a nice, uniform swoop then the problem may be pretty simple. Let me ask you one question..

Have you cleaned your eyelash curler lately?

You see that residue on the curler? That’s residue from eyeshadow, eyeliner, primer…you name it. So essentially what happens is you get some of it on there when you curl your lashes, and then it dries down. And when It dries down it dries to a sticky little mess that will screw with the way your lash curler works. That residue is from just two makeup applications since the last time I cleaned it, so imagine if you rarely (or never) clean it how much is probably on there. Its really easy to overlook it for some reason but trust me when I tell you, it has an effect on the way it performs.

So what to do? Simple. Just swipe it with a little bit of makeup brush cleaner on a tissue or a cotton pad.

If you’re using a decent brush cleaner then it should come off in just a few swipes. If you don’t use a brush cleaner then you can probably rinse it off with whatever gentle soap you use to clean your brushes. Just make sure if you do that, you dry it off really well.

So if you find that your eyelashes won’t curl or that they curl into some raggedy spider leg hot mess then give this quick little trick a try. If you use it combined with all the tips in the other two posts I linked then your lashes should be on fleeheeeeheeeeek in no time!