How to choose a lash extensions course that truly prepares you to work

Lash extensions can be learned in a day. Learning them well takes longer, and a course is just the beginning — its purpose is to give you the right foundations and someone you can turn to afterwards.

There are a great many courses on the market, and price says almost nothing about quality. The following questions will help you distinguish between them.

1. How much of the course is practical?

The most important question. Lashes are a manual skill that cannot be acquired from a presentation. What matters is how you hold the tweezers, isolating a single natural lash, and the amount of adhesive at the bond — and in each of these three things, you'll make mistakes at the beginning that you won't notice yourself.

Ask specifically: how many hours will I actually be applying lashes and will someone be watching my hands while I do it?

A course with half a day of theory and an hour of practical work will teach you to talk about lashes, not to do them.

2. Will you work on a model?

Practising on a mannequin head is useful for grip training, but a real person blinks, has thinner lashes than practice material, and lies differently. Your first real client should not be your first live model.

3. Is the material included?

Beware of courses where a starter kit needs to be purchased separately. It's not just about the money — during the course, you want to work with materials you'll buy later, not learn on something that's then unavailable.

With us, all materials and tools, including BL Lashes, are included in the price, and you don't buy anything in advance.

4. How many of us will there be?

In a group of twelve people, the instructor cannot stand by each of you. For lashes, a small group is the difference between a course and a lecture.

5. Who leads the course and do they also do lashes themselves?

An instructor who doesn't run a salon teaches what they learned ages ago. Lashes are a field that changes — materials, adhesives, techniques. Ask if the instructor also provides lash services, not just training.

6. What happens after the course?

The most important thing people don't ask about. Your first independent clients will bring up questions you couldn't have during the course:

• Why did this client lose her lashes in a week?
• Why does the adhesive from a new pack cure faster for me?
• The client says her lashes hurt — what did I do wrong?

The answers to these questions determine whether you'll stick with lashes. So, ask if post-course advice is available — and especially if you can repeat the practical part.

With us, you can repeat the practical part anytime for free. We believe it's the most useful thing a course can offer, and it's also what most courses don't offer at all.

7. Will I get a certificate and what is it for?

A certificate of professional training confirms that you have completed the course. It's needed for liability insurance, and clients sometimes want to see it.

However, be sceptical of terms like 'internationally recognised' or 'accredited' without specifying by whom. A certificate doesn't guarantee you know how to work — only practice does that.

Where to start

• You've never worked with lashes before → basic classic (1:1) lashes course. With us, it's the Lash Stylist course, which also includes the UV method and basics of volume lashes.
• You want the smallest initial investment → a lash lift course. The treatment is short, demand is steady, and you can learn it in one day.
• You know 1:1 and want to progress → volume techniques. But only when you have isolation mastered, not before.

What to prepare for

Your first ten clients will take significantly longer than you expect. A set that you can complete in two hours after a year of practice will take three and a half at the beginning. This is normal and no reason to think you're not cut out for it.

And a second thing they don't tell you in courses: first you learn to apply lashes, and only then do you learn to say no. You need to explain to a client who wants a length her lashes cannot support — and this is a skill that separates a craft from good work.