I Didn’t Know False Lashes Would Work for Me
A casual comment from a friend changed Emma’s life.
For years, she had drawn eyeliner onto her bare eyelids every morning to simulate the look of lashes. She had alopecia universalis from her early twenties. No scalp hair, no eyebrows, no eyelashes. She assumed false lashes needed natural lashes to cling to, so she never seriously considered them.
She was wrong, and not because she should have known better. She was wrong because almost nobody had ever told her that false lashes could work on bare eyelids.
When Emma shared her story with us, I knew we had to pass it on. Not because it is unusual, but because we hear versions of it every week. Too many people with alopecia spend years not knowing that something as simple as false lashes exists for them.
Alopecia areata affects far more people than most of us realise. Estimates suggest around 2% of the global population will experience alopecia areata in their lifetime, which is roughly 147 million people worldwide. Among those with more severe alopecia areata, studies have found that around 56.4% report current eyelash loss. And yet eyelash and eyebrow loss receives only a fraction of the attention scalp hair loss gets, even though research suggests eyelash loss creates some of the highest social appearance anxiety of any affected area.
If you want the broader medical overview first, our guide to alopecia and eyelashes is a good place to start.
“It started around 22. I think it was stress.”
Emma’s alopecia started in her early twenties. The way she remembers it, stress seemed to be part of the picture. First came scalp hair loss. Then her eyebrows. Then her eyelashes. Over time, it progressed to alopecia universalis, complete loss of body hair.
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune condition. The immune system attacks hair follicles, which can lead to patchy or complete hair loss across different parts of the body. It can affect any hair-bearing area, including the scalp, brows and lashes. Research suggests the peak incidence falls between ages 25 and 40, and many people first develop symptoms young, often during stressful periods.
Emma tried cortisone injections. Like many people, she hoped early treatment might turn things around. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it does not. She also heard about the idea of a “seven-year turnaround”, the hope that regrowth may eventually come. But for her, it has not happened.
Newer treatments do exist now, including JAK inhibitors such as baricitinib and ritlecitinib. Clinical trial results have shown eyelash regrowth in a significant proportion of patients, around 63% in some baricitinib trial results. But these are systemic medications with real side effects and real complexity. They are not a simple beauty solution, and not everyone wants or can use them.
If you want to read more about treatments, our guide to Alopecia Eyelash Treatment: What Works, What Doesn’t goes deeper into that side of things.
For medical reading, NAAF’s Eyelashes Tools and Techniques guide and DermNet NZ are excellent places to start.
Eyelash loss hits differently than you might expect
When people think about alopecia, they usually picture scalp hair loss. But Emma made something clear very quickly when we spoke. Eyelash loss hits differently.
The way she describes it is not superficial. It is not about beauty trends or trying to look glamorous. For her, it is about feeling feminine, feeling like a woman, and not feeling so instantly exposed. She does not leave the house without drawing on her brows and applying lashes. Without them, she feels too visible in the wrong way.
She told us that when people look at her, her mind jumps straight to, “they know.” That feeling of being instantly read, instantly noticed, instantly different, has shaped how she moves through the world.
Research strongly reflects this. A 2025 study in the Journal of Health Psychology found dramatically higher social appearance anxiety in alopecia patients than healthy controls, with average scores of 65.32 vs 21.45. Even more striking, when the researchers broke anxiety down by body area, eyelash involvement produced the highest scores of all, even slightly higher than eyebrow involvement and clearly higher than scalp hair loss.
Another study, often referred to as The Invisible Impact of a Visible Disease, found that 85% of patients described coping with alopecia as a daily challenge, and 62% reported withdrawing from activities after their first episode. Emma’s story mirrors that emotional burden almost exactly.
She had her eyebrows tattooed, hoping that would make everyday life easier. But even that did not hold properly on her skin. For her, the cosmetic fixes that work for many other people have not always been reliable.
If you want to read those studies yourself, they include the PMC paper on the invisible impact of alopecia and the Journal of Health Psychology study on social appearance anxiety.
“Alopecia patients are not important” compared to cancer support
This was one of the hardest parts of Emma’s story to hear, because it comes from a place of real hurt. She feels there is a huge gap between the support available for cancer-related hair loss and the support available for alopecia.
She is not someone speaking casually from the outside. She is a beauty therapist and has supported cancer clients herself through their own hair loss journeys. She understands very well that cancer patients deserve care, compassion and visibility. But she also feels that alopecia patients often become invisible by comparison.
And the support gap is real.
Organisations like Look Good Feel Better Australia were designed primarily around cancer support. Research funding disparities are enormous. NAAF has distributed around $6.5 million in research funding since 1985, which is meaningful and important, but tiny compared with the multi-billion-dollar annual budgets directed toward cancer research.
There is also the social perception problem. A 2026 meta-synthesis in the British Journal of Health Psychology found that cancer misattribution can deepen isolation for alopecia patients, because visible hair loss is often assumed to be cancer-related. That can make people feel both wrongly identified and strangely erased at the same time.
Research also suggests around one-third of alopecia patients experience depression or anxiety symptoms, yet only a small proportion receive psychological counselling.
This is not about pitting one group against another. Both groups deserve support. It is simply about acknowledging that alopecia patients often carry an enormous emotional burden with far less public recognition.
If you are looking for treatment-related lash options too, we also have a dedicated Cancer and Chemo Lashes collection.
The years she drew eyeliner and thought that was all there was
For a long time, eyeliner was Emma’s workaround. She would draw it onto her bare lids to simulate the presence of lashes. It gave some definition. It helped her feel a little less bare. But it was also built around a hidden assumption, that false lashes were not meant for people like her.
She found Witchy Lashes while searching online, but even then there was confusion. A Facebook account called “Witchy Lashes” in Chicago turned out to be someone completely unrelated, a lash artist rather than our brand. So even when she was trying to find answers, the path was not straightforward.
She does not spend time in alopecia communities online. She worries about privacy. She is not on Instagram, and she does not want Facebook posts surfacing to people she knows. That means she is disconnected from exactly the beauty spaces where information about bare-eyelid lash application is most commonly shared.
And Emma is not alone in that. So many people living with alopecia are not plugged into beauty content or TikTok tutorials or community forums. They miss out on practical information that could genuinely change daily life.
That is one reason this article exists. For anyone searching “alopecia no eyelashes” and wondering whether there is anything out there for them, there is.
Trial, error, and the lashes that finally stayed
Emma’s first attempt was with magnetic lashes. She liked the idea of them. They sounded simple, modern, less messy. But after about four hours, they came off. She assumed that meant the problem was her, that maybe having no natural lashes made them impossible.
It was actually a faulty liner batch from our side, and once we realised that, we were honest about it. But at the time, Emma did not know that. All she knew was that she had tried, and it had failed.
Then she tried the adhesive liner system.
That was the turning point. It was easy to apply. It stayed on all day. It gave her the look she had been missing for years. From that point on, she wore lashes daily.
She prefers flared styles, shorter at the inner corner and longer at the outer edge. She likes medium length, feminine but not dramatic. She has medium-sized eyes and trims about 3mm off each new pair. She prefers the black Magic Pen liner over the clear because it blends neatly into her tightlining. She orders liners two at a time so she never runs out, and one liner lasts about two months with daily use.
That detail matters, because it shows there is no single “best” band type for alopecia. Some people love invisible bands for a softer look, but Emma prefers black band lashes with black liner because the dark band disappears into the liner and creates a seamless, polished finish on bare skin.
Our lashes use lightweight PBT fibre, which is part of what makes them comfortable for all-day wear on bare eyelids.
Looking back, Emma wishes she had known a few things earlier. That lashes absolutely work on bare eyelids. That trimming is normal. That the double adhesive method makes a huge difference. That the first system you try might not be the one that works best for you. And that liner quality matters more than people think.
If you are ready to try it yourself, our Easy and Invisible Lash Kit is one of the best places to start, and our Alopecia Lashes collection was built with customers like Emma in mind.
If you want more natural-looking options, you can also browse our Invisible Band Lashes and read our guide to Magnetic vs Magic.
For the full tutorials, read these next:
What she wants other people with alopecia to know
The biggest thing Emma wants other people with alopecia to know is this: false lashes are possible. You do not need natural lashes for them to work.
It took her years to discover that, and she does not want other people wasting that kind of time.
She also wants people to know that one failed attempt does not mean all lashes will fail. If magnetic does not work for you, try adhesive. If one style feels too heavy, try something softer. Trial and error is part of the process, and it does not mean you are doing anything wrong.
Most of all, she wants people to know that this is not about vanity. For her, lashes are about identity, comfort, confidence, and feeling like herself. Feeling feminine. Feeling more like a woman again.
When Emma told us she had spent years not knowing false lashes could work for her, it reinforced exactly why we do what we do. Our products are not just about beauty. They are about helping people feel more at home in their own face again.
If you want help choosing, browse our Starter Kits or reach out through Contact Us. We are always happy to recommend styles personally.
If you are reading this and recognise yourself
If you are reading this and something in Emma’s story feels familiar, I want you to know this gently but clearly: you deserve to feel like yourself too.
Whether you have alopecia universalis, alopecia areata affecting your lashes, hair loss from chemotherapy, or trichotillomania, there are options. You are not strange for caring. You are not vain for wanting lashes. And you are not alone.
September is Alopecia Areata Awareness Month, but the truth is this conversation matters all year round. Awareness should not come in one little window and then disappear again.
If you want support and medical information, I recommend NAAF’s Eyelashes Tools and Techniques guide and DermNet NZ.
If you want product solutions, start with the Easy and Invisible Lash Kit, the Natural Lash Kit, or browse the full Alopecia Lashes collection.
We offer free Australian shipping over $75 AUD and free worldwide shipping over $99 AUD.
If you are not sure where to start, or you just want to talk to someone who understands, we are here. Reach out any time through Contact Us.
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