I've always had long eyelashes, as far as I know, but the first time I realised it was during an eye exam. My female optometrist put that giant metal contraption on my face, leaned in close, and whispered, “You have eyelashes women would kill for,” in a tone that sounded a little more threatening than she probably intended.
When I took on the challenge of wearing falsies for three days, I discovered this is a common complaint among my female coworkers: that guys tend to have longer and thicker eyelashes. So I ventured into the world of falsies hoping to learn what it's like for women to seek out bolder, longer versions of their own. And I think now I finally understand the phrase "beauty is pain" — or at the very least, "beauty is itchy, stinging eyes."
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As soon as I applied the false lashes, I immediately got a headache and felt tired. I realised a few hours later that it was because my eyes were literally heavier, a feeling I’m only used to when I’m about to doze off. The next hurdle to cross was that as I sweated, the glue melted and got on my eyelid. This caused my eyelid to keep sticking to itself ALL DAY. Adding gasoline to the annoyance fire was the little plastic ends of the lashes, which by the end of the day had started to cut into the bridge of my nose. These are all things I’m sure most women experience and are used to — and it just made me appreciate the unseen, badass toughness of the ladies around me.
Check out my experience in the video above. If you’re hoping to learn how to apply falsies yourself, you'll be happy to know we had a lash expert on hand to help. Or just do the exact opposite of what I did. The way I wore them was the only really embarrassing aspect of the challenge. I was trying as hard as I could to live up to the example of the strong women around me, and I just wasn’t man enough to do it.
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