This Brand Is Making Falsie Application Easier Than Ever for People Without Eyelashes (2024)

When you're diagnosed with cancer, it's near impossible to prepare for how it'll change your body. When doctors told Codilia Gapare she had breast cancer in 2014, she couldn't fully understand the effect it would have on her appearance. Like many other patients, she was warned that she would lose her hair during treatment — but no one told her to what extent.

"We'd had conversations about losing your hair," Gapare, who lives in England, recalls to Allure. "You always think it's the hair on your head, but you don't actually realize it's [the hair on] every part of your body that you lose." As she unexpectedly discovered, eyelashes were a part of that package. Gapare's lashes slowly but surely fell away, leaving her exasperated by how much she missed them. They were "just like teeth in my mouth" — a facial feature you don't really think about unless it's missing.

Gapare continued her job during her cancer treatment but quickly realized there were no ways to hide her lack of lashes. She could wear a wig and pencil on her eyebrows, but false eyelashes simply didn't cut it. "Normal strip lashes depend on your [natural] lashes as a ledge to rest on," she explains. "If you don't have that ledge, they droop unless you use really strong glue."

Equally frustrated by the lack of lash solutions and curious passing glances from colleagues, Gapare began working from home and experimenting with lashes on her own. By 2016, she developed C-Lash, the first-ever brand of falsies made specifically for people without natural eyelashes. The brand partnered with Eyelur London to launch a small collection of lashes in the U.K. in 2019. As of March, you can buy them in the U.S. exclusively at Walgreens.

The collection consists of three different pairs of eyelashes: Natural, Volume, and Lengthening. Each of them operates a little differently than your average strip lash, thanks to their wide and self-adhesive base strips. "[The band] is much thicker, so you're increasing the surface area that you've got to work with," Gapare says. "It means that the weight of the lash, the frame that is stuck on your eyelid, it's offsetting the weight of the lash so it stays in place."

Each lash strip's wide and stable base is also transparent, so it blends into bare eyelids whether or not you choose to pair it with eyeliner. What's more: The band's thin and flexible material makes them so comfortable, they're nearly undetectable. "After five minutes of wearing it, you don't feel that you're wearing the lashes," Gapare says. "They just blend with your skin, and you just like somebody who's wearing normal false eyelashes."

According to the brand, each pair lasts up to 10 hours. Each pack also comes with a separate adhesive that can be applied to worn-down base strips for re-use.

Of course, like any other pair of falsies, C-Lashes require just a little practice and adjustment. If you aren't used to having lashes, Gapare recommends starting with the Natural set. "The Natural lash mimics your own existing lashes, so you're not going to constantly feel like you've got something foreign on your eye," she explains.

And if you're using C-Lashes while getting treatment for cancer, pay extra mind to sanitation. Michael Grossbard of NYU Langone's Perlmutter Cancer Center says cancer patients, especially those who are currently receiving chemotherapy or just completed treatment, often have weakened immune systems. "Making sure cancer patients adhere to thorough handwashing is critical in all daily activities," he says. As Gapare points out, that also applies to applying false eyelashes.

Thankfully, the application process itself isn't too difficult, according to Gapare. The thickness and transparency of the band, she thinks, makes it very easy to locate your lash line and guide the falsies into place. "Start [applying] from the center of the eye going up outwards because then it's really easy to position the lash and make it stick where you're supposed to," she advises.

Though Gapare developed these lashes with cancer patients and survivors in mind, anyone who's experienced eyelash loss from other causes (like alopecia, for example) can use C-Lashes. Regardless of the reason someone has lost their natural lashes, Gapare understands how it can impact their happiness. That's where the name of her product comes in.

Plenty of people assume that Gapare named her product C-Lash as a nod to her cancer survival, but as she explains, the "C" actually represents reclamation. "When you wear your C-Lash, it's what you want it to be that day," she says. "If you want to look cute, then C-Lash is for cuteness; if you're going out for an interview, then it's for confidence; if you're going out to present an award or something, it's for champion."

In short? Her goal was simply to create something positive. And we'd bet her customers would agree that she's done just that.

The Eylure C-Lash is a 2020 Allure Best of Beauty Winner. See the complete list of this year's winners here.

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• 11 Ways to Make Your Eyes Look Bigger

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