Latisse: Stories

I first started to use the generic form of Latisse (for roughly 8 weeks total) back in September 2008. I was very unhappy with my sparse lashes which had developed over time thanks to my false eyelash obsession. I never removed the falsies correctly and it led to very, very scrawny lashes after just a few years using them. So when I heard about Latisse, and it's generic form especially, I jumped at the chance.

I spent quite a lot of time here on Real Self and was confident that the generic form of bimatoprost (which I obtained outside of the normal channels, yet safely) would do the job just as well. It cost me $10 a bottle, plus shipping and handling and, well, it works just as good as the real thing that my girlfriends are paying full price for!!

In fact it worked so well that I decided to stop using it, let my lashes go back to normal and then start the process all over again....just so I could do a write-up on here and provide a picture-heavy timeline.

So here I am in mid-December, ready to start the process over again. Yet, my lashes STILL aren't quite back to normal! They still look a little bit fuller than they normally would be and I've been off the Latisse for almost two months! I'm excited to see what they will look like after the full 16 week process this time around!

By the way, I'm very particular with how I apply my bimatoprost. I start off by placing a single drop in the lid of the bottle, then dip my brush into it and apply it only to my top lashes only. I rinse the lid out in between eyes, dry it, and do the same thing again when I'm finished with applying it to both eyes. I also wash the brush that I use very well with hot water only and dry it off before storing it for the night.

Oh and I do NOT use anything like those applicators that Allergan sells with their Latisse. Instead, I use a relatively inexpensive Sonia Kashuk eyeliner brush that I picked up at Target and it works perfectly well for this!

It allows me to apply the solution carefully (avoiding spreading it all over my eyelid like the Allergan's applicators cause you to do) and it's easy to clean afterwards. Kashuk's Target line of brushes also come in nice little plastic pouches when you buy them, so I just use that same pouch for storage when I'm done with the application each evening. I feel better knowing that the brush is stored in a nice clean pouch and not laying there in the open bathroom air. I also only use the brush for my Latisse applications...nothing else!

Oh...and if you look closely at the right-eye pic that I've provided, you may notice that the lashes there look a bit sparse compared to the left eye. This isn't because of the Latisse, but because I slipped while curling my lashes a few days back and yanked half of them out of my eyelid!! Ouch! So I'm interested to see how much Latisse will help those lashes as they slowly grow back in the meatime.

So here we go folks...evening #1...Thursday December 17th. I'll be beginning the process again this evening and I will update you all as I go. Hopefully on a weekly basis, so check back to see the results! But I'll start you off in the meantime with a few 'Before' pics....

OK I will be trying to make updates as I go here.  Keep in mind that everyone's results are different, and that when I did this the first time I don't think I saw any difference at all until about week 4.  But I'll be posting weekly progression photos regardless of that...

*Oh and one more note...I'll also be utilizing the Latisse on my eyebrows (especially the left one) which are severely overplucked at this point.  I've read that Latisse has worked wonders for folks in this particular way too...so I'm going to give it a shot!