Lash lift and brow lamination in Canada: the products, the patch test and the return visit
Two short treatments that use similar chemistry, sit next to the eyes and bring clients back every six to eight weeks. Here is what a Canadian salon should know about the products, the paperwork and the booking that makes them pay.
Set up lash and brow services in a 14-day trialWhat each treatment does
A lash lift curls the client's own lashes from the root using a lifting lotion, a setting lotion and a silicone shield, often finished with a tint. It needs no extensions, no glue on the lash line and no fills, which is exactly why clients who have given up on extensions ask for it.
Brow lamination uses the same idea on brow hair: a lotion relaxes the hairs, they are brushed into the shape the client wants, and a second lotion sets them there. A tint and a tidy-up usually follow. The result is the full, brushed-up brow that photographs well and lasts a few weeks.
Because the chemistry is similar, the client profile is similar too: someone who wants to look finished without daily effort. That is why the two sell well as one appointment, and why a client who books one is the best person to offer the other.
What Health Canada says about the products
From Health Canada's Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist and its page on hair dyes. This is a summary of the conditions, not compliance advice; read the Hotlist entries themselves before you buy stock.
Lash lift lotions: thioglycolic acid
The Hotlist restricts thioglycolic acid, its salts and esters. In eyelash curling products it allows up to 11% (as thioglycolic acid) at a pH of 9.5 or less, with “For professional use only”, a warning to avoid skin contact and wear gloves, and eye-contact directions on the label.
Peroxide in lash and brow products
Hydrogen peroxide and peroxide-generating compounds are restricted too. For eyelash and eyebrow products the Hotlist sets a maximum of 10%, sale for professional use only, and warnings to avoid the eyes and rinse at once if contact happens.
Hair dye is not brow tint
Health Canada's hair dye page says hair dye labels must warn against dyeing eyebrows or eyelashes, because it may cause blindness. Use tints made and labelled for lashes and brows, never a hair colour from the back bar.
Buy from someone who sells to professionals
Health Canada's labelling guide notes that the federal packaging and labelling rules do not cover cosmetics a professional applies to clients — but the Cosmetic Regulations still do. Keep the maker's instructions, and do not put a bottle with no label, from a seller you cannot identify, near a client's eye.
Booking the treatment so it is safe and pays
The paperwork is short, but it has to happen before the client is lying down.
Before
A patch test, with time to react
Many lash and brow product makers ask for a test before the first treatment and a wait before the service. In Slotora you mark the services that need a test, keep separate test kinds if your tint and your lift lotion are tested separately, set how many hours must pass (48 by default) and how many months a test stays valid. Online booking can warn the client, or ask her to book the test first.
Before
A consent form, filled in at home
Allergies, eye conditions, recent eye surgery, contact lenses, pregnancy: ask on a form the client completes before she arrives, so the appointment starts on time and her answers sit on her client card for next time.
Age
A minimum age, where the tint asks for one
Some tint makers set a minimum age on their label. A Slotora service can ask the client to confirm, with a box she ticks herself, that she is at least 16 or 18, and the online booking does not go through without it. It is her statement; if you need proof, ask for ID at the appointment.
After
Aftercare in your own words
No water, steam or mascara for the first day, no lash curler, no rubbing: write it once and Slotora sends it by email after the visit, with a later reminder if you set one. Clients follow written aftercare far better than a sentence said at the door.
Six weeks
Book the next one before she leaves
Lifts and lamination last roughly six to eight weeks. Offer the next date at the end of the visit, so the return is in her calendar before the curl has even dropped.
Why the return visit is the business
A lash lift on its own is a short appointment at a modest price. What makes it worth offering is the rhythm: a client who likes the result comes back every couple of months for years, and asks for the brow lamination next time because it was on the menu beside it.
So price the pair a little below the two separately, put the pair at the top of the lash section of your booking page, and keep a small add-on — a tint, a brow tidy — within easy reach. And watch the gap. The client who came in September and has not rebooked by November is the one to email, as long as she has agreed to hear from you or has visited within the last two years, the window Canada's anti-spam law gives an existing client.
Lash lift and brow lamination questions
Are lash lift lotions legal in Canada?
Health Canada's Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist restricts thioglycolic acid in eyelash curling products to 11% at a pH of 9.5 or less, labelled for professional use only with specific warnings. Products that meet the conditions can be sold and used.
Can I tint brows with hair dye?
No. Health Canada says hair dye labels must warn against using them on eyebrows or eyelashes, because it may cause blindness. Use a tint made for lashes and brows.
How long before a lash lift should the patch test be?
Follow the product maker's instructions. Many ask for 48 hours, which is Slotora's default wait; you can change it for your salon.
How often do clients come back?
A lift or lamination usually lasts six to eight weeks, so most clients return on that rhythm if the next visit is offered before they leave.
Can a client book a lift and lamination together online?
Yes. Put them on your booking page as a pair or let her choose both; booked together they are one visit, with one confirmation.
What Slotora does not do for lash and brow work
To be plain about it before you rely on it.
- It does not check products
- Slotora does not know what is in your lotions or whether they meet the Hotlist. That is between you and your supplier.
- A missing test is a warning by default
- Until you set a service to require a test online, Slotora warns the desk rather than stopping the booking.
- No text aftercare
- Aftercare and reminders reach Canadian clients by email; Slotora does not text Canadian numbers yet.
Sources
Health Canada's pages, opened on the date shown. The Hotlist changes from time to time; the live page is the authority.
- Health Canada — Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist: prohibited and restricted ingredients — https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/cosmetics/cosmetic-ingredient-hotlist-prohibited-restricted-ingredients/hotlist.html · Read on Entries for thioglycolic acid and for hydrogen peroxide; page modified 13 August 2025.
- Health Canada — Changes to the Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist — https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/cosmetics/cosmetic-ingredient-hotlist-prohibited-restricted-ingredients/changes.html · Read on February 2025: conditions for eyelash and eyebrow products added to the peroxide entry.
- Health Canada — Hair dyes — https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/cosmetics/hair-dyes.html · Read on
- Health Canada — Industry guide for the labelling of cosmetics — https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/reports-publications/industry-professionals/labelling-cosmetics.html · Read on Section 1.2: cosmetics applied by professionals and the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act.
Put the pair on your menu
Lash lift, brow lamination and the pair, each with its patch test, consent form and aftercare email, bookable online with no commission. Try the whole menu on your own salon during the 14-day trial.