This cold (if you’re going through summer, scroll to paragraph 4) weather is wreaking havoc among many lashtechs. The majority of adhesives do not set/cure correctly with cold temperature and will cause retention problems.
If this is affecting you, having a heater is a must. It’s actually very difficult to maintain an ambient temperature above 20C (let alone 22C) in winter, and unless you have a wood stove heater or a central unit and a small room, it’s almost impossible in a large room.
For a large room where you can’t keep the temperature constant, you will need to be able to position your lashing bed’s head far enough from the vent where the air hitting you isn’t warmer than 23-24C (for fast glues) 24-26C (slower glues). This warm draft hitting the area near the head is very important and will make a huge difference to the adhesive’s performance and curing. As long as you’re in this warm air draft/current, it doesn’t matter if the ambient is cold.
And if you’re in summer and needing your aircon turned on, you need to avoid the cold air coming from the aircon/vent, as the air coming out of the aircon’s vent is usually lower than 15C (60F) and is very dry (low humidity) and this will cause curing and retention problem as well. Position your bed head far away from the vent/cold air current.
The AC’s thermometer goes off ambient temperature to turn itself off/on (to keep the ambient at the set temperature), but when it’s on – it blows very warm dry air (for heat mode) or very cold dry air (cool mode).
The glue is affected by the air/temperature/conditions immediately surrounding it (and not the general ambient reading).
Takeaway:
* In summer, position the bed head away from the vent/air draft. In winter, try to be near/in the warm part of the room
* Have your hygrometer near the clients head (the glue will be reacting to the conditions in this vicinity)
Our adhesives ideal temperature is 21-23C for 1-2 sec glues (70-77F, minimum 22C/72F) and 24-26C for 2-4 sec glues, and within this range, humidity is secondary (35%-80% depending on the glue type).
If you have a central heating/cooling (not evaporative) or reverse cycle aircon unit, the most efficient temperature, according to power companies, to set it at is 23-24°C (~74°F) – Perfect :). Evaporative coolers do not lower the temperature yet they add a huge amount of humidity to the room and is therefore not recommended.
All you’ll need then is just a humidifier (instead of a dehumidifier or both) because both the ac and heater will remove humidity from the room. Only use the humidifier when it drops below 35% (or when your glue can’t cope).
Specific information about each of our adhesives can be found here
