Dina S. Good Salon

When you walk into Dina S Good Salon, you have to be ready to throw away your mascara. Seriously. I am sure you are all familiar with the mascara commercials that tease you into believing you too can have long, perfect lashes with just a simple twist of black gunk. Well, it's true my friends. You can have long eye-popping lashes, but you have to go to the Dina S Good Salon in order to make that happen.

The most important gift that you can give a woman is the ability to look at themselves in the mirror and actually like what they see," Owner Dina Susan Good said. And that's exactly what she strives to do. She started as a make-up artist who found herself at the mercy of eyelash strips. An avid consumer of eyelash strips for more than 20 years, she happened upon an article on eyelash extensions, which changed her life in a big way. The phenomenon of not having to apply an adhesive to your eyes on a daily basis was too tempting to pass up. She took it upon herself to research and find out all she could about the practice. "I wanted to learn so I could do my own," Good said. She soon realized it was impossible to actually apply eyelash extensions, lash by lash, to your own eyes. So instead of being frustrated, she decided to train a few people so she could not only enjoy wearing glossy thick lashes, but so others could too.

She rented out a chair at a local salon where her schedule quickly began to fill up. She was working six days a week and a waiting list extending two months was only becoming longer by the day. The demand was high, clearly illustrating she wasn't the only woman in Seattle who wanted long lashes that lasted. She opened up her own salon more than a year ago and business is still booming. Female surgeons, judges and businesswomen alike come to her salon. The best thing about these lashes is that even though they're fake, they look real. So no one will know your secret.

If you're anything like me, the idea of having someone other than myself putting their hands anywhere near my eyeball can be a little nerve racking. Dina assured me the process is actually quite relaxing. "We joke that we get more snoring in our rooms than a sleep apnea clinic," she said. Which can only mean one thing. The process that starts with a consultation between you and a trained technician is harmless. The people who could be working on your eyelashes are trained for a month before they even touch the public. This is the detail that puts Dina S Good Salon a cut above the rest. The standard eyelash extension training is done in one day, but Dina, knowing how important it is, makes sure each technician is extensively trained before their hands get anywhere near your eyes.

The eyelash process is very detailed, and if done wrong, can ruin your eyelashes. It's important not to cause stress or friction on the natural eyelash line because it could cause them not to grow back. "If applied properly, when you squint your eyes, you don't feel them," Dina said. The salon gets up to two or three new clients a week that come in to get their eyelash extensions removed because they were applied incorrectly at another location.

"We have a huge respect for the natural lash," she said. An illustration of her dedication is the fact she completely cuts out the middle man and goes straight to the factory in Korea to get all of her products. Cyanoacrylate, the main ingredient in the eyelash extension process, is the glue that connects the extension to your eyelash. It was first used in triages in the Vietnam War, but with a few extra additives for flexibility, is now used in salons for such purposes. The extension itself is made from polyester, and although you may see ads for silk or mink, polyester is the best. It can withstand sweat, tears and daily wear better than any other forms.

A common question is how long the eyelash extensions last. According to Dina, there are women who have been wearing them for years and only come into the salon every two to six weeks to get refills. "The less you touch them, the less you do to them," she said. "The less you rub them, the better they last." The only hard part might be deciding what kind of look you want. During your consultation you can choose from three different diameters, three different curls and 10 different lengths. Even though the predominant color is black, they do offer brown, purple, green, yellow and red so the customer can have a custom look. "For those who want a dramatic look, we can intersperse 10 blue or 10 green ones," she said. "It's not really noticeable until they're in the sun. It just adds a touch of color, really pretty."

The transformation takes around two hours depending how custom of a look you want, but the overall effect makes it totally worth it. Dina says she has had clients who keep coming back because of how the lashes make them feel. They get reactions from husbands, boyfriends and coworkers asking if they have lost weight or pleading to know their secret of how they look so young. So not only do you save money on purchasing mascara, but you can walk away feeling beautiful. "They can be sweating at a gym and they feel pretty with no make-up on," Good said. Dina and her salon family strive to make each and every person who walks through their door feel beautiful because the reaction on the newly adorned faces of their clients is what they live for.