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NY Post
New York Post
5 Apr 2023


NextImg:I was terrified to let a robot do my lashes — but they look perfect

When it comes to beauty treatments, Angie Hilem is up for anything.

She’s had the top layers of the skin on her face scraped away via a dermaplaning treatment to smooth over acne scars.

She’s tried chemical peels to prevent wrinkles and was once even a guinea pig for an ink tattoo meant to fade over time.

So, when she heard about a new beauty technology — eyelash extensions applied by a robot — she was game.

“I typically try anything once as long as it’s relatively safe and within my budget,” said Hilem, a 39-year-old who works in social media marketing and lives in California’s Bay Area.

But, when Hilem came face-to-face with the massive machinery on the day of her appointment this past February, she admits the device seemed intimidating.

Beauty gurus are getting their lash extensions from a robot.
Luum
A woman gets eye lash extensions done from the Luum robot.
Clients lie under a window and two robot arms apply the lashes.
Luum

Her initial reaction was “fear,” Hilem told The Post.

She added, “It was a scary thing because you can’t see [when you’re getting the lashes].”

Cosmetologists are the latest profession to see their jobs potentially upended by AI.

The process of getting lash extensions — which can take three hours and cost several hundred dollars — is potentially being revolutionized by the Luum Precision Lash robot, a machine that took Oakland, California, scientists four years to create, at a reported cost of around $125,000.

The Luum can do lash extensions in just 50 minutes, at an initial cost of $175 and $90 for refills.

Its creators hope it will eventually be able to do a client’s lashes in less than 25 minutes.

The beauty bot utilizes two tweezerlike wands that emerge out of its “head” on either side of two binocular lenses that can see like a human eye.

A woman poses after getting lash extensions done by the Luum robot.
A beauty influencer’s post-lash extensions applied by the Luum beauty bot.
Luum

Before the bot gets down to business, a human technician removes any oil from a client’s bare lashes, then places protective pads on each eye. The technician remains in the room to operate the machine.

Once the procedure gets under way, one arm of the robot isolates the natural lash while the other picks up a tiny, featherlight lash extension, dips it in adhesive and applies it over the natural lash. 

“By doing all this with computer vision we basically know exactly where your natural lash is and where the extension is,” roboticist Nathan Harding told The Post.

Hilem poses without lash extensions.
Hilem before getting lash extensions done at Luum in Oakland, California. Initially hesitant to let a bot so close to her eyes, she was reassured by technicians about safety.
After photo of Hilem with long lash extensions.
Hilem’s lashes appear visibly longer and fuller post-lash extension.
Hilem with her eyes closed showing off her long lashes.
Hilem said the lash robot felt like a tickle to her lashes. She fell asleep during the treatment.

After the first lash was applied, Hilem could feel herself breathing much easier — she even fell asleep at one point during the 50-minute process, she said.

Company co-founder Rachel Gold assured The Post that the wands are sensitive to any foreign movement and the machine will pause if it senses any abrupt movement, from an earthquake to even the slightest jolt from a client.

Hilem, who received the service for free, but was not paid by the company, was thrilled with the results.

“I had much more volume,” she said.

A woman lays under the Luum robot for eye lash extensions.
Clients lay back, relax and in less than 60 minutes, have a full set of lash extensions. A human technician is still required to oversee the process.
Luum

But some are skeptical of a robot’s ability to replicate a beauty technician’s skill.

“We all have different faces and eye shapes — my job is to accentuate my client’s lashes based on the look they’re going for,” Krystal Castro, a lash artist at True Aesthetics in Thornwood, New York, told The Post.

“I don’t know if a machine can do that with the same care, precision and detail,” she added.

Hilem is a convert to Luum, which has partnered with Ulta Beauty and Benefit Cosmetics with the aim of getting machines into locations across the country.

She said, “If I can get a beauty service done swiftly and less expensively, I’m all over that.”