Debunking Lash Myths

 

Yep, We're Talking about how Plants, Humidity & Air filtering affect retention

Please note all sources of information are quote at the end of this blog

 

You are well aware that plants increase the aesthetic of your lash room/home salon, but maybe you didn’t know that additionally indoor plants can help to improve your retention.

Let’s look at the science of this and debunk any myths around this subject.

Air-Filtration & Plants:

Air-filtration is terribly important in your lash room as it aids to remove particles released from the chemicals we use in lashing like formaldehyde, it also helps to filter dust particles, mould particles and regulate dry air.

Additionally air-filtration aids the regulation of the most vital components in retention; humidity and temperature.

A common quote cited from NASA Research* is that plants will filter a room by 87% in just one day and give you all the above air-filtration benefits.

But is it just one plant that will give us this benefit or maybe it is 100 that are needed? No one seems to talk about how many plants we need to increase air-filtration in your lashing room.

The NASA Research which people are basing the plant air filtration ‘fact’ comes from a paper released by NASA in the 1980’s. However their testing was not conducted in a ‘normal indoor environment’ but instead in a controlled sealed chamber, so the results will not accurately be relevant to our lashing world environment.

More modern research** has shown for a home with 1500 square feet of space would require 680 plants to be growing inside in order for the plants to effectively purify the air. That means that although a more normally sized collection of indoor plants has some effect on the air in a room, the effect is so minimal that it might as well not exist. 

So will one or two plants in your lashing room help to air-filter the environment?

The short answer is no.

Your best way to filter the air in your room is to open the door or window to allow the air to flow throughout it. A fan is also a good idea to get things circulating and moving to aid air-filtration.

Humidity & Plants:

Yes, humidity is one of the 3 essential parts of retention along with temperature and pH level.

So do plants help to increase or decrease the humidity levels in your lashing room?

As part of a plants natural cycle of life they release a moisture vapour into the air around them and release roughly 97% of the water they take in.

So per science by placing several plants together, and you can increase the humidity of a room.

Conclusion:

Unless you are willing to literally have a jungle in your lash room, then plants are not going to help with air-filtration - which is something you DO want in your lash room. Open your window and turn on a fan is going to be more useful.

However, using plants to help increase your humidity levels is not a myth.

And, well plants are just pretty. Some people that didn’t have anything else to do with their time, once did a study and concluded that people who had plants in their environment were nicer to others and more compassionate. So if you are not being nice to people, then get a few plants for your lash room.

So this your formal permission to go plant hunting!! 
Consider Incorporating These Plants into Your Lash Room: 

Areca Palm

Boston Fern 

Spider Plant

Peace Lily

Rubber Plant

Chinese Evergreen

Snake Plant

 

You can place these plants around your lash room or you can even group them together which creates a microclimate. If you also add some stones or pebbles to the saucer that the plant sits in, you will increase the potential for them to be humidifying plants even more! 

 

Sources

*The idea that houseplants are capable of cleaning the air got started with a 1989 study called Interior Landscape Plants for Air Pollution Abatement, which is usually referred to as the NASA Clean Air Study for short. NASA researchers (co-funded by the trade group Associated Landscape Contractors of America) measured the ability of certain plants to purify the air, reducing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene.

**The research was conducted by Bryan Cumming and Michael Waringr who wrote a report, titled “Potted Plants Do Not Improve Indoor Air Quality: A Review and Analysis of Reported VOC Removal Efficiencies” in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.