Yes, I Tried Curling My Lashes Upside Down Because TikTok Said So

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TikTok is home to some pretty weird sh*t. Some are things I couldn't care less about, like wild conspiracy theories, others are things I care a tiny bit about, like cute animal videos, and then there are things I'm actually interested in, like beauty hacks and viral products. I especially love to watch "get ready with me" videos, where people do their makeup on camera.

A lot of the people I watch "get ready" have one similar goal in mind when doing their eyelashes: make them look as long as possible. When it comes to getting there, trust me when I say they're willing to do the most — these creators are clamping their eyelashes with zero abandon. I've seen videos of Alix Earle performing what looks like legitimate eyeball surgery on herself when in reality she's only making sure her eyelashes touch her brow bone. Does it work? Hell yes, it does. Does it also look like it would freaking hurt? Another spirited "hell yes."

Recently, a video of TikTok user Audrey Boos went viral on the platform, when commenters called her out for — wait for it — curling her eyelashes upside down. Yeah, you read that right. Always in the market for longer eyelashes, I decided to try it out.

How to Curl Your Eyelashes Upside Down

To test the efficacy of this hack for myself, I opted to curl one eye how I normally would and one eye using Boo's hack. I started by taking my eyelash curler (the name on mine has since worn off, but it's similar to the Revlon Eyelash Curler (£8), holding it at the base of my lashes on my right eye, and clamping down for about five seconds. From there, I applied two different mascaras, one layer of the ColourPop Act Natural Mascara (£9) and a second layer of the About-Face Volumizing Mascara. Since this was exactly what I'd normally do to my eyelashes, they looked as expected: relatively long, nicely curled, and in my opinion, fine to head out the door with.

When it came time to try Boo's hack on my left eye, I had to start with some deep breaths. I was scared sh*tless that I was going to clamp my eyelashes clear off, but once I got over my fear — or at least pretended it didn't exist — I was able to get started. Essentially, all I needed to do was flip the lash curler upside down. I made sure to keep it facing the same way it was when I curled my right lashes. In Boo's video, she says, "You don't need to get the root, but just get all the mid-shaft to ends of your lashes." Thank god for that, because there was no way in hell I was going to be able to get any further down my lashes without being convinced that they were all going to rip off.

The process felt weird, and I wasn't entirely sure if I had all my lashes where they were supposed to be, but I decided to clamp down anyway. After holding the curler in place for five seconds, I then moved on to Boo's second step, which was curling my lashes as I normally would. This time, I was able to get right up to the root (the eyelash curler being held the right way had everything to do with it), and I held the clamp for another five seconds. Then, to finish everything off, I put on the same two mascaras.

Upside Down Eyelash Curling Hack Results

So, did it work? The answer is yes, but most likely in a way only I would notice. My lashes did look lengthened, and even thicker, but I didn't have the same over-the-top results that Boo did. Plus, when I curled my lashes upside down I was fairly anxious the entire time. While it could be something worth trying yourself just for experiment sake, I'm not sure it's a hack I'm going to continue doing in the future.