The 5 best lash serums for mature lashes

5 Best Lash Serums for Women Who Want Their Own Lashes Back After Chemo

Without the prescription, the burning, or the risk.

By Susan Harper i

Former make-up artist, Wine lover & Blogger

Updated 2 DAYS AGO | 4 min read

Title

Wondering where your lashes went? So was I.

I'm Susan, 63. I went through treatment at 54, and somewhere in the middle of it, my lashes left too. My hair came back. My brows came back. But my lashes never got the memo.

It started slow. A few on the pillow. Then I'd lean close and count what was left, four real ones in the corner, the rest just little stubs. Some mornings I felt like a reptilian in the mirror, and I hated that it fit. After a while I quit buying mascara. Nothing for it to hold onto.

Sound familiar? It wasn't anything you did.

Then one night I came across a dermatologist's post that finally explained it. Chemo doesn't kill your lash follicles. It freezes them. A lash needs four separate signals to grow back, and treatment leaves all four on hold. Nothing I'd tried had done more than one.

The prescription serums? They're a drug, and all it does is force one of those signals. So the day you stop, the lashes shrink right back. It's also why they burn, and why they can change your eye color. The way she put it stuck with me. It's like baking a cake. All the flour in the world won't help without the eggs, the sugar, and the heat. It never rises.

I'm no scientist. But it made sense of everything. I'd been hunting for a stronger serum. What I needed was one that worked on the other signals, not just the one the drug bullies. That became my whole test.

I am not my illness. I know that. But the face in the mirror kept arguing with me. Because this was never about lashes. It's about looking up and thinking there I am, not where did I go?

So I made this list. I tested five on my own face. A few friends tested theirs too. One question. Which one works on more than the drug's single signal? The real cake, not just the flour.

Bottom line: only one gave me my lashes back. GraceLash. Real ones, not fuller looking for an afternoon. Eight weeks in I had a lash line again, the kind mascara can actually hold. Maybe even better than before all this, if I'm honest. Lol. Nothing burned, my eye color stayed mine, and when I was slow to reorder, they held. That's the one.

Title

1. GraceLash Lash Serum

I almost skipped GraceLash by Grace & Muse Cosmetics. New brand, started by one woman who went through treatment herself. A friend was using it. That's the only reason I tried it.

Here's why it ended up first. After that dermatologist's post, I'd stopped looking for a stronger serum and started looking for one that worked on more than the drug's one signal. GraceLash was the only one that did. No drug. No prostaglandin. It uses peptides instead, plus palmetto and pumpkin seed, which matters if you're on estrogen blockers like me.

I won't pretend I understand the science. All I know is it covered the signals my lashes had been waiting on. The eggs and the sugar and the heat, not just the flour. After a couple of months I stopped needing to understand it. It worked. That was enough.

I didn't believe it at first. I figured it was another gentle serum that coats the few lashes you've got and calls it growth. I tried it anyway.

First morning. One swipe along the lash line, top and bottom. That's the whole routine. My eyes water easy since treatment, so I braced for the sting. It never came.

For a few weeks, nothing. I almost gave up. Then around week five, the little ones in the corner started to show. By two months I had enough of a lash line that mascara finally had something to hold.

Here's the part that won me over. One week I ran out and was slow to reorder. I waited for them to fall out again, the way they always had. They stayed. With the drug, you stop and they go. Not this one.

My granddaughter's christening was in May. The photos came back and my eyes looked like mine, after years of seeing the patient in every picture. Yes, I cried. Of course I did.

Could some of it be my own lashes finally waking up on their own? Maybe. I didn't run a real test on my own face. But it felt real, and after three years of nothing, I'll take it.

Almost a year in now. I don't use it twice a day anymore. Once they grew back I dropped to a few nights a week, just to feed them and keep them healthy, the way you'd condition your hair. It's the small thing I do for myself now, not the thing I'm scared to stop.

PROs:

No drug. No burning, no eye color risk. Gentle on eyes treatment made sensitive

Actually grows your lashes back. Not "fuller looking"

Has palmetto and pumpkin seed to help with your estrogen levels. Almost nothing else does

Wakes the root instead of forcing it, so your lashes don't fall back out when you stop

Dries in seconds. It doesn't run into your eyes when you blink

Doesn't flake or get crusty on your lash line

CONs:

Only sold on the Grace & Muse website. Not on Amazon. Not in stores

It takes patience. First signs around 4 weeks. Fuller lashes around 2 months. Nothing real is faster

It can't grow a lash where the root is truly gone. That's rare, but it happens after radiation right on the lid

This is the one I use. And exactly why it earned the #1 spot on this list.

One thing worth knowing: Grace & Muse, the company that makes GraceLash, is known for making their products in small batches to keep the ingredients and quality high. The catch is that when a run sells out, it's usually 3 to 4 weeks before the next one. Just so you know going in.

Last I checked, they also had a buy-2 deal that saved you about $30. Worth a look on their site.

Buy it here

2. ForChics Eyelash Growth Serum

ForChics was the first one I grabbed, before I found GraceLash. I bought it because it said "no prostaglandin" right on the box. After what the drug did to my eyes, that was all I cared about. It's $26, on every other Amazon page, and thousands of women love it. I wanted it to be the answer.

And it gets the big thing right. No drug. No burning. No eye color worry. If my lashes had only thinned a little, this might have been my number one.

Then I used it on the lashes I have now.

It conditions. The few I had felt softer, a little shinier. But softer is not the same as more. After two months I had the same sparse lashes, just nicer. It doesn't push any of those signals. It coats what you've got and leaves the root alone.

And the tagline says it all. "A natural approach for fuller lashes." Fuller. That's the word we've all learned to read twice. It promises the look, not the lashes.

There's no help here if you take estrogen blockers, which is half the reason ours won't hold. It does what a regular beauty serum does. It coats. It doesn't rebuild.

It's made for everyone, which is fine. But you can feel when something's made for your face, not just sold to it.

PROs:

Really has no drug in it. On the safe side

Cheap and easy to find. Lots of women buy it

An okay pick if your lashes are thin but mostly still there

Makes the lashes you have feel softer

Easy to put on along the lash line

CONs:

A regular beauty serum. Not built for the frozen root

Leans on "fuller looking" talk. It coats more than it grows

No help if you take estrogen blockers

Does less on very sparse lashes

A solid number two. No drug, easy on the wallet, plenty of buyers. A fine pick if your lashes are thin but mostly there. But for the lashes treatment leaves behind, GraceLash gave me the real result. That's why ForChics is number two.

Link to ForChics on Amazon below, where most people buy it.

Buy it Here

3. Babe Original Essential Lash Serum

Everyone kept telling me to try Babe. My hairdresser. A couple of friends. Half the reviews I read. And the numbers back them up. More than twenty thousand bottles a month. Almost 23,000 reviews. That's not an ad budget. That's people telling people. So I tried it.

For a few weeks it did something. My lashes looked a little darker. A little sharper. I got the hype.

Then I read the box. "Fuller and longer looking." Looking. There's that word again. It promises how they look and skips past growing them.

So I checked the ingredients. That's where Babe lost me. A lot of serums like this hide a drug while calling themselves gentle. I had to know for sure. And I couldn't tell. If Babe really has no drug, it's a fair pick. If it does, it's the same drug story in a prettier box, burning and fall out included.

So it lands at number three, with a question mark. Popular, easy to find, well reviewed. But until I see a clean ingredient list, I can't promise it's free of the very thing this list is here to help you skip.

PROs:

Makes the lashes you have feel soft, not dry and snappy

Easy to find. On Amazon and its own site

Comes with a money back promise

Been around a long time. It won't disappear on you

A nice result for a lot of women

CONs:

The big question. Is it really drug free, or just sold that way?

"Fuller and longer looking" talk. The soft kind

Some people say it stings or makes their eyes water

The reviews split. For every happy one, there's a "did nothing for me"

Made for the regular beauty crowd. Not for lashes thinned by treatment

A real contender on how many people love it. But until I see that ingredient list, I can't call it clean. It's not the one.

Buy it here

4. PrimeLash by Prime Prometics

PrimeLash showed up in my Facebook ads. A LOT.

Their ads are nice, I'll give them that. Women aged 50 to 80 in the photos. Talking to women like us, not down at us. They even give part of every sale to breast cancer research. That's real. I respect all of it.

So I bought it. Used it for two months.

But the serum itself? It's okay. From where I sit, mostly fluff.

It conditions. Softer the first couple of weeks, a touch darker. But length? New lashes? It never happened. Two months, twice a day, and it never worked a single one of those signals. My corner stayed empty.

Here's what surprised me. PrimeLash did less for me than ForChics. And ForChics is the $26 one. That told me something.

It is gentle on the eyes. No sting. No watering. I'll give it that.

And the price. $41. That's real serum money. For a result the cheap one beat.

The ads get us. I just wish the serum did too.

PROs:

Gives part of every sale to breast cancer research. That's real

Gentle. No sting, no watering, even on sensitive eyes

A real serum size, not the prescription's tiny vial

Easy to put right on the lash line

CONs:

Did less for me than ForChics, the $26 one

The growth stuff it talks about did nothing in two months

The early effect faded. Nice for a couple of weeks, then nothing

A newer, smaller brand. Hard to know what's really in it

The ads get us. I wish the serum matched. It's not the one.

Buy it here

5. GrandeLASH MD

Let me be fair first. GrandeLASH works for a lot of women. Almost 59,000 reviews. 30,000 sold a month. That doesn't happen by accident. Plenty of women got their twenties lashes back with it. That's real.

But look at it through our eyes.

This is probably the one you're picturing. Maybe it's still in your drawer. It was the first thing I tried too, back when I thought the drug was the only thing that worked. And here's the part that fooled me. I grabbed it because it was right there on Amazon, no prescription needed. I figured that had to mean it was the safe, gentle kind. The one you reach for instead of the prescription.

I was wrong. When I finally looked it up, the thing that makes it grow lashes is basically the same drug that's in Latisse, the prescription one. They just use a slightly different version, a prostaglandin analog, so they can sell it over the counter. Same drug, different label. That little "MD" and the spot away from the pharmacy counter had me convinced it was gentler. It isn't.

So even with the new "peptide" word on the front, this is still the brand that made its name on the drug. And I felt the cost. Burning by the second week. Red, sore lids. I got off easy. Other women report broken blood vessels, swollen lids, a rash only one cream would calm, and the eye color and skin darkening that comes with this kind of drug. For eyes treatment already made sore, that's a lot. GraceLash never stung once.

Then read the bottle out loud. 91% "longer LOOKING." 94% "healthier LOOKING." Looking. There's that soft word again. Right on America's number one.

And look at the size. 0.03 fl oz. A four week supply. A thimble. And it's on purpose. The drug forces the one signal and quits the moment you stop, so the lashes fade and you buy again. And again. For as long as you want lashes. Rented lashes, paid for in burning. That's the deal.

PROs:

It works for many. Fast, you can see it. A huge track record

Easy to find. Amazon's "Overall Pick"

CONs:

It's the drug. Reports of burning, redness, swelling, broken blood vessels in sensitive eyes

Can change your eye color and darken the skin. Known risks of this kind of drug

Stop using it and the lashes fall back out. The tiny four week supply keeps you buying

The big claims are "longer LOOKING" and "healthier LOOKING." The soft kind

Made for everyone. Not for eyes treatment made sensitive

If your eyes are healthy and you want speed, GrandeLASH gets the job done. But this whole list is here because now there's a way to get that result without the burning, without the eye color risk, and without renting your lashes forever. Last. It's the one worth leaving behind.

Buy it here

And The Winner Is…

GraceLash Lash Serum

The winner is GraceLash by Grace & Muse Cosmetics. Almost a year in. The mirror tells me why. Finally, lashes that are mine again. Eyes that look like me, not the patient. No drug, so nothing burns and your eye color is safe. And out of everything I tried, it was the only one that worked on more than the single signal the drug bullies. The week I'm slow to reorder, they stay put. The drug's would be gone.

ForChics came close at number two. No drug, on the right side of the question. But it's a regular beauty serum. It coats what you've got and never reaches the root treatment left behind. GraceLash does. By week six my corner lashes were filling back in. And it helps if you take estrogen blockers. Nothing else on the list does.

Where the others fell short. Babe is everywhere and well loved, but I couldn't be sure it's drug free. PrimeLash talks to women our age so well, then does less than it promises. GrandeLASH works, but it's the drug, with the burning, the eye color risk, and lashes you rent forever. None of them gave a real result without the drug. GraceLash did.

It's $39.95 for a single bottle. Pricey? A little. But cheaper than the pile of serums and falsies you've already tossed, and they give you 60 days to try it. Doesn't work? Send it back.

Two bottles are $49.95, though, so I'd just get the two. The second one is basically ten dollars, and they make it in small batches that sell out, so you don't want to run out halfway. Everybody's different, but with two you're safe.

A few honest words

This isn't for the woman who needs lashes by next week. Lashes grow on their own clock. Nothing speeds it up. Not this, not the drug, not anything that isn't glued on. Big day in ten days? Wear good strip lashes for that, and start GraceLash for the long game.

It isn't for the woman who won't use it. Twice a day, quietly, for a few weeks before you judge it. If it's going to sit in a drawer, keep your money.

And if you're still in treatment, or you just started a new hormone pill, ask your doctor about timing first. Your body is fighting regrowth right now. That's not the serum's fault. Or yours.

summary

#1 GraceLash Lash Serum

Buy it here

#2 ForChics Eyelash Growth Serum

Buy it here

#3 Babe Original Essential Lash Serum

Buy it here

#4 PrimeLash by Prime Prometics

#5 GrandeLASH MD

Buy it here

Join the discussion…

17COMMENTS

Linda Mitchell

2 days ago

Started GraceLash three weeks ago after reading this. I'm 64. One swipe morning and night, no sting at all. Too early for miracles, I know. But the little ones in the inner corner are finally showing again. My husband said my eyes look "more awake." He never notices ANYTHING lol. After treatment I'd given up on these. Quietly hopeful for the first time in a while.

Patricia Wagner

3 days ago

My eyes water at the drop of a hat since treatment. Every serum I've tried either stings or makes them stream. I've tossed at least 4. Is GraceLash actually different for sensitive eyes? Scared to throw another $40 away.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Patricia Wagner · 3 days ago

Hi Patricia. My eyes water easily too since treatment did a number on the oil glands. Two things matter here. First, GraceLash is prostaglandin-free. No drug. So there's nothing in it to burn or sting the way the prescription ones do. I braced for the sting that first morning and it never came. Second, the 60 day guarantee is what got me to try it. If your eyes don't get on with it, you send it back. Nothing lost.

Barbara Sullivan

4 days ago

I used GrandeLASH for two years. You nailed it. It DID grow my lashes, I won't lie. But my eyes burned the first month, and the day I ran out, within a few weeks they shed right back to nothing. So I kept buying just to keep them. A rented lash line. Never thought of it that way until I read this.

Margaret Foster

5 days ago

I'm 71. Lost my lashes in treatment and they came back as little stubs. I'm honestly scared to put any "growth" thing near my eyes after everything I've read. Reading this gave me a tiny bit of hope. Is GraceLash gentle enough? I can't risk doing more harm.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Margaret Foster · 5 days ago

Hi Margaret. This is exactly why I came back too. The scary stories you've read come from the prescription prostaglandin serums. GraceLash isn't one of those. No drug. It uses peptides, which are just tiny proteins your body already knows, to wake the lash root back up gently. One swipe along the lash line, morning and night. No scrubbing, no pulling, nothing to irritate. A year in and my eyes have been completely happy. If yours aren't, the 60 days has you covered.

Sandra Klein

6 days ago

Honestly? I'm exhausted by every brand swearing it's THE one. I've heard it. Bought it. Thrown it away. What makes this any different from the last five that promised the same thing? Not trying to be rude. Just tired.

Carol Bennett

1 week ago

Most useful lash article I've read in years. Thank you for not pretending to love everything. The "It's not the one" at the end of each review killed me lol. And finally someone who explains the difference between the drug ones and the rest. Bookmarked.

Sharon Whitfield

1 week ago

I have green eyes and I've always been terrified of these serums changing my eye color. I read that's a real thing with Latisse. Is GraceLash going to do that? The review made it sound like exactly what I've been looking for, but I had to ask first.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Sharon Whitfield · 1 week ago

Hi Sharon. Good question, this comes up a lot. The eye color change you're thinking of comes from prostaglandins. That's the drug in Latisse, and in a surprising number of the over-the-counter serums too. That's what can darken a light iris over time. GraceLash has no prostaglandin in it at all. It works a completely different way, with peptides that wake the lash root instead of a drug that forces it. So there's nothing in it that can change your eye color. I watched mine like a hawk. No change. That was the whole reason I trusted it.

Nancy Rasmussen

2 weeks ago

I'm on tamoxifen and I swear my lashes won't hold no matter what I do. They come in and fall right back out. Does that change whether something like this can even work for me?

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Nancy Rasmussen · 2 weeks ago

Hi Nancy. You're not imagining it. The estrogen blockers like tamoxifen work against your lashes holding. That's real. It's one of the reasons I put GraceLash at #1. It's the only one I tested that actually has something for this. Saw palmetto and pumpkin seed, to help protect the root against that hormone drop. Most serums ignore it completely. Give it the full eight weeks, twice a day. And if you've just started a new medication, a quick word with your oncologist about timing never hurts.

Karen Donnelly

2 weeks ago

Susan, I've been reading you since my diagnosis. You're the only beauty person who talks to us like women, not like patients and not like we're 25. Everyone else says "embrace it" or "you're a warrior." Sometimes I just want my own lashes back. You get that.

Donna Pickering

3 weeks ago

$40 is a lot for me. I retired last year and I'm careful with money now. Is it really worth it over the cheap Amazon ones? I want to believe. But I've burned through enough serums to be cautious about anything that costs more.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Donna Pickering · 3 weeks ago

Hi Donna. Totally hear you. Quick thing first. With the two-bottle offer running on the site, it's two bottles for about $40, so closer to $20 each. Still more than the $26 Amazon ones, I won't pretend otherwise. But here's my math. The cheap ones conditioned my lashes and grew nothing. So $26 that does nothing isn't cheaper. It's just wasted slower. And you've got 60 days. Doesn't work for you, send it back. The risk is on them, not you. That's what finally got me to try it.

Cynthia Harlow

3 weeks ago

Bought PrimeLash because of their Facebook ads. EXACTLY what you described. The ads talk to us so beautifully. The serum did nothing in two months. Conditioned a little, grew nothing. The marketing IS great. Glad I'm not the only one who fell for it.

Kathleen O'Brien

1 month ago

Just turned 65. Wear contacts every day and my eyes have been touchy since treatment. Tempted to try GraceLash but nervous after the GrandeLASH burning (which I also tried, wish I'd read this first). Any other sensitive-eye or contact wearers here who've gotten on with it?

Deborah Frankel

1 month ago

After everything I've read about lash serums (sunken eyes, eye color changes, lashes falling out when you stop), I'm honestly terrified to put anything "growth" near my eyes. Can you tell me what's actually in this one and why it's different?

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Deborah Frankel · 1 month ago

Hi Deborah. Your fear makes complete sense, and you're right to ask. Every one of those scary side effects, the sunken look, the color change, the shedding when you stop, comes from one thing. Prostaglandins. That's the drug in the prescription serums, and in a lot of the drugstore ones too. GraceLash has none of it. It uses peptides to wake your own lash root back up, then helps protect it, so the lashes that grow are yours. Because it isn't forcing them with a drug, they don't crash back out the week you stop. I've used it almost a year. Around two months in, my lashes looked less starved, a bit more there. I won't pretend I ran a clinical study on my own face. But I noticed. And nothing about my eyes ever changed for the worse.

Diane Sutherland

1 month ago

Slight disagreement on ForChics. I get on with mine fine and I'm 67. It's gentle and cheap. Not arguing your point that it mostly just conditions though, you're right, it never grew anything new for me either. But the GrandeLASH section, spot on. Tried it. Eyes burned, and they shed the moment I stopped. UGH.

Joan Whitley

1 month ago

Susan, treatment thinned my brows too, not just my lashes. They're basically gone at the outer ends. Do I need a separate product, or can GraceLash help there as well? Don't want to buy two things if I don't have to.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Joan Whitley · 1 month ago

Hi Joan. Great question, I get this a lot. I use GraceLash on my brows too, the sparse outer ends especially. A light swipe with the wand once a day, same as the lashes. The same peptides that wake a lash root work on a brow root. It's slow, so give it the same eight weeks. But my outer ends are fuller than they were. One bottle, both jobs.

Bonnie Hartman

1 month ago

Loved this breakdown. Any chance you'd do the same for foundation next? I'm 66 and everything I try either settles into every line or turns orange by lunch. I'm so sick of the trial and error. Would trust your picks over anyone's.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Bonnie Hartman · 1 month ago

Hi Bonnie. Foundation is the #1 topic in my inbox right now. I'm halfway through testing 8 of them, on myself and a few brave friends. Hoping to share it in the next few weeks. Hang tight.

Janet Caldwell

2 months ago

Sending this to my sister. She's 68, finished treatment last year, and stopped looking in mirrors. Maybe this is a small way back for both of us. Thank you, Susan.