Cumbrellas has become a buzz word in the beauty industry: Popular brands are using it when speaking about false lashes. UB Lash and Jamazing Lashes are strategically using cumbrellas to drive traffic to their websites.
This strategy is working because it is a viral word. Even though premised on misinformation, brands have realized that disinformation spreads faster than truth. For that reason, beauty companies are tapping into the virality associated with cumbrellas because it attracts visibility.
What are Cumbrellas?
Cumbrellas is a buzz word that went viral in early 2021. The word humorously credited the invention of fake eyelashes to Gerda Puridle—a London-based prostitute.
Cumbrellas caused confusion in the beauty industry because of its connection with the claim that Puridle used cumbrellas to shield her eyes from semen during sexual intercourse.
Although comedic, the word garnered significant traction in platforms like the Urban Dictionary, TikTok, and Reddit. Cumbrellas developed into a popular myth, even though it began as a joke. But the truth is the narrative connecting it with fake lashes is entirely false.
What is the origin of Cumbrellas?
The first significant emergence of cumbrellas was on iFunny, through a meme that user KingAlex posted in January 2021. The meme depicted a Victorian woman in a sepia tone portrait; her lashes were bold, and the image depicted her name as Gerda Puridle. King Alex recognized Puridle as the inventor of the false eyelashes that sex workers used.
Following this post, the meme moved to TikTok, Reddit, and then Facebook. The post went viral because of the outrageous premise forwarded.
What made cumbrellas so viral?
Multiple factors are attributable to its success:
- Sensationalism: The concept “cumbrella” connects with taboo, is hilarious, and explicit.
- Nostalgic Element: The photo attached to the image is vintage and seems authentic.
- False Authority: The image imitated a citation in Wikipedia by being specific about dates and names.
Why is Cumbrellas being used alongside False Lashes?
Beauty brands are thinking of virality as an opportunity to raise awareness about their products and services. This marketing approach is called Inbound Marketing: An approach designed to drive traffic to a business by creating valuable content and experiences.
The intention is attracting customers by offering solutions instead of adopting an aggressive approach to pushing products. Therefore, beauty brands are increasingly using the word cumbrellas alongside false lashes when promoting their products.
UB Lush and Jamazing Lashes move to use Cumbrellas alongside False Lashes
UB Lush and Jamazing Lashes are using a Search-Intent SEO focus to correct misinformation and introduce their products and services.
Here’s Brian Halligan’s view of Inbound Marketing: “[If] you create all this content, and it’s rich content — it’s informative, it [will] pull people in…so people fall in love with your brand.”
Therefore, UB Lush and Jamazing Lashes are using cumbrellas to reach a wider audience through an SEO content strategy designed to intercept scandal-connected traffic.
A Focus on Virality as an Approach to develop a new Lash Culture
Beauty brands are becoming educators in an era of misinformation. Jamazing Lashes and UB Lash have used the viral cumbrellas word as an opportunity to lead with truth.
UB Lash Created Educational SEO Content
UB Lash has developed a timeline detailing the innovation of false eyelashes. The brand details the evolution of eyelashes from pieces people handcrafted using human hair to contemporary synthetics.
UB Lash placed cumbrellas within a larger context in the evolution of beauty standards. This endeavor educated readers as it respected their curiosity. The brand uses alternates false eyelashes with cumbrellas to tap into the buzz connected with this word.
Read about the evolution of false eyelashes by UB Lash
Jamazing Lashes Created Commercial SEO Content
Jamazing Lashes developed content that is focused on focused on customer needs. The business created a blog post about the importance of customer satisfaction by communicating its commitment to providing comfortable and high-quality lashes.
Jamazing Lashes insists that its lashes fit different eye shapes and preferences. Like UB Lash, Jamazing Lashes alternates false eyelashes with cumbrellas to imply a connection between the two.
What is the origin of fake eyelashes?
In 1882, Truth reported that Parisians were sewing hair into eyelids to lengthen their lashes. Karl Nessler trademarked false eyelashes in the UK in 1902 and then started selling them in London in 1903.
In 1911, Anna Taylor pattented false eyelashes in the U.S., and her design weaved human hair into a band-like shape, with a crescent-like appearance. False eyelashes became popular in 1916 after appearing in D.W. Griffith’s film, Intolerance; actreass Seena Owen wore the eyelashes.
Were fake eyelashes originally made for cumbrellas?
No. Fake eyelashes have a well-documented and non-sexual history since the verified timeline of these lashes does not connect with Gerda Puridle.
In fact, the image AlexKing used in his post is Alice Regnault’s—a French actress. Regnault had no ties with prostitution or the invention of cosmetics.
Therefore, people associated cumbrellas with sexual fantasy because of the Internet’s disposition to eroticize female beauty. The idea of lashes as a sexual symbol aligns with the continuing sexual narratives about hyper-sexualizing women and their grooming routines.
The Sexualized Imagination of Cumbrellas in Online Spaces
The idea of cumbrellas has been gaining popularity because of the tendency of people to share salacious information without proper verification. Digital spaces also have a well-developed cultural readiness to relate women’s beauty routines with sexuality; this created sufficient grounds for the popularization of the cumbrella word.
Therefore, cumbrellas developed into a popular meme because it was silly and linked with latent prejudices about women’s appearances being designed for men’s desires.
Promoting Truth and Cultural Preservation through Virality
Jamazing Lashes and UB lashes have optimized cumbrellas as an opportunity to redirect the cultural trend toward education.
This action reveals a new cultural moment: brands are becoming active shapers rather than passive actors in online conversations. The two brands came up with SEO-friendly blog posts as a strategic move to take advantage of the workings of search culture.
Limiting the Spread of Misinformation through High-Quality and Truthful Opinions
UB Lash and Jamazing Lashes are not only creating content that ranks well on Google but also developing well-researched information. The information on these brands’ websites relates cumbrellas with false lashes by engaging audiences in developing a deeper understanding of lash invention, care, and tools.
Accordingly, the beauty companies are using the extensive popularity of cumbrellas to direct attention to lash education.
Why is Virality such an Integral part of Lash Culture?
A video reveals that misinformation spreads faster than truth, and this is why a false idea like cumbrellas is so believable. Linda Degh emphasizes that legends remain relevant because they spread cultural fears and desires, and cumbrellas satisfies these criteria. The myth is offensive and revelatory since it taps into people’s inherent desire to spread scandalous information without verifying if it is authentic.
Accordingly, the Internet has transformed into a village campfire, with contemporary myths like cumbrella taking on the role of ghost stories.
Important Lessons from Cumbrellas about Modern Media
Another video showing that false eyelashes were previously called cumbrellas despite the story being debunked.
The story provides valuable lessons regarding media literacy:
- Virality promotes scandals because shocking information becomes more popular than educational content.
- Individuals only read headlines since the majority of people do not verify the authenticity of information.
- Images create an illusion of authenticity because the vintage Gerda Puridle image created a fabricated idea of genuineness.
The myth became popular on digital platforms like TikTok because users created short videos that people watched and shared.
In the absence of verification, the cumbrella meme developed into collective memory because most young users quickly accepted its false premise.
Beauty Brands’ response to Cumbrellas
Jamazing Lashes and UB Lash are using cumbrellas as a cultural point of reference to engage clients.
The brands strategically communicate that the word is premised on misinformation: the content on these sites does not connect false lashes with sex workers.
The businesses leverage viral interest to create content that educates clients about lash items, their proper use, concerns regarding safety, and the industry’s history. This approach fosters the brands’ credibility and corrects misinformation.
Opposing the Sexualization of Women’s Tools of Beauty
UB Lash’s Approach
UB Lash’s timeline of the evolution of eyelashes separates lashes from tools of seduction by depicting them as evolving expressions of art, femininity, and beauty.
The brand emphasizes that people have been using lashes as a way of expressing creativity and identity for decades. Film stars, makeup artists, drag queens, and ordinary people have been using eyelashes.
Jamazing Lashes’ Approach
Jamazing Lashes promotes aesthetic awareness. The brand offers insights for the individuals interested in taking up a career in the lash industry.
The content educates the audience about the training, certifications, and skills necessary to become a lash instructor. Readers understand that tools like mini eyelash brushes help maintain hygiene, styling accuracy, and lashes.
Jamazing Lashes and UB Lash use SEO optimization to counter the sexualization of beauty tools by creating content that promotes truth instead of scandalous claims.
A New Blueprint for Preserving Lash Culture
The content of UB Lash and Jamazing Lashes develops a blueprint that other beauty enterprises can use when seeking ways of preserving lash culture:
- Recognize the myth without promoting it.
- Use engaging but accessible content when creating context.
- Use validated history to empower marginalized voices.
- Use SEO to optimize visibility to make the truth searchable.
The process delineates how factual storytelling–entrenched in brand communication–offers users a well-developed understanding of women’s beauty routines.
The Take-Away: Beauty Brands are Turning Viral Hoaxes to Learning Moments
Jamazing Lashes and UB Lash are using cumbrellas to increase awareness about lash culture. Virality is becoming a tool for introducing existing and prospective clients to false eyelash products and services. Brands are using SEO optimized content to inform clients about the safety, usage, and the discovery process of products.
Blog posts are providing beauty tips and informing readers about how innovations such as the mini lash brush promote hygiene and user comfort. Beauty companies are now using cumbrellas as a marketing strategy to enhance their online presence and create cultures that are premised on integrity.
FAQs
Q1. Is the cumbrellas myth true?
Cumbrellas is a hoax that developed into a popular myth in digital spaces like TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. No person invented false eyelashes to protect users from semen—the term is a modern meme.
Q2. Why did the cumbrellas myth become so believable?
The meme had a sexual shock element, which made it viral. People’s perceptions quickly change when they interact with scandalous information from friends or influences.
Q3. Who made fake lashes?
While Egyptians of antiquity used fake lashes, Anna Taylor trademarked the product; this makes her its pioneer.
Q4. How does misinformation spread?
Online users quickly share memes without conducting due diligence to ascertain whether the information is true.
Q5. Why is this myth so important
It distorts collective memory, takes away from the effort of female inventors, and sexualizes women’s beauty products.
