What the map actually is
A drawing of lengths across your lash line, in millimetres, marked on the patch under your eye. Nine to twelve on a typical set, arranged so the longest lashes sit slightly outside the centre of the eye rather than at the outer corner.
That last point is the single most common error in lashing. Length at the outer corner drags the eye down and reads as tired; length just past centre opens it. Your eye shape moves that peak a little either way and reading it correctly is most of what nine years buys.
Look at it before we start. It is your face and the drawing is right there.
Two hours with your eyes closed
Most people sleep, which is fine and expected. Some people find it long, which is also fine: say so and we take a break at the hour.
Do not talk during the set if you can help it, not for etiquette but for mechanics: the eye moves when the jaw does and a moving eye is where crooked lashes come from. Iris will happily talk between eyes.
The first forty-eight hours
Dry. No water, steam, sauna, sweat or crying on them, which is the whole of it and which matters more than any product you will ever be sold. The adhesive continues curing for about a day and water in that window is the most common cause of a set shedding in week one.