Henna is a plant that grows in hot, arid regions of the world, such as the Middle East and Northern Africa. The henna leaves are harvested and ground into a powder, which I mix into a paste with lemon juice, sugar, and tea tree oil or lavender oil or other essential oils. This paste is then applied to the skin in an intricate design. The henna plant has a very small dye molecule that stains the top layers of skin, while the paste sits on the skin the dye sinks into it and leaves the exact same design as was applied on top.
To
get the best results from your henna
there
are a few guidelines.
1. Make sure that your skin is clean and free from any oils or lotions, moisturizers create a barrier and the henna can't stain as well through these barriers.
2. Don't smudge the design. Wherever henna touches the skin it stains, if its smeared, that's what the end result will look like too.
3. Leave the paste on as long as possible. At the very minimum the paste needs to be on for 4 hours, 6 hours is better, 8 hours is best, anything longer than 12 hours is unnecessary.
4. Keep warm. Henna loves moist heat! Drink tea, wear socks, keep your body warm while the paste is on and your henna will get nice and dark. Just beware of sweating, you don't want your henna paste to slide off!
5. Scrape, don't wash. When its time to take off the paste scrape it off with a spoon or a plastic card. If the paste really sticks on hard you can hold it over some steam to soften it up, or use some lemon juice or olive oil on a cotton ball to wipe away any stray bits. But whatever you do DON'T use water.
6. Keep away from water for 24 hours. If you can keep your henna design out of water for the first day it will increase your chances of a nice dark stain.
Where Should I have my Henna?
Henna stains the top layers of skin, so the areas on the body where there are the most layers is where henna is the darkest. The hands and feet stain the darkest because they have the thickest skin, they are the BEST places for your henna design. As you move in towards the center of the body, the skin is thinner, so that will result in a lighter stain. So the torso will not have as dark of a stain.
What Color will my henna design be?
Reddish-Brown. Henna only comes in one color, a beautiful natural reddish-brown. If anyone tries to tell you that their henna is natural henna and that it stains black, then it is NOT natural henna, it has chemical additives or is not henna at all. Please see the information about The Dangers of Black Henna for more information.
There are several pictures on this site where the henna paste is on, and it looks black, but that is just the very dark greenish-brown of the dried paste. When the paste first comes off, the design is a shockingly bright orange, but as it oxidizes over the next 24-48 hours it darkens into a rich and beautiful reddish brown.
This has paste on. This is immediately after paste removal. 24 hours after paste removal.