HENNA TRADITION
Frequently Asked Questions About Henna Art
What is henna?
Henna/mehendi is a plant that grows in some countries with a hot climate like Pakistan, India, Morocco, Egypt etc .The leaves of the henna plant contain the henna dye. These leaves are dried and crushed to a fine powder. The dry henna powder .Henna paste that is used for body art, is made with pure organic henna powder, lemon juice/water, and essential oils like Cajeput, Lavender, Eucalyptus. This paste is then used to draw henna designs on the skin.Do you have known skin sensitivities or allergies? Tell me about them when you schedule your appointment.
How does henna work?
Designs are drawn on skin using henna paste The paste dries on the skin in 15 to 30 min . Henna paste needs to be kept on skin for at least 4-8 hours to get a beautiful, deep, rich, reddish-brown stain. After 4-8 hours, the henna paste is scraped off and there will be a bright orange stain of the design on the skin. This will darken to a deep burgundy-brown over the next 48-60 hours.
How long does henna design last?
Henna designs done in real, natural henna can last anywhere from 4 days to 2 weeks, depending upon where on the body they are done, and how well the after-care instructions were followed. Henna stains the top few layers of skin cells and fades gradually with natural skin exfoliation over the course of 1-3 weeks
What is jagua?
Jagua is a tropical rainforest fruit, typically a berry found in Central and South America .It has been used for centuries by native cultures.The unripe fruit is harvested, peeled and juiced. The juice is pasteurized and mixed into gel with body safe ingredients. This gel leaves a bluish black stain on the skin that lasts 1 to 2 weeks on average.
Hennatradition use jagua gel manufactured by fresh jagua company. The high quality of their product is evident to give deep dark stain. If you are allergic to tropical fruits like strawberry, pineapple, kiwi and papaya, you should avoid jagua.
What is white henna?
White henna is not henna . It is white body paint. It doesn’t stain the skin like real henna, neither does it last for 1-3 weeks like henna does. It stays raised on the skin, gets dirty after a couple of hours and starts rubbing off. White body paint looks nice for photo shoots but is not a practical form of body art to wear for daily activities.
What is black henna?
Black henna' is not real henna. It is a chemical called PPD, which is found in hair dyes. Some people use this black hair dye on skin and call it ‘black henna’. Since real henna is made from the leaves of the henna plant, and naturally stains a reddish brown, there is no way for it to give a black stain. Black ‘henna’ is a very dangerous product. It can cause rashes, itches, burns, permanent scars. It is unfortunately quite widely used in tourist spots on unsuspecting customers.
How to take care of henna?
It takes 15-30 minutes for your henna design to dry. Be VERY careful, and don’t let anything touch or bump into your wet henna design.
To get the best possible stain of your henna design, follow these steps:
1. Leave henna paste on skin for at least 6-8 hrs. Overnight is even better.
2. Seal dried paste onto the skin by dabbing with cotton ball dipped in lemon sugar syrup. Once the henna paste is dry, it starts flaking off. To prevent that from happening, it is very important to seal the henna paste on the skin with a sticky lemon juice and sugar mixture. The stickiness of the syrup helps the henna to stay stuck to the skin.
3. HEAT is a friend of henna. Warming your henna design with the henna paste still on your skin will help in achieving a dark stain. You can warm your hand over the stove, or in front of the fireplace or a space heater, or even use a heating pad.
4. Apply more sugar-lemon juice syrup. Heat again. Repeat process 3-4 times.
5. As long as the henna paste is a bit moist, it will keep staining…heating makes u sweat and hence moistens the paste.
6. Wrap with an old sock, toilet paper, or medical bandage…anything will work, to keep the henna paste on the skin and to protect clothing and furniture. If leaving on all night, be sure to keep your henna design WARM ALL NIGHT...if your skin gets cold, henna doesn’t stain well.
7. After 6-8 hours, when it is time to take the henna paste off, do not wash it off with soap and water. Scrape the paste off gently using your fingers, a credit card, or a blunt butter knife. The sticky lemon sugar sealant makes the henna stick to the skin really well and is sometimes not easy to take off. In that case, you can use a little bit of coconut oil, olive oil, or vegetable oil to help take the stubborn paste off.
8. Avoid direct contact with water for the next 24 hrs. Keep stain coated with olive oil to create a barrier.
9. Henna stain will be light/bright orange at first and will darken to a deep brown over the next 48-60 hours. This gradual darkening of the stain is a sign that the henna paste is 100% natural!