FAQs
AFTERCARE of Henna Stains How to Maintain Your New Henna / Mehndi
Once you have unwrapped and removed the dry henna paste you will see an orange-yellow stain left on your skin. The stain will deepen into a richer reddish-brown tone over the next 48 hours.
The final color will depend your skin and body chemistry with darker colors appearing on the hands and feet. You should try to avoid contact with water as much as possible during the first 24 hours after paste removal as water can interrupt the oxidization and darkening processes of your henna stain.
These simple steps will protect your design and help it to look its best:
No Water
It is best to avoid water for the first day.
If you need to wash the paste off your skin try using a bit of lemon juice or olive/corn oil to remove any residue instead of water for best results.
Don't touch the design directly after it's applied.
Henna paste is moist when applied. After application, you need to keep that body part away from any obstructions—clothing, hair, environmental factors—so that it doesn’t smear the design. The paste usually dries within 5-10 minutes, but err on the side of caution. It will take approximately half an hour before the henna paste is dry enough that you don’t have to worry about smudging it.
Leave the henna paste on your skin for as long as possible.
The longer the paste stays on the skin, the darker the stain will be. Let the paste dry on your skin for at least 6 hours, and consider leaving it on overnight. Don’t wash it off; don’t rub it off; don’t accidentally brush it against anything.
Use sugar and lemon juice.
Once the henna paste starts to dry, coat it with a mixture of sugar and lemon juice. Leave it to soak in for a few hours, or even overnight. This will keep the paste moist for longer, making the resulting stain even darker. Fill a small bowl with lemon juice, then mix with sugar until the solution is sticky and syrupy. Use a cotton ball to blot the sugar-lemon-juice onto the dry henna.
The lemon sugar helps moisturize the henna. It also serves to seal the henna and protect the design. The acidity of the lemon can also help highlight the color of the henna.
Be careful not to oversaturate the henna; you just want it very slightly damp. If you use too much moisture, the dye may smear and drip – especially at first.
If you leave the sugar-and-lemon-juice solution on your skin overnight, it’s important to wrap or otherwise protect your skin from rubbing and smearing.
Wrap up the design.
The henna paste will flake and crumble as it dries, so consider covering up the inked area to keep the crumbs from spilling everywhere. Wrapping also helps make the stain darker by conserving heat and moisture. You can wrap the area with an elastic bandage, paper medical tape or toilet paper. Try covering the wrap with a sock to make it more secure.
Try laying a piece of toilet paper over the design, then wrapping the area with an elastic bandage. If you want to use plastic wrap, be sure to wrap with toilet paper first to soak up any perspiration and to prevent smudges.
Know that henna stains textiles like clothing, sheets, and towels. If you leave the paste on overnight, wrapping may protect your sheets.
Some claim that wrapping is the only way to care for a henna design, but others say that you only need to wrap your ink if you’ve gotten extensive work done.
Watch the color deepen.
Once you’ve exposed your skin and cleaned off the dried henna paste, you’ll be able to watch the ink mature into its fullest form. Your design should begin in a shade of orange ranging from bright neon to the color of a pumpkin. Over the next 48 hours, the stain will deepen into a rich, red-brown color. The markings will end up somewhere between orange-brown, maroon, and chocolate brown. Your design will be at its darkest within a day or two of its application.
The final color hinges on your skin type and your body chemistry. The ink usually looks darker on hands and feet.
Organic Oil Protection
Rub your henna/mehndi with a natural vegetable oil before bathing or swimming to protect it from water. Corn, canola, or olive oil all work well. Avoid using any petroleum products such as baby oil or Vaseline as they will contribute to the demise of your stain.
Avoid excess rubbing of the area.
Keep in mind that frequent washing, soaps, petroleum products (sunscreen, Vaseline, baby oil) and the rubbing of clothing and shoes on the design will cause your henna design to fade more quickly.
No Shaving / Waxing
Avoid shaving over your henna/mehndi stain. Shaving removes layers of skin so you may want to shave around your mehndi or henna stain to keep it looking its best.
INFORMATION ABOUT HENNAThe reddish brown Pure Organic Henna
Henna is the Persian name for a shrub known as Lawsonia inermis. Henna is native to Asia and the Mediterranean coast of Africa and now thrives in warmer climates all over the world. It has small, four-petaled flowers ranging from yellow to pink and its leaves produce a red dye. Twice a year the leaves are harvested, dried, and ground into a fine powder. This powder is used to dye hair red and for the ancient eastern art of mehndi. Henna contains hennotannic acid, a dye that bonds with the collagen in skin cells and keratin of fingernails and hair, leaving behind a red coloring.
Mehndi is the Hindi word describing the process of painting patterns on the body with henna paste and the resulting stains left on the skin. Using henna paste, intricate patterns are applied to the skin, traditionally on the hands and feet.
A variety of methods are employed when drawing on the skin with the paste. In Morocco syringes prevail, in India, plastic cones similar to pastry bags are popular.
In Africa, saliva is mixed into the powder and then formed into balls and lumps of paste for a rudimentary application and design. Anything from modern squeeze bottles, twigs, a piece of silver wire, or good old fashioned saliva may be used to transfer the paste to the skin. The paste is made from ground leaves of henna plants and a variety of ingredients such as lemons, limes, black tea, coffee, rose petals, orange blossoms, essential oils, cloves, pomegranates, tamarind, okra, and sugar.
Traditionally, ingredients such as lye, urea, yak or camel urine may be added to deepen the color. Rest assured, we use only lemon juice and essential oils in our henna mixture. The paste is left to soak into the skin for 6 to 12 hours; the longer the paste is in contact with the skin the deeper, darker and longer lasting the stain will be. Heat helps to drive the dye into the skin and cause it to become dark. Often women will sit near a small brazier or fire after being henna’ed. When the paste is scraped off, a yellow-orange stain will remain. The color will deepen to a reddish-brown during the next 48 hours and then fade away gradually.
Many theological references to mehndi exist throughout the world. Basically, anywhere that has a period of hot dry weather and a history of goddess worship has utilized henna. This widespread use makes it difficult to establish a date or country of origin for the use of henna and mehndi. Inscriptions place henna in use in Syria as early as 2100 BCE. Evidence exists dating henna’s use in the Greek islands from around 1700 BCE, the Egyptian Dynasties from 1500 BCE and the beautiful cave paintings in Ajanta, India from 400 BCE.
Once the paste is removed, the yellow-orange stain will begin to oxidize and become darker over the next 48 hours. Natural henna will always leave a stain in the range of orange/red/brown, however, the exact shade can vary. Darkness varies with each persons body chemistry, the area of body chosen, and the length of time the paste remained in contact with the skin.
The longer the paste is in contact with your skin, the darker the color and the longer lasting it will be. It will last the longest, 1-2 weeks, on thicker, dry skin such as hands and feet, and will fade more quickly, 3-10 days, on thinner skinned areas such as arms, chest, and back. As your skin exfoliates and regenerates your mehndi will completely disappear. To obtain the best possible stain apply the paste to hands and feet, keep the area very warm, and leave the paste on at least 8 hours.
Natural henna will never dye your skin purple, pink, blue, or black. Any henna that dyes your skin a color other than reddish-brown has chemicals added that are not clearly healthy or safe. Please use only safe and natural brown henna.
Mehndi is completely temporary and pain free since the skin is not broken as in traditional tattooing. When the paste is applied to the skin it feels cool, this is due to the natural cooling properties of the henna plant. You may feel tingling or tickling. This is caused by the essential oils such as eucalyptus which are sometimes used in the mix. Henna feels much like lotion and does not hurt at all. Application of henna paste can be quite relaxing and enjoyable, especially in the warm summer months as it’s cooling and soothing to the skin.
The henna plant is one of the oldest cosmetics ever used and is extremely safe.
Natural henna, when applied to the skin rarely causes any adverse reactions, if you are concerned you should do a small patch test first. Natural henna is safe even for use on children as it contains no dangerous chemical dyes or harsh additives.
There is no such thing as black henna. ***NEW ALTERNATIVE IS ONLY JAGUA!!! READ MORE ABOUT JAGUA HERE*** In order for henna to produce a black color chemicals that are unsafe for your skin have been added. Black henna should be avoided. A chemical dye known as PPD, which is not authorized for use on the skin by the FDA is often added to the natural henna to produce a black color. Black henna has become very popular in certain tourist areas, particularly Venice Beach and Mexico. It can cause liver and kidney damage, as well as scarring of the skin.
Weddings. Its main use is the adornment of the bride’s hands and feet before the marriage ceremony in Hindu and Muslim cultures. Traditional wedding mehndi can be incredibly dense, resembling lace gloves. It often covers the tops and palms of the hands extending up the arms, and the soles and tops of the feet extending up the legs. Bridal mehndi is a sign of status and celebration and is one of the first gifts from husband to wife.
Often symbols of fertility and love such as peacocks, hearts, and mangoes will be incorporated into the design. The new couples initials are sometimes hidden among the patterns to initiate intimacy on the wedding night. A game is played whereby the groom searches the brides body for their initials.
Certain customs hold that when the new bride moves into her husband’s home she will do no housework while her mehndi is visible. This allows the woman to familiarize herself with her new family and to find her place within it. Once the mehndi has faded she will begin to care for her new family. This is often the first and last vacation a woman will receive in fundamentalist households.
The function of mehndi in wedding rituals extends far beyond beauty and socializing. It is associated with a girls entrance into womanhood at marriage. A relationship exists between mehndi, hymenal blood, and the menstrual cycle. This is due in part, to the color of the dye and its average duration of one week.
Traditionally, only married women practice this art. Mehndi and its accompanying rituals and uses become the single outlet for personal expression and autonomy for many women in the East. A woman will practice and use mehndi until the death of her husband, at which point it’s often given up entirely. However, the widow will mehndi her body in beautiful patterns if she chooses to throw herself on her husband’s funeral pyre.
Pregnancy and other EventsCelebrations of all sorts include mehndi as it is considered to ward off evil, protect from the evil eye, impart goodluck and generally be auspicious in nature due to its red coloring. It may be incorporated into births, naming ceremonies, birthdays, bar mitzvahs, Diwali, Ramadan and numerous other religious feasts, ceremonies and cultural traditions.The application of henna and the corresponding party is usually limited to women. Often female family members and close female friends will participate, this creates an opportunity to receive support and advice. It is a time where women, particularly those in a harem can separate from the structuring rules of their lives and relax.
Natural henna will never dye your skin purple, pink, blue, or black. Any henna that dyes your skin a color other than reddish-brown has chemicals added that are not clearly healthy or safe. Please use only safe and natural brown henna.
***NEW UPDATE: THE ONLY SAFE ALTERNATIVE IS JAGUA, PLEASE FIND OUT MORE ABOUT JAGUA CLICK IN THE LINK:
Henna stains last on average 7-10 days, gradually fading comletely away. Some areas with thick or calloused skin may show portions of the stain for up to 2-6 weeks. There is no way to completely remove a fresh henna stain, but you can speed up the demise.
The henna dye molecule soaks into and stains the top layers of your skin cells. Everyday new skin cells move to the surface replacing older cells including those that are stained with your henna design. Unfortunately, you must wait for your bodies natural processes and normal wear and tear on your design for it to fade completely.
There are things you can do to speed along the demise of a henna stain:
soaking in the shower, bath, pool or jacuzzi
scrubbing or exfoliating the skin.
chlorine can help to remove the stain as well so a dip in the pool may speed up the fading process
whitening tooth paste scrubbed over the stain may help as well
Some chemical agents may remove some of the stain as well. These include hair straightener, contact solution, or a weak solution of bleach and water. These are very harsh on your skin and NOT RECOMMENDED as removal methods
We mix our own Henna Paste in Pure Organic HennaMargarita will mix the Henna Paste just for you specially
