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New to Henna? Get Started Here!
 Welcome to the wonderful world of henna! I want to make your transition
from henna beginner to henna artist easy. Henna is not something to stress over
and there is no need to get anything perfect. Relax and be ready to try new
things on your journey!
Henna is infused with positive healing energies and, if you allow yourself
to connect with those energies, you will feel a distinct uplift in your mood
when you are working with henna or when you have henna stain on your skin.
When you are new to henna, it's possible to get overwhelmed with the
possibilities. Don't worry! Henna is like cooking. You continue to learn
and improve, and it just keeps getting better!
Henna is a plant, lawsonia inermis, that is grown in hot dry climates. The
leaves are dried, ground into a powder, and the powder is made into a paste that
is used to stain the skin and to dye the hair.
Henna has medicinal properties as well. It’s an anti-fungal, an
antiseptic, and it’s cooling. In fact, one of the oldest uses for henna was as a way to
cool the body in the desert. People would cover the palms of their hands and the
soles of their feet with henna. They found that as long as there was a stain,
their body temperature stayed lower. This practice migrated from covering the
entire palms to one large dot in the center of the hand and, eventually, to
artistic designs. You can still find people today that use henna for its cooling
properties! Cool, right? Ha ha…cool, get it? Okay, bad pun…
A seldom realized henna fact: Henna is a permanent stain. The henna does
not fade away. The skin cells exfoliate off and thus "fades" the henna design.
Skin typically exfoliates completely in a cycle of every 20-30 days which is why
henna will always be temporary on the skin. On your white couch, however, henna
will be permanent!
Henna Quality
Not all henna is created equal. Henna is a crop and like any other crop
there are different qualities available and it can vary year to year. It’s important to only buy henna from a
reputable company that knows what they are doing and knows how to properly store
henna.
We source our henna from reliable manufacturers that provide us with high
quality pure unadulterated henna product. All of our henna is express shipped to
us and stored properly. The ensures that you get the freshest possible product
and not something that has been sitting in the belly of a hot ship for a month.
Never use henna that has chemical additives or is for the hair (learn more about henna for the hair here).
These products contain dangerous ingredients and should never be applied
directly to the skin. Henna is NEVER black. Anything called henna that leaves a
black stain and lasts more than a day or two contains para-phenylenediamine or
PPD and is extremely dangerous.
Safe natural henna will ALWAYS start off an orange color once the paste is
removed. The tattoo will continue to cure over the following day or two
darkening to a reddish/brownish hue depending on a number of factors (listed below). The stain
will have good color 5-10 days and be completely gone in 1-3 weeks.
At the bottom of this page, you can see some pictures of the stain
progression!
What Kind of henna is best for you?
When deciding what kind of henna is best for you, think about what are you
trying to accomplish with henna. Are you looking for a fun thing to do once or
twice? Do you want to develop your henna interest as an ongoing hobby? Do you
want to start a henna business and do henna on others?
We offer henna in both powder and pre-mixed paste. Mixing your own henna
paste from our professional grade henna powders will give you the best possible
stains
. If you are not interested in learning to mix your own paste, our
pre-mixed henna paste is a great alternative. Think of it as the difference
between making your own marinara sauce from fresh tomatoes or using a jar of
Ragu pasta sauce. They both work, but there is a big difference in the final
results. I highly recommend learning to mix your own henna.
 Fresh Powder Henna
This is the real deal! There is nothing like mixing your own henna from
scratch and tweaking it to exactly how you like it. Our professional grade
powder henna is capable of spectacular results. If you are charging others to
henna them, you should be mixing your own henna. You can
learn more about the different types of powder henna we offer here.
Mixing henna is pretty simple. All you need is lemon juice, sugar, and
essential oils. Our henna comes with complete easy-to-understand mixing
instructions.
It’s really inexpensive too! Once you get your basic henna tools together
(that’s why I’ve created these great henna kits for you), you only have to
reorder the henna itself which is cheap! You can get our basic refill kit that
contains 100 grams of henna plus essential oils for only $15.99. This will
easily give you 75-200 henna tattoos. It’s common for experienced experienced
artists to get well over 300 henna designs out of 100 grams of henna.
If it were up to me, everyone would mix their own henna! You could say I’m
a mix-your-own-henna-activist! However, I understand that mixing henna is
not right for everyone, and that’s why we offer a quality pre-mixed henna
product that is ready to use.
Pre-Mixed Henna Paste
Looking for fun, easy, short term results from your henna? Pre-mixed paste
is for you. Our pre-mixed henna cones are ready to use with no mixing required.
These leave good color, but are not capable of the extra deep color and long
lasting results you can achieve from mixing your own henna. Our ready made henna
cones are great if you are using henna as a one-time thing or if you have no
interest in mixing your own henna. They are very popular for one-time
fundraisers and other one-time events.
Our ready made henna paste is made especially for us and express shipped
frozen. As soon as it arrives, it’s checked for quality and stored in our
in-house freezers. I do a weekly spot check with our henna cones. We put serious effort into offering a ready-to-use henna
paste that is as fresh as possible while still containing all natural
ingredients and absolutely no harmful chemicals.
Henna Ingredients:
Natural Henna Powder
Lemon Juice
Tea Tree Oil
Clove Bud Oil
Xantham Gum (sugar)
Sorbic Acid (instead of parabens)
The Science of Henna
Color & Longevity
 Getting good henna color is easy once you understand the "whys" behind the
rules. There are many things that will effect the results of your henna. Below
are the major factors to consider. Keeping these in mind while doing henna, will
help you get the best possible henna stain.
The color and longevity of a henna tattoo depends on several factors including how long you leave the paste on your skin, what part of the body you decorate, the cleanliness of the area, your skin chemistry, and how you care for your henna.
Henna starts off orange and darkens over 2-3 days to a red/brown color. The hands and feet get the darkest color and the further away from those areas you get, the lighter the stain.
Generally, you can expect good color for 5-10 days and all traces of henna will be gone in 1-3 weeks. The best color is 2-3 days AFTER the henna is applied.
- The cleanliness of the skin being tattooed.
Oils, lotions, sun block, and sweat are all barriers that will prevent the
henna from staining as darkly as it could. Self tanner can cause issues with henna stains.
- The part of the body being hennaed.
Thicker skin stains better than thinner skin. Generally, you can assume
palms of the hands and soles of the feet stain the best and the further away
from these areas you get, the lighter the henna tattoo stain.
- How long the moist henna is in contact with the skin.
The longer you leave the henna paste on the skin, the darker and longer
lasting your color, because it stains more layers of skin cells. As the skin
cells exfoliate away, there are still layers of stained skin below them. This is why your tattoo will stay much longer if you leave the paste on longer. I suggest a minimum of 4 hours of skin contact with the henna paste.
- Body temperature is a HUGE factor in releasing henna dye.
People with higher body temperature typically get better stains. When you are warm, your skin cells expand because they are trying to
release heat. When you are cold, they contract because they are trying to hold
in heat. This means when you are warm there is more surface area to stain and
more room for the dye in the henna molecules to penetrate the skin cells.
- How the dried henna is removed.
Do NOT use water when removing the dried henna paste. The paste should be
scraped off and any stubborn bits can be removed using olive oil. Avoid water
for as long as practical.
- How well you care for the henna tattoo.
Water should be avoided for as long as possible (24 hours is the goal, but not possible most of the time). Avoid anything that will exfoliate the skin (chlorinated
water, salt water, household cleaners, face wash, smoothing lotions).
- The henna mix that was used.
Fresh mixed henna will leave better longer lasting color than pre-mixed
henna. Play with your henna recipe to find what works best for you. Keep in mind
that you must allow sufficient time for the henna to release it's dye when you
mix your own henna and use proper essential oils.
- It takes time for the color to come up!
Remember, after the henna paste is removed, the henna is not at its full
color. It will continue to cure in your skin releasing dye molecules for 24-72
hours after henna paste removal.
Progression of a Henna Stain
These pictures are of henna on me using ORa henna and the Super Simple
henna recipe using 100 grams of henna and 1 ounce of essential oil. The henna
was left on for 2 hours with no sealer or added heat. Leaving the henna on
longer and adding a sealer/wrap can yield darker longer lasting color.
Nothing special was done in between these pictures. This is the natural
oxidation process of a henna stain.
Believe me, if I can get this kind of color easily, so can you.
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