The ammonia rant

Posted by Catherien Cartwright Jones on October 12, 1999 at 03:05:33:

In Reply to: Catherine's ammonia experiment...questions posted by Kenzi on October 11, 1999 at 21:06:13:

I have an ammonia rant if you need it....
the short answers are:
when you take the henna paste off your skin, it will begin to oxidise.
That's what you see as it darkens for the first 48 hours of
darkening. To push the oxidation into hyperdrive, you put your palm
or sole into a piepan of plain, generic household strength ammonia as
soon as you get the henna scraped off, and wiggle your fingers in the
ammonia for 8 or so minutes. The ammonia is the no-sudsing,
no-lemon favoring sort, and household strength only sort of ammonia.
The ammonia shouldn't be used on anything other than your palms or
soles, because the rest of your skin absolutely won't work with this
(not porous enough) and you'll get caustic burns (skin is too thin).
This should never be done by children, and it is better to do it if
you have crusty, firm, slightly calloused grownup skin. Soft dainty
skin does not work well with this. The ammonia will exfoliate your
skin before it oxidises the henna.
I do this frequently, and it looks really lovely, but it is tricky to
make perfect. On my palms and soles, this will make filagree
bittersweet henna turn inky black.
I don't do the lemon-sugar stuff. I do NS and a wrap.....for me it's
faster, more reliable and a damn sight darker.

Follow-ups:

• Re: The ammonia rant...thanks Kenzi 03:16:48 10/12/99 (2)
  • Re: The ammonia rant...thanks Catherien Cartwright Jones 15:47:26 10/12/99 (1)
    • Re: Got henna? Amy C 20:04:55 10/14/99 (0)