Re: newbie henna user has questions
Posted by Kenzi on June 14, 2001 at 23:27:51:
In reply to: newbie henna user has questions posted by Angela on June 14, 2001 at 23:11:21:
: Hi, I'm Angela, an expat Canadian living in the U.A.E. In March I: discovered Aileen Marron's henna kit and found that I could buy
ready-
: made henna cones from the market in my building and now I'm HOOKED!
: I've spent hours and hours browsing henna sites on the internet and
: last week I discovered the joy of the henna forum. I think I've
----Welcome to the Forum. Glad you like it so much...I know I do.
read
: through almost every post in here! I have a couple of
: questions.First, is there any way of testing a pre-mixed henna
: mixture to find out what's in it? Any places that do that sort of
: thing? The reason I ask is that I've been using ready-made cones
from
: a local Indian henna salon here in Abu Dhabi and I suspect they're
: putting in some nasties to darken the colour. For three months I
had
: no problems, but a couple of weeks ago I bought a cone and did an
: elaborate design on the back of my hand and it itched like crazy
: (good stain, though). I didn't think much of it until I used the
same
: cone to do a neck design (by looking in the mirror) and ended up
with
: a red, swollen, itching neck/chest. Luckily, the redness went away
: after I scraped the henna off - and believe me, I couldn't get it
off
: fast enough! I cut the cone open to take a look at the henna and
: found that it smelled like gasoline. I actually tried a cone from
----Sounds very scary! My best advice to you would be to only use
premixed pastes that have the ingredients listed. Anyone who hides
the ingredients from you is probably hiding something toxic, and not
just guarding a family secret. The best thing to do is to mix your
own paste. As long as your powder is fresh you should be able to get
a great stain just mixing it with lemon juice.
: another Indian salon and got the same itchy results on my neck but
: not on my hand. I did ask about ingredients at both salons, but
: neither were willing to part with the information. After that I
: started trying to make my own paste from the powder and later did
: another neck design which I was able to leave on for 4 hours one
day
: and 5 hours the next (it didn't take well the first time, second
time
: it looked pretty good) with no itching whatsoever. Anyway, the
: obvious solution is to make my own paste so I know what's in it,
but
: I'm just curious about what I've been slathering on my body for the
: last three months. Also, I'm not very good at mixing my own yet and
: my cone rolling skills have a ways to go, so I may have to rely on
: them until I get better. Tonight, for the first time, I did henna
----You could try using a jacquard bottle and metal tip (which you
can order online in a number of places) or carrot bags (can also
order online).
on
: two of my friends and I was very frustrated with my cones/paste.
One
: of my friends has super sensitive skin so I mixed a batch of henna
: with only lime juice and tea to use on her. Unfortunately, despite
: the fact that I sifted the powder three times through a tea
strainer,
: the tip of the cone clogged every two seconds and I nearly threw it
: across the room in anger. All in all, the designs turned out well -
----Try straining your paste after you mix it, through a pantyhose.
I have instructions for doing this at the link below. It works
wonders esp. on lumpy henna paste or just paste made with really
coarse henna.
: or at least they looked good when they left but both wanted arm
bands
: and I don't know how well my henna will take there. For my first
-----The color takes on the arms about as well as on the neck so you
could still try it. Hands and feet are the best places for it. The
color takes best but also I think the henna looks best there.
time
: doing others I probably should have insisted on doing hands since I
: have more experience at it and the stain is more reliable. Live and
: learn. Second question - I saw a tip on the henna page sent by
Rachel
: Newcomb which says to add a bit of nail polish remover to the
paste.
: How safe/effective is this? Another question - I saw a design on
-----Yeah, that's a pretty common technique for getting dark henna,
but it is toxic. Just stick to really fresh henna and lemon juice.
Also think about adding some essential oils to help boost the color.
There have been some encouraging experiments with essential oils of
pine, frankincense, tea tree and ravensara. Try these and see what
you think.
the
: Usha Shah web page (http://www.mehendiart.com/4.htm) that looks
like
: it's shaded in. Can anyone tell me how to achieve that look? One
more
---That look is usually achieved by applying henna but only leaving
on the skin for an hour or so, just long enough to achieve an orange
color. Then you go back and do the rest of your design but leave it
on overnight so it gets really dark.
: thing (my husband says I have terrible e-mail ettiquette because I
: blather on and on), someone on the forum asked about making
transfers
: and I thought say that I've had success using sewing paper,
eyeliner,
: and mehlabiya oil to trace designs printed from the computer and
: transfer them to skin. Last comment - thanks for all the info
: everyone posts on the web about PPD's/black henna. I won't be
: touching it and I've already educated several people around here.
: - Angela
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