About Henna
 Henna, lawsonia inermis, is a plant that has been used as a natural dye for over nine thousand years by people of many cultures and religions. In addition to its properties as a dye for skin, hair, nails, textiles and more it has known medicinal properties as an antifungal and anti-inflammatory. Henna is generally cooling to the skin and also acts as a sun block.
Henna is known by many names: Henna, Heena, Mehendi, Mehandi, Mehndi, M’hendi, and even appears in the Bible’s Song of Solomon as Camphire.
Henna’s body art traditions have adorned people all over the eastern world, from South Eastern Asia, the Middle East and Mediterranean regions, Arabia and Northern Africa. Henna’s use and traditions have long followed trade routes and have migrated all over the world and are now very popular in the West as well as the East. Henna is involved in traditions the world over associated with: Menarche, Marriage, Childbirth, rites of passage, to celebrate family and religious holidays, for victory, luck, joy, special adornment or to prepare a body for burial. Henna’s plant spirit medicine corresponds with coolness, gentleness, joy, purification, blessedness, fertility, and the earth.
Henna designs on the skin have a life cycle of their own darkening over three or four days, and then fading gradually as skin exfoliates over the next 2-3 weeks. Remember the darkening process time when booking henna for special occasions and try to give yourself a couple of days before any special events for maximum darkness in your design.
For more information on Henna’s cultural uses, botanical and geographical notes, how- to’s, free books and patterns and community resources please check out The Henna Page.
How to care for your Henna
After care instructions:
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First, Don’t Smear your henna! Avoid touching the paste until it has dried, which may take 45 minutes to 1 hour
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 Keep the paste on your skin as long as possible. 4-8 hours is optimal, though longer than that is ok too. The longer the paste stays on your skin, the darker the stain will be.
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Gently steaming the design with the paste on for brief periods will help darken the stain. You can also steam the design right after the paste is removed to help spike the color.
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Do not rinse paste off skin, additives in water might interfere with the darkening of the stain. Instead, scrape the stain off with a credit card edge, dull knife or fingernail.
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Avoid immersing the hennaed area in water or exposing it to detergents and cleaning chemicals as much as possible during the first 24-48 hours it is on your skin.
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Moisturize your henna with a heavy moisturizer; cocoa butter, or even olive oil, before bathing.
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 Your Henna design will last longest if you refrain from immersing it in water or scrubbing it. Keep it moisturized.
- ENJOY!
Your henna stain should darken over the next 48 hrs, and should fade gradually, disappearing in 5-21 days.
Black Henna Warnings
Henna’s dye molecule is called lawsonia. Lawsonia is red-orange. Real Henna is NOT black, or any other color except derivations of red. When the paste is on the skin it may dry to a greenish or brownish black, but the stain it leaves on the skin will be red-orange.
Henna products that profess to leave a black stain on the skin very probably contain para-phenylendiamine, or ppd, which is a very concentrated coal tar derived dye also used in hair dye. PPD is a known trans-dermal toxin and allergic sensitizer and is also carcinogenic. PPD can cause painful blistering sores on the skin which will leave permanent scars.
PPD can also cause serious health problems spanning from constant skin irritation if exposed to any chemicals in the same class as PPD (like cosmetics and textile dyes for clothing and upholstery) to very serious life altering illness such as renal failure.
Rovinghorse Henna will never sell or use black henna!
For more information go here: HP Black Henna Warnings. http://www.hennapage.com/henna/ppd/index.html
G6PD Anemia
While Henna is among the most neutral plants as far as allergic reactions and sensitizations go, there are some things to be concerned about for certain individuals.
If you are pregnant and have experienced anemia, G6DP Deficiency (Glucose-6 Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency) or have children who have experienced G6PD or Hyperbilirubinemia.
Do not apply henna to children under the age of 10 who have suffered from those conditions either.
As a rule, at Rovinghorse Henna, we check with pregnant mothers before we henna them, and suggest that they inform their care providers about their choice to henna while pregnant. We also do not henna anyone under the age of 4, in case of G6PD syndrome.
While Henna is among the most neutral plants as far as allergic reactions and sensitizations go, there are some things to be concerned about for certain individuals.
If you are pregnant and have experienced anemia, G6DP Deficiency (Glucose-6 Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency) or have children who have experienced G6PD or Hyperbilirubinemia.
Do not apply henna to children under the age of 10 who have suffered from those conditions either.
As a rule, at Rovinghorse Henna, we check with pregnant mothers before we henna them, and suggest that they inform their care providers about their choice to henna while pregnant. We also do not henna anyone under the age of 4, in case of G6PD syndrome.
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