Re: New Skin vs. lemon/sugar water (lots more)

Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on November 22, 1999 at 14:23:28:

In Reply to: New Skin vs. lemon/sugar water (lots more) posted by Amy on November 22, 1999 at 07:04:27:

You might compare what you're doing to the techniques at the link
below. That technique, with good henna, gives me deep burgundy to
near black on palms and soles, and rich browns on the rest of the
skin.

If you are not using lemon juice in your paste, you will definitely
have to have it in the fixer to get a dye release. The purpose of any
fixer is to keep the henna firmly in place long enough to get the
hennotannic acid to stain the skin. NS and a wrap makes your skin
sweatty so your perspiration rehydrates the henna so it stays slightly
moist and perfectly in place for as many hours as you have the wrap
on. The color improvement is really dramatic with and without a wrap.
The wrap also raises the temperature of the henna on the surface of
your skin, so you get a much darker color.

Henna most efficiently releastes dye at ph 5.5 or more sour. That is
why many people use lemon juice to mix their henna rather than water.
The dye release over 12 to 24 hours is far greater. You can watch
the dye release under a microscope, and count the brown dots as they
appear. Henna with water releases some brown dots but not many.
Lemon juice releases brown dots like crazy.

Use any kind of bowl you want. I use a plastic butter tub with a snap
lid. Some people carry on a great deal about henna without having
bothered to do side-by-side tests or ever once thought to look up how
henna works in terms of heat, chemistry, and how it actually interacts
with skin. Don't let me get started on that one!

If you are working a big design, and your henna paste is beginning to
crack and flake (there are ways to help that by making the paste a
little stickier) nail it back down to the skin with one or other
thing. No point in it falling off. There's nothing wrong with using
lemon-sugar for this.... but it's slower than NS and you're more apt
to dislodge bits of your pattern.....

Curiously cnough, there is no mention of lemon sugar to crust henna
anywhere in the literature until very, very recently. Wrapping seems
to have been preferred, along with reapplication of the design. Also,
there is no mention of euc or mehlabiya oil before the '80s in any
henna mix anywhere. I don't find any improvement in henna stain when
I use them, and they give me blisters, so I don't bother with them.

After 6 or 8 hours under a wrap you can get rid of your henna any way
you want. At that point it's done it's job. Keep it on yourself as
long as you can, though.

First chance you get, spend a long evening or 3 going through all the
archives on this forum! There's some stuff here that will help.

If you want a full technique rant, in 4 part harmony, let me know, I
have one, jpgs and all.

• Mehandi from the TapDancing Lizard

Follow-ups:

• Re: New Skin vs. lemon/sugar Natasha Papousek 15:46:35 11/22/99 (2)
  • BIG thank yous to Catherine and Natasha :) Amy 00:44:45 11/23/99 (1)
    • Re: BIG thank yous to Catherine and Natasha :) Amy C 16:56:06 11/23/99 (0)