Re: Natural Red henna and Natural Black henna

Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on May 18, 2000 at 08:16:35:

In Reply to: Re: Natural Red henna and Natural Black henna posted by Carrie on May 18, 2000 at 01:32:28:

The pic here is RED henna with the ammonia trick. That's the most
widely used way to blacken henna, and if your henna is fresh enough,
if your hands are porous enough, and if it's hot enough, your sweat
will do the job just fine.

The black henna (the root stuff) in the sacks in the stores does NOT
dye skin well at all. It is gritty, and leaves only the faintest
grungy greyish stain that lasts barely 3 days. That product is for
hair. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to get it to work on
skin. It just didn't happen.

IF you have a red henna that is very very fresh, excellent quality,
and you leave it on a LONG time on very porous skin, and add extra
heat, (particularly combining it with clove) on your palms and soles
you will see the stain go blackberry jam color or ruby/raven on the
second day. However, for people in the US , it's very unusual for
anyone to get henna that fresh, it's unusual for anyone to have skin
that porous (if you are an agricultural worker, or athlete, you will
have such) and in most of the country it's just not that warm. That's
why it's so unusual to see such a dark color here, though it's all
over North Africa and the ME.

Follow Ups:

• If you look Anoise 11:25:25 5/18/00 (2)
  • Fresh shipment right here Kenzi 20:01:58 5/18/00 (1)
    • I'll try the photo again! Kenzi 20:03:47 5/18/00 (0)