Terp power, effects of sauna, freaky weird!

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Posted by Sarah Jasmijn on September 11, 2001 at 12:28:32:

Hi,

Another weird henna experience (tentative theory below):

I hennaed a morrocan style border on the inside of my husbands foot (almost a week ago, I think). I put NS on it, wrapped it, and he left it on overnight. It was pretty dark, and has since started to fade. Sunday and Monday (yeah, both!) we went to a sauna cum turkish bath (steam thing). Now for the freaky weird thing: The dots in the design *darkened*, they're almost black now, but the rest of the design faded! It almost looks like a photoshop gradient effect! The other design on his instep (celticy thingy) darkened a little here and there, and started fading around the edges on the second day of sauna & steam.

The same happened with a design on my foot: half the leaves on the vine faded, the rest darkened. I only left the design on until the paste was dry, and the half that faded was the half I smeared and took of early.

Both designs were done with the same batch of paste, on different days made with hennapowder, lemon juice, tea tree & rosemary EO.

In trying to figure out what made the difference, I came up with the following variables:

- The 'dots' in the border design were layed on much thicker than the lines were.
- The leaves on the vine that faded were the ones I smeared and took of sooner than the rest of the design. Note: the flower faded too, even though it stayed on as long as the leaves in the 'paste stage'. However, the leaves were thicker glops of paste on the skin, than the flower was.

Tentative conclusion:

- Thick glops of paste that stayed on the skin for a long(er) time *darken* with heat, even days after application.
- Thin layers of paste & any thickness paste that stays on for a short time (till before it's dry) fade quickly.

Further thoughts:

- Do the people who get darker stains lay the paste on thicker? (To get really fine lines only the width of the paste-thread your laying down needs to be thin, it can be less wide than high, if this makes sense.)
- Do the people who get darker stains use slightly thicker paste, so you have more henna per square centimeter paste?
- If yes to the above, this might go some way to explaining the differences. If no:

Other variables:

- If anybody really wants to do a 'scientific(ish)' comparison test of henna with or without terps, it might be useful to control the acidity. Different lemons probably have different levels of (citric?) acid. Maybe someone can be bothered to get (citric?) acid in a bottle or *something* with a 'controlable acidity' and mix up different batches varying only the acidity of the mix to see if that makes a difference. It won't be me, I'm afraid, I'm having to much fun with the recipe I have. ;) And I don't have time, room in my fridge, or enough 'willing victims' to try it out on.

Oh, one other thing: The border on my husbands foot seemed to 'bleed' colour around it a couple of days *after* the paste was washed off... Anybody else ever see something like that?

And about a design on my hand that's almost gone now: even though it was a terped paste in the brown colors range, when it started to decay, first it went speckly (terp fading effect) and then it went through the pumpkin phase aswell! And I wash my hands very often...

I'd be very interested to hear if anybody else has any ideas/thoughts or has seen a similar effect.

Cheers,

Sarah Jasmijn

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Re: colour bleeding BimboGeri 20:28:49 9/11/2001 (0)

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: Hi, : : Another weird henna experience (tentative theory below): : : I hennaed a morrocan style border on the inside of my husbands foot (almost a week ago, I think). I put NS on it, wrapped it, and he left it on overnight. It was pretty dark, and has since started to fade. Sunday and Monday (yeah, both!) we went to a sauna cum turkish bath (steam thing). Now for the freaky weird thing: The dots in the design darkened, they're almost black now, but the rest of the design faded! It almost looks like a photoshop gradient effect! The other design on his instep (celticy thingy) darkened a little here and there, and started fading around the edges on the second day of sauna & steam. : : The same happened with a design on my foot: half the leaves on the vine faded, the rest darkened. I only left the design on until the paste was dry, and the half that faded was the half I smeared and took of early. : : Both designs were done with the same batch of paste, on different days made with hennapowder, lemon juice, tea tree & rosemary EO. : : In trying to figure out what made the difference, I came up with the following variables: : : - The 'dots' in the border design were layed on much thicker than the lines were. : - The leaves on the vine that faded were the ones I smeared and took of sooner than the rest of the design. Note: the flower faded too, even though it stayed on as long as the leaves in the 'paste stage'. However, the leaves were thicker glops of paste on the skin, than the flower was. : : Tentative conclusion: : : - Thick glops of paste that stayed on the skin for a long(er) time darken with heat, even days after application. : - Thin layers of paste & any thickness paste that stays on for a short time (till before it's dry) fade quickly. : : Further thoughts: : : - Do the people who get darker stains lay the paste on thicker? (To get really fine lines only the width of the paste-thread your laying down needs to be thin, it can be less wide than high, if this makes sense.) : - Do the people who get darker stains use slightly thicker paste, so you have more henna per square centimeter paste? : - If yes to the above, this might go some way to explaining the differences. If no: : : Other variables: : : - If anybody really wants to do a 'scientific(ish)' comparison test of henna with or without terps, it might be useful to control the acidity. Different lemons probably have different levels of (citric?) acid. Maybe someone can be bothered to get (citric?) acid in a bottle or something with a 'controlable acidity' and mix up different batches varying only the acidity of the mix to see if that makes a difference. It won't be me, I'm afraid, I'm having to much fun with the recipe I have. ;) And I don't have time, room in my fridge, or enough 'willing victims' to try it out on. : : Oh, one other thing: The border on my husbands foot seemed to 'bleed' colour around it a couple of days after the paste was washed off... Anybody else ever see something like that? : : And about a design on my hand that's almost gone now: even though it was a terped paste in the brown colors range, when it started to decay, first it went speckly (terp fading effect) and then it went through the pumpkin phase aswell! And I wash my hands very often... : : I'd be very interested to hear if anybody else has any ideas/thoughts or has seen a similar effect. : : Cheers, : : Sarah Jasmijn
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