making henna

[Kris]

If anyone has any recipes for making henna, I'd be happy if you would share them. Thanks

[3youni]

Usually you just mix the henna powder with reg. water-not too much..just enough to make a thick paste, and easy enough to spread on your hand. Some people mix lemon juice with it (they claim it makes the color stronger) Also for brides they mix it with honey and ma-zahar (rose water) be creative (BTW, once u got the paste if u let sit for a few hours it will turn red on your hand a lot quicker)

[LalaMimi]

It depends on how you want to use the stuff - I know that if you want to use it to dye your hair - you can drain a tea bag in the mix, to tone your hair with more red or add coffee to give a tone of brown... you can leave it on your hair for as long as you like, from 20 minutes, to leaving it in your hair over night.

As for henna tattoos - in Morocco, they also mix in stuff called Duliyou (I have no idea what it is called in English) - a chemical, which is supposed to make it stay on longer and brings out more red/black dye... but if you have sensitive skin it is not ideal.. I can still see etchings on my arm, from my last session of naqish last year also it stings like mad, when the henna is left on the skin to dry.

Another thing - while the henna is drying or has dried, they spray perfume to re-moisturise the henna, in order to get more dye to absorb into the skin..

I hope that helps.

[lalasamira]

Lalamimi

Douliyou is white spirit… i.e paint stripper… which is why it bloody stings because I don’t think white spirit was intended to be used that way. I remember they put loads of it in my henna for my wedding and it hurt so much I wanted to cry… my hand came up in lumps.

Asian henna is better… its comes out darker without all that chemical crap put in… and it comes off quicker which means you don’t end up with that horrible yellow mess on your hands for a week when it starts to wear off.

[Ghazala]

Does anyone know where you get that really dark henna the Somalis use?

[_nadia_]

No... but me and Samira know someone who does

[_nadia_]

Try looking in Somali shops, there's loads around... I know there's quite a few around Shepherds Bush.