All pre-rolled henna cones are not created equal! As I’ve mentioned before, the supplies I sell are the same stuff I use myself. I don’t know what it is about me, but I CANNOT seem to cut a cone tip straight to save my life. No matter what I use to cut it (I’ve tried thread scissors, razor blades, and nail clippers) or how carefully I do it, I always get little curly-Q’s of paste when I try to use the cone. My solution: I roll them open. Yes, Henna Muse’s cones have an open tip.
I must say, I’m pretty doggone good at cone rolling. They don’t blow out, as long as you don’t over-fill. The tips have an amazingly consistant size despite being hand rolled. And yes, I roll them all myself. I do have a few pointers for using and filling open tipped cones that I’d like to share:
1. Fill the cones over a towel. There will probably be a little dribble of paste that escapes the tip, especially when you close the back end. Rolling over a towel will save you a mess.
2. Be careful when transporting open tipped cones! Make sure you keep them safe from being smooshed, because they will ooze if the end up under all the design books in your gig bag. I keep mine in a zipper sealed plastic bag, in a lunch box.
3. Try a tap of tape! If you put tape over the tip after you fill the cone they will be less likely to ooze.
4. This one is true of ALL cone, open tipped or otherwise: Don’t stack empty cones inside each other! Sometimes they get stuck together. Pulling them appart can shift the layers of the cone making it pretty much useless.
Check out this cone filling video! Since I made this movie, I’ve stopped putting the tape around the edge of the back end. As long as you fill only 2/3 of the way, they don’t tend to leak. The tape is unnecessary.
When I was in college, I had a bad case of what I called Artist’s ADD. I was never able to focus on one medium long enough to really master it. I’d see a little glass work, and I HAD to know how that was done. I would see some polymer clay sculpture and have to try that, and so on, and so on. Then I found henna! I think the thing that keeps me focused on henna all the many facets of henna to learn. I just can’t ever get bored. If I tire of actually hennaing, I can go study the cultural aspect for awhile and learn about traditions and motifs of different regions. If I get tired of that I can study henna farming, or draw some new designs, or work on my recipe, or study henna chemistry. This may be true for any art that one feels passionate about, but if that’s the case, henna is the medium that finally captured my passion.
I was never a fan of chemistry in high school, and in college I managed to dodge it all together. When it comes to henna though, I’m absolutely captivated! Considering my complete lack of education in chemistry, I’ve been moved to teach myself the things I should have learned when I was young in order to better understand just how henna works. I’ve been looking over this problem for 6 or 7 years with a great amount of frustration. I know that Lawsoneis the name of the dye in henna, and that it is activated in a stable way by a mildly acidic solution. I know that it binds to keratin in skin. I know that exposure to air oxidizes the henna causing the color to get darker. I get kinda fuzzy on the details…
But here is one well written article about how it all works! The focus in on henna for hair, but chemistry is basically the same except for small differences in the proteins that make up the keratin in skin and hair. Check it out!
Its important to me, and the reputation of Henna Muse, to always have a great, reliable henna that give fantastic color. I’ve been testing the waters on some new suppliers lately. This is a chore that requires some experimentation and research. I don’t just go buy any henna and start flinging at at my clients! I thought I might share how this works.
The first step is finding new suppliers. This can be surprisingly tricky. Henna comes from places that don’t necessarily have the best political relationship with the US. This can create expensive messes that involve missing packages, confiscations, and other “imperial entanglements.” On top of that, there’s usually at least a cultural barrier to communication if not a language barrier too. There’s really nowhere to go for advice on this topic as other henna artists, who in most cases tend to share what they know quite readily, DO NOT share their favorite exporters. Most artists who import their own henna need to be able to sell it to their customers. If they’ve gone through the risk and effort to find a reliable source with good product, they need to protect that information. I have a different angle on this. I’m just looking for the BEST henna for my clients, AND I happen to be allergic to paying retail. These overseas suppliers tend to have minimum orders of something between enough henna to fill my home to roughly 16 lbs. Even if I find a great supplier with a 16 lb minimum, that’s more henna than Henna Muse can use in a year or two! I probably will have to sell off some of my new-found henna at the end of the day, even though that’s not my original intent.
After finding and emailing about a dozen possible vendors and feeling out which will be reliable, I start pushing on my favorites to send me samples. International vendors MUST be trustworthy. Payments are not sent simply by a check you can stop payment on, or a credit card, where you have the bank’s support. Funds are sent via Western Union or some other cash transfer service. Once sent, the money is GONE. This is the biggest reason the average henna user seeks out an American supplier who takes this part of the risk for them. Often negotiations on those free samples help me suss out which suppliers might be good choices. Below is an email I received from a company that had ALREADY sent me a FREE sample.
Dear Mr. Jen
We are waiting for your valued reply.. we request to pay US$15 only and we will send the parcel for you.. we assure you will be happy to use our 100% pure & natural Henna powder (Rajasthani)…
We are excepting your valuable response soon.
Best Regards
Sunil
So, then! Even if their henna is terrific, I have to wonder whether this company is organized well enough to deliver adequate customer service, or if there are individual employees within the company looking for an opportunity to take advantage of me! I can just imagine Sunil telling me that he never received my funds when really they’re in his own pocket!
With the samples in hand, the next step is fun! I mix up a little bit of each henna, careful to use the same recipe for each. Then I test them out. When mixing up the henna from the exporter above, I found the texture to be just lovely! No chunky bits, and it was very smooth with just a bit of elasticity. BUT, this is the color two full days after removing the paste:
This is most certainly NOT acceptable color! On this part of my arm I would expect to see something the color of a chocolate bar. This is barely caramel.
I wasn’t exactly prepared to trust this exporter anyway, so I can’t say that I’m broken hearted that the color was poor, but I did really like this design and wish it was dark enough to show off a bit.
This first exporter was a bust, but I have 4 more samples sitting on my kitchen counter just waiting for me to test drive! Surely one of them will be a hit. Then I just have to work up the nerver to send a fairly significant amount of money to a stranger halfway around the world! Wish me luck!
Dying your hair with henna can be messy and stressful if you’ve never done it before. This article will teach you everything you need to know and even has step by step instructions WITH PHOTOS.
