Henna Muse

Category: Experiments

  • Choosing Lavender Essential Oil for Henna Paste

    Explanation and Comparison of Lavender Essential oil Choices for Henna Artist

    lavender diagramWhat is Lavender Essential Oil?

    Lavender Essential Oil is obtained by distillation from the flower spikes of certain species of lavender. Like all essential oils, it is not a pure compound but is a complex mixture of phytochemicals, in this case including high percentages of linalool and linalyl acetate. Linalool happens to be a monoterpene alcohol great for improving henna stains. 

    You can learn more about how essential oils improve henna paste here.

    Spotting Imposters

    There are far more variations of fake lavender essential oil than the real thing! Two of the most common imposters are the least useful to us. Synthetic lavender fragrance oil is often simply called “Lavender scent,” or “Lavender Oil.” It may smell very much like you would expect lavender essential oil to smell, but the chemical constituents are not the same so it will not have the same medicinal effects or impact henna stain. Diluted Lavender essential oil is often marketed for aroma therapy or massage oil. In this case 90% or even more of the contents of the bottle will actually be a carrier oil such as almond oil or grape seed oil. Obviously this will decrease the dose and effectiveness in therapeutic use, and in a henna recipe those carrier oils can actually work to block the skin from absorbing dye! Other Lavender essential oil imposters may be a little harder to spot. They come from plants that are cousins of the lavender plant. True lavender has the latin name Lavandula angustifolia. Despite what you may have read elsewhere, the latin name Lavandula officinalis is also referring to true lavender. Its just outdated nomenclature. Many varieties casually called “lavender” will have a latin name that starts “lavandula,” but the second part is something else. We only want to use angustifolia or officinalis. Even within this specific variety there is still a surprising amount of choice and variation! We will explore that more later.

    Common Use vs Henna Artist Use

    As henna artists our use of lavender essential oil is unusual and specific. We shop for different qualities than the average consumer. Most people are looking for high levels of chemical constituents that have been known to reduce inflammation, pain, and to kill bacteria. Of the two largest components of essential oil, Linalyl acetate, does most of that work. We are looking for higher levels of the other one: linalool. More specifically we need it in lavender essential oil varieties that are unusually low in in camphor, which can be harmful in the amounts we use in our paste. 

    Long Standing Conventions

    As time goes on we take for granted the way of thing because “that’s just what we do.” You’ll hear this about a lot of traditional henna recipes, and unfortunately even with the addition of dangerous black chemicals! Possibly even more surprising is that we do this with modern recipes too! About 15-20 years there was a lot of modern experimentation with henna paste recipes. We learned a lot about paste preservation, which sugars help change textures and avoid cracking, and most relevant here, what essential oils impact stain the most and are safe to use. You can see most of the knowledge in this vein that has become common convention in the henna community. Specific to lavender oil, 40/42 has been dismissed as “adulterated,” which is not necessarily the case as I will explain in an upcoming post. Fine French lavender has been dismissed as sweet but wimpy in regards to ‘terping’ power. High Altitude Bulgarian lavender has been declared the winner for henna artistry. 

    A Fresh Look

    Page from Essential Oil Text BookI was inspired to do some new experimentation when I noticed something in one of my most trusted resources on Essential oils, Essential Oil Safety by Tisserand and Young. We have been operating under the assumption that French lavender was inferior for our needs to Bulgarian lavender, and also that high altitude lavender is much better suited to our uses than other crops. Taking a quick look at the list of chemical constituents of lavenders from different regions, shows French lavender to be substantially higher in linalool, which is the main monoterpen responsible for improving color in this particular oil! Most varieties contain other traces of monoterpens such as terpineol or cineole but these are not even nearly enough to make up for the difference. Hmmmm. A little more research lead me to understand that most French lavender is in fact high altitude lavender. It seemed to me that maybe we have been missing an important option in lavender selection for years!

    Let the Testing Begin 

    Obviously we need an experiment to check this out. I mixed four 1.5 teaspoons batches of Henna Muse Organic henna powder with lemon juice, and 1 ml each of a different variety of lavender. I used Fine French Lavender, 40/42 Lavender, Bulgarian Lavender, and Hungarian Lavender. Each was applied to the skin of my palm 24 hours after mixing, left to dry, then taped, and left on the skin for 8 hours.

    Lavender test paste on skin
    F=fine, 4=40/42, B=Bulgarian, H=Hungarian
    Lavender Essential Oil Test Batches
    Test Batches

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Looking closely at the photos below you can see very cleary that the French lavender is certainly not performing less than our favorite Bulgarian! In fact, I’m not sure it translates well in the photo but the French lavender is actually the darkest, followed by Hungarian, then Bulgarian, with the 40/42 showing the lightest color.

    It might be easier to see in this shot of the fade. The light is poor quality but you can see that the French and Hungarian stand out here, with the 40/42 all but gone. This is a 15 day photo. Obviously no care was taken to preserve the stain. It was getting tiresome to explain!

    A Little More Research

    Inspired by science that flies in the face of my habits, I decided to take the opportunity to do some more research. And its absolutely maddening! The common names for Lavandula Officinalis (remember that’s our favorite!) include English Lavender, French Lavender, Lavender, and will even occasionally be called Greek Lavender. BUT Lavandula stoechas, which is not high enough in monoterpen alcohols for our use,  has common names that include Spanish Lavender, topped lavender, and… wait for it… FRENCH lavender. Seriously. And that’s not all. For example France exports more lavender than they produce. All labeled French. But some of it must be coming from elsewhere! The use of the word “high altitude” is not regulated making it very difficult to know what a manufacturer or retailer actually has unless they tell you something specific about how and where it was grown. In fact lavender grown in France is almost all “high altitude” just as much so as Bulgarian. We should be quite familiar with the notion that like wine or henna, counting on a growing location is not enough to really know what to expect every harvest. Temperatures and rainfall can greatly impact a crop. Maybe last year Bulgarian lavender was best and next year French will be. Just like one year we love our Sojat henna and the next year its just not stringy enough. No wonder we’re confused. No wonder we blindly stick with a thing when it works. But I think we can do better!

    Conclusion

    What I’ve decided after all this testing and thinking and reading is that I am going to be much more willing to branch out and try new lavender sources. I’m going to test each one, and not assume that the region tells me enough. From now on I’m going to test samples of a few possibilities and show them to my customers so they can see exactly what to expect!

  • Does Sugar Lessen Henna Stains?

    I saw some conversations on the Henna Hub indicating that people found that adding sugar to their paste was making their stains lighter. Mark Samwella from Jamaica even did some carefully documented testing and showed side by side stains where the sugar mixes were visibly less than those without. I was stunned! I know with certainty that if I don’t add sugar here in the US Midwest that the henna will crumble and fall off before much dye can be absorbed. So what’s going on here? So I decided to do some of my own testing on how sugar impacts henna stain.

    Procedure:

    I put one tablespoon of Organic Rajasthani Henna powder in each of 8 small cups. To that I added enough lemon juice to moisten and 1 ml cajeput essential oil.

    I covered 4 of the cups with plastic wrap to let them dye release.

    To the other four I added the following: no sugar, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon sugar, 2 teaspoon sugar. Then I thinned to a working consistency with lemon juice, and covered with plastic wrap.

    After 12 hours at room temperature I added sugar to the 4 cups in the following way. The first one I added as much sugar as it would take to thin the paste to working consistency. To the rest 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon sugar, 2 teaspoons sugar.

    I applied all 8 mixes in generous dabs on my left calf, and again on my right calf, taping them after they dried.

    Results:

    The non sugared batch fell off within 40 minutes, as I expected. I was very surprised to find that after the color developed that patch still caught up to the others even with such little exposure! The tapped tests look pretty much the same except for the batches that are way over sugared, which are significantly lighter. I was surprised to see that my standard method of adding sugar to consistency was a little bit lighter, but in my dry, climate controlled kitchen, it did take nearly 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar, which is a LOT and nearly as much as the purposely over sugared 2 teaspoon batches. I saw virtually no difference between adding sugar at the initial mix vs. after dye release. I didn’t manage to get photo of the fade, but after days of wear and scrubbing the 2 teaspoon dots faded first, followed by the no sugar dots, then the rest. So even though the sugarless sample got as dark with less exposure it it did not last as long.

    henna batches ready for testing
    This image showing the no sugar batch falling off right away.
    Day two: Diagram of my non-taped leg stains
    Day two: (The taped leg is the inverse of the non-taped leg so the over-sugared batches are on the left here.) The taped leg shows very little difference in stain. The over sugared batches or slightly lighter.
    Day four: To my eye the darkest batches here are the 1/2 and 1 tablespoon, added after dye release batches.

    Conclusion:

    Yes I was surprised! But I will also keep using sugar. It does seem that TOO MUCH sugar impacts henna stain in a negative way. It makes sense though really. At that point your actually diluting the the amount of dye in the paste. I will probably reduce my maximum sugar addition from 6 tablespoons of sugar per 100 grams of paste to 4 before thinning with water, but on the whole I won’t change my method, or leave the sugar out all together.

    I was very surprised that the short exposure time of the non-sugar batch impacted the color so little! However it did greatly reduce longevity. This gives me confidence that most people will experience good stain even when they don’t have good after care. Duration of paste exposure is bound to be my next test!

    While Marc in Jamaica may have a very different environment from mine, his best practices are bound to be different. Its clear that his testing showed his method works for him. My testing showed my method works for me. I do believe that OVER sugaring to the degree of being non-workable anyway is probably the culprit where sugar causes an obviously poor stain. In my test they were clearly the only obvious outliers. My typical philosophy on henna methods is that within the margins of safe practice, every artists should do what works for them. And I stand by that.

  • About Mixing Henna

    As I try to brainstorm new content for this website, I’ve started thinking about getting back to basics. The most basic thing I can think of is mixing henna paste, and looking back at my previous posts I’ve spend some time going into great detail about henna chemistry, and special techniques in mixing henna, but what I haven’t done is post a very simple basic recipe.  So here it is! This is the simple beginner’s recipe that I include in my henna kits.

    Mixing Henna Paste

    This is the most basic recipe for mixing paste. You may want to make changes based on your preferences or your local climate, but this is a great place to start.

    Instructions

    Mixing

    1. Mix lemon juice into henna powder and sugar until it is the consistency of stiff mashed potatoes.
    2. Add essential oil and adjust the consistency of the paste to about that of pancake batter by adding more lemon juice.
    3. Recover and let stand 5 – 24 hours until it’s ready. The cooler the temperature, the longer it will need to stand. You can tell when it’s ready by putting a dot of paste on the heal of your palm. Let the paste dry, and rinse it off. If there is a bright orange stain, your paste is ready. This is called dye release.

    Filling applicators

    Spoon the paste into the included pastry bag. Snip the pointy end with scissors. Gently squeeze paste into the applicators. Only fill them about 2/3 of the way and use the remaining plastic to fold into a triangle and roll down. Use a tab of tape to hold it closed.

    Application

    Apply to clean skin. Allow the paste to dry for 30 minutes before touching it or covering with clothing. Leave dry paste on for an additional 4-8 hours.

    After care

    When the paste is removed the design will be pale orange. Allow 1-3 days for the color to deepen. Avoid water as much as possible in these first days. Use lotion or lip balm to keep skin moisturized and to seal it away from exposure to water before bathing.

    Next Steps

    After you’ve tried mixing henna paste with this recipe you’re ready to study advanced henna chemistry and my trademark sugaring method.

     

  • Essential Oils in Henna Paste

    Essential Oils In Henna Paste

    What is an essential oil?

    An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. They are often referred to as essence or oil of a specific plant, such as essence of lavender, or clove oil. Essential oils, like all organic compounds, are made up of hydrocarbon molecules and can further be classified as terpenes, alcohols, esters, aldehydes, ketones and phenols etc. (As henna artists we are most interested in specific terpenes called monoterpene alcohols, but we’ll get back to that a little later.) In plants these chemicals are naturally created as means of communication with other plants, to attract species that are helpful, and to repel those that are harmful. The also play varied rolls in plant metabolism. Its just by chance that humans are able to take advantage of them for medicinal purposes, as scents and flavorings, and to use essential oils in henna paste to give it a boost.

    Essential oils are made from the plant parts in three basic ways. (There are variations on each of these three methods. For more in depth information please see the resource list below.) Steam distillation is the most common method as its simple and cost effective. Heat is applied to the plant matter until the volatile liquid in the plant are vaporized, then condensed back into a liquid. Expression is a method reserved for citrus oils. With citrus fruits the essential oils are concentrated in little pockets between the skin and the fruit. The skins are pressed to release this oil, it and any juice are caught, and the juice is separated from the oil with a centrifuge. The last method, solvent extraction, is costly but necessary where some plants with very delicate oils would be damaged by steam distillation, such as with jasmine, rose, and some others. CO2 extraction produces the highest quality of oils produced this way, and will not have traces of solvents as some of the other solvent extraction methods may. Realistically though, for most people any oils produced by extraction will be far to expensive to use in henna paste.

    Its also important to note here what essential oils are NOT. Using a fragrance oil, or an essential oil diluted for aromatherapy or massage purposes will not improve henna stains one bit! Fragrance oils are man made, synthesized chemicals made just to smell like something. They do not have all the fine complexities of real essential oils. Often the part of an essential oil useful in improving henna stain doesn’t play much of a roll in the overall scent and wouldn’t be a part of the man-made counterpart. Also many fragrance oils contain phthalates or other chemicals that health conscious people may want to avoid. Another category of oils that are not helpful to henna artists are oils diluted for aromatherapy use. Most oils (with some exceptions like tea tree or lavender) are not recommend for “neat,” or direct undiluted use on the skin because they are too strong when used that way. Often oils intended for aromatherapy will be sold already diluted by a fixed oil such as grape seed oil or sweet almond oil. These oils will not be concentrated enough to work on paste. Pure oils added to paste are effectively diluted by the other ingredients in the mix so that they are still mild enough for use on skin.

    How do essential oils help improve stain?

    Essential oils dissolve lawsone molecules into a an evenly dispersed solution. Think of adding salt to water, and how once dissolved, each sip or drop of water will have the same amount of salt. Not only that, but in solutions materials have a more loose chemical structure that will make the lawsone more available to attach to skin. Lawsone, however is not water soluble so juice, tea, or water will not get the job done. It can be dissolved in things like kerosene or turpentine, but those ingredients would be horrible for our uses! These are dangerous chemicals! Henna artists need to use essential oils in henna that is skin safe and healthy for humans that will also dissolve the lawsone. Of all the hundreds, and hundreds of possible chemical constituents naturally present in essential oils, monoterpene alcohols are some of the most useful. They tend to be mild, nontoxic, effective against microorganisms, and have a tonifying effect. This means that they are often used in skin care and hygiene. As luck would have it they are also effective solvents for our purposes! Adding one to two tablespoons (15-30 ml) of essential oils high in monoterpene alcohols per 100 g of henna powder will dissolve lawsone in paste and greatly increase its ability to absorb into skin and bind to proteins there.

    There are some traditional uses of oils that are non-helpful wive’s tales. Applying oils to the skin before applying henna designs is not effective at all. In fact using essential oils “neat” or un-diluted directly on skin can be very irritating and using oils cut with fixed oils can seal skin away from the paste, blocking absorption of the lawesone dye. Applying essential oils after the paste is removed is also not helpful. It may be useful, however, to  use olive oil or other cooking oil to help loosen paste and remove residue rather than washing with water, and it may be helpful to apply oily products like lotion, lip or body balms, or even olive oil to skin before showing or bathing to seal the skin away from water and to help discourage exfoliation.

    Which essential oils are safe and effective?

    Common monoterpene alcohols include carvacrol, linalool, citronellol, geraniol, alpha-terpinol and terpinol-4, thymol, menthol, cineol, eugenol. Some of these can be irritating to skin when the are heavily present in an essential oil though! Of these those that are non irritating and and effective are lilalool, both terpinols, geraniol, ceneol, and cedrol. Tea tree has cineol. Cajeput and Niaouli both have high levels of cineol and terpineol. Geranium has geraniol and linalol. Clove bud has high levels of eugenol.

    There’s more to it than just identifying these chemical constituents. Just because an oil contains the good monoterpene alcohols, doesn’t make it a good oil for paste! Camphor, for example, is full of cineol and terpineol, BUT its also toxic because of other chemicals naturally present in the oil. Also, plants with similar names are NOT equal. Clove bud makes a perfectly fine paste enhancing essential oil (although can be irritating to some, so use it in small amounts) but clove leaf is a strong irritant! You should also know that sometimes essential oils are improperly labeled. Eucalyptus Globulus is a great “terp” (slang term for essential oils high in monoterpenes and  and skin safe for use in henna paste) but other varieties are not. Its common to find eucalyptus essential oil labeled “globulus” that turn out to be a different variety all together! Quality can be a serious issue too. Depending on how the oils are distilled, toxins involved in the extraction can be left behind. To complicate the issue even further many companies will use the term like “aromatherapy grade,” which are essentially meaningless. Some multi level marketing companies will supply their representatives with credentials that are without any value or authority to help them sell over priced, poor quality product. Be wary of this practice! One last thought on oil choices: Even the same species of plant can be different from one source to the next. Lavender is a perfect example. Even though they are all True Lavender, lavender from France (or fine lavender) has much lower levels of monoterpene alcohols that that grown in Hungary or Bulgaria. When shopping for essential oils for your henna paste it is really best to shop with a dedicated henna supplier. They know all these details including the ones that don’t effect other consumers.

    Please be careful and responsible when using essential oils in henna paste. Some oils can be dangerous for people with specific medical conditions. Lavender is very mild and a good choice for people who are pregnant, ill, or have very sensitive skin. Choosing good, safe, and effective essential oils for use in henna paste requires a lot of trust in a supplier, or a lot of independent research. Always be very careful in your choice and make sure that you clients are well aware of the ingredients in your paste.

    Sources and further study:

    The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils, Julia Lawless

    Advanced Aromatherapy: The Science of Essential Oils, Kurt Schnaubelt

    The Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Chemistry, Jane Withereim, et al

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_oil#Solvent_extraction

    http://www.essentialoils.co.za/extraction-methods.htm

    http://www.essentialoils.co.za/components.htm

    Glossary

    Fixed oils– Vegetable oils that do not evaporate easily such as olive oil, sunflower oil, coconut oil. These oils are often plant derived but are not essences.

    Lawsone– The dye in henna. Also called hennatonic acid, or natural orange 6

    Monoterpene Alcohol– a class of terpenes that consist of two isoprene units and have the molecular formula C10H16

    Volatile– Evaporates easily

    Copyright Jennifer Schafer 2016

    All rights reserved

    Please visit HennaMuse.com for more information

  • Jamila 2015 is here!

    IMG_0836The new crop of Jamila is in! Here is a first look at the paste and dye release test spot.

    You can see it is super creamy! Very smooth. Mixes with absolutely no lumps.

    jamila2105

    testspot

     

    The test spot is showing great color in a lemon juice mix with 24 hours standing time at 75 degrees.

     

     

    Coned up the paste has an ever so slight stringy quality. Just enough to give a good drape, but does not create peaks or fly-away strands when making dots or lifting the cone.

    jamila2015drape

    Check back soon to see stain pictures!

    Order your Jamila 2015

  • Choosing Essential Oils for Henna Paste

    oildothand

    Essential oils function as a solvent in your paste and help the dye molecule to be more available to attach to keratin in skin. Most solvents that come to mind first are things like kerosene or turpentine. Obviously they are not skin friendly and we don’t want them in paste! (That doesn’t mean that they are not sometimes found in imported pre-mixes! BEWARE IMPORTED PRE-MIXES!) There are solutions for skin friendly solvents and we can find them in essential oils with high levels of monoterpene alcohols. This is where the term “terp” comes from.

    oildotback

    Terps certainly improve the color and duration of henna, some more than others. Here are a few photos that I took of my own experiments a good ten years ago. I couldn’t even tell you know things like where the oils were purchased or what kind of henna I used, but it does serve to show that there can be a significant difference!

    newoils


    Mono what
    now?

    Every essential oils is made up of many chemicals that plants use as communication systems. These chemicals do things for the plant like mimic the pheromones of insects that would help with pollination. It really is a very intricate and amazing arrangement! Most of those chemicals are monoterpenes. Its the monoterpene ALCOHOLS that help us out with our paste. Its also important to point out that some monoterpene alcohols or essential oils containing them can be irritating or even toxic! Its important to choose carefully!

    Which monoterpene alcohols?

    The most effective, nontoxic, non-iritating monoterpene alcohols are terpineol, geraniol, cineol, cedrol, linalool. Lavender essential oils have high levels of linolool. Tea tree has cineol. Cajeput and Niaouli both have high levels of cineol and terpineol. Geranium has geraniol and linalol. Clove has high levels of eugenol. You may be asking how one knows this stuff! Since these are natural constituents of the oils, its not like they’re written on the bottle right?! Well, if you want to experiment rather than relying on the wisdom of those that came before you, I absolutely respect that! There are a few things you’ll need to know first.

    You’ll need a great essential oil book that lists the most common chemical constituents of essential oils. This won’t be perfect because plants are effected by variables like the temperature and soil that will make them slightly different season to season and location to location. They will give you a good idea of the constituents that are most present in an essential oil, usually listing them from the largest percentage to the least. I use the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils by Julia Lawless. Between home remedies, soap making, and henna research I use this book every day. It was an excellent investment.

    Having a good essential oil guide will help, but there are a few other things to know that will help you shop for oils intelligently and even to experiment with different oils in your paste. First of all, just because an oil contains the good monoterpene alcohols, doesn’t make it a good oil for paste! Camphor, for example, is full of cineol and terpineol, BUT its also toxic because of other chemicals naturally present in the oil. Also, plants with similar names are NOT equal. Clove bud makes a perfectly fine terp (although can be irritating to some, so use it in small amounts) but clove leaf is a strong irritant! You should also know that sometimes essential oils are improperly labeled. Eucalyptus Globulus is a great terp and non-iritating, but other varieties are not, however I have often found essential oil labeled “globulus” that turned out to be a different variety all together. Quality can be a serious issue too. Depending on how the oils are distilled, toxins involved in the extraction can be left behind. To avoid this, make sure to get “food grade” or “aromatherapy grade” essential oils that are pure, not diluted. One last thought on oil choices: Even the same species of plant can be different from one source to the next. Lavender is a perfect example. Even though they are all True Lavender, lavender from France (or fine lavender) has much lower levels of monoterpene alcohols that that grown in Hungary or Bulgaria.

    There’s a lot more to discuss on this topic! I’ll write more about it later, but to sum it all up, you can use oils from a trusted henna supplier and feel confident that you’ll get good color safely. If you want to step it up a notch, you may want to experiment with other oils that aren’t used as commonly. Basil and Juniper berry might be good choices! But either way, it is vital that you do your own research when using oils to make sure that you are using them safely and always make sure your clients are aware of the oils you choose. Some folks may be allergic to some oils. They may interact with conditions or medications. Rosemary oil can induce early labor! Make sure you know your oils! Also don’t over do it. You should look at essential oils like medicines, that can be harmful when too much is used. I’d never recommend using more than 1 oz (2 tablespoons) per 100 g henna powder.

    Playing with essential oils can give you an opportunity to really customize your paste AND improve color. Just make sure to do it responsibly.

  • Maintaining a Standard: The BEST Henna.

    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:

    Testing new henna 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!

  • Henna on Wood Experiments

    Warning! Science content! If you can’t cope with a chemistry lesson today skip the following paragraph and move right on to the pictures.

    I’ve been learning a lot about the chemistry of henna in the last few years. One of the most confusing and notable things about henna is the apparently contradictory information on pH. Henna powder needs a mildly acidic solution (pH of about 2-4) in order for the dye to be “released” from the plant material. What that means is that the dye molecule (lawsone) is attached to a sugar molecule in the leaf. A process called hydrolysis breaks the sugar and lawsone apart so that its free to do its job. The next thing that happens is that the lawsone attaches its self to cellulose (in the case of paper and cotton) or keratin (in the case of skin, hair, and silk.) This happens by a reaction called Michael Addition which prefers alkylin (above a pH of 7) environments. So, lawsone requires a low pH to be made available for use, but a higher pH in oder to be used! What can we do? Here’s what I did:

    I soaked one craft stick in ammonia (A) and the other was left alone as a control (C.) The pictures below show the result immediately after removing paste, several days later, and after exposure to heat several days after removing the paste.

    We can see clearly that the ammonia soaked stick is darker, especially at first. We can also see that with the addition of heat and time, the stick that was not soaked in ammonia nearly “caught up” with the other. This brings me to the conclusion that the dye will attach to the wood even in a neutral envirnonment it just takes more time. You may also notice that the color is warmer in the stick that was not soaked. In the end, you may prefer not to use ammonia on wood if you like the warmer color. If your in a big hurry, on the other hand, you may want to give it a try!