How to get dark Henna stains

Henna stains the skin in a very predictable, chemistry type of way. A good stain relies on many different factors. Some things will be beyond your control, ph balance, general health but there are many thing you can do to allow your stain to become as dark as possible.

1. Buy the best Henna you can!

Cheep Henna will provide cheep stains! Any Henna powder sitting on a shelf will not be nearly as good as Henna bought from a good supplier. Premade Henna cones bought at the Indian markets are JUNK. They contain chemicals, smell horrible, can burn the skin and give bad stains. Do not fall into the trap that Indian Grocery Stores will have the best Henna because they are Indian!

2. Placement

Henna stains the best on hands, feet, arms & legs.
Necks, backs, bellys, chests, faces do not stain as well.

3. Proper prepping

Skin should be cleaned, most artists use alchohol. Lotions, oil should be removed.

Some people insist on rubbing oil ( mehndi or lavender) into the skin befor doing Henna for a darker stain. This is counterproductive! Henna needs a good clean bond directly to the skin for the darkest stain!

4. Plenty of time on the skin

Skin loses it's ability to asorb Henna after 8 hours of direct contact. So, keeping Henna paste on for 3 days will not give you a better stain. We recomend keeping paste on for at least 4 hours on hot days to 8 hours on colder days.

5. Stay warm

This is very important! If you have cold hands or feet, wrap up after getting Henna. Henna grows in the dessert, it can not grow at all in colder climates. We keep Henna in freezers to prevent the paste and powders from losing it's dye, so it only makes sense that cold limbs will inhibit the stain process.

6. Avoid water

This is crucial! After you scrape off the Henna paste, avoid getting the area wet for as long as possible (24 hours is optimal.) Water will wash away the top thin layer of Henna that is left behine after removing the paste. This top layer is key to awsume stains, so no water!

If you must shower you can apply a light coat of veggie or EVOO to the stain, but it will compromise the stain slightly.

Do NOT apply any petrolium products! They will prevent the stain from developing fully.

Do NOT swim! Water is bad, chorinated water is worse!

7. Time to develope

Henna stains darken by drawing in oxygen. It takes 24-48 hours for a stain to fully develope after the paste is removed.  Give it time before you think your henna has failed.

Imagine a banana turning brown, or apple slices turning brown, it is the very same oxidation process Henna goes through. A slight wash with lemon juice and water will stop an apple from turning brown, Henna can be just as finicky.

Good luck with your Henna. Like anything, things worth having take time and effort and a bit of planning in advance. 

Busy busy busy

Hello, Hello!

It has been a crazy first couple of months here at KC Henna Supply.

Since starting this business I have been so busy and loving every moment of it!

Keep the emails, phone calls and orders coming and I will keep mixing, rolling and supplying the best Henna to Kansas City!

I am very excited to announce some new things coming very soon.

We have started working with Cindi of Emerald Hummingbird. Very soon we will have her homemade lotions, lip balms, oils & goat-milk soaps for sale on the website.

Cindi is as passionate about her natural body care products as I am about my natural body art so we were meant to be. Cindi lives just south of Kansas City, makes all of her products by hand and is amazing!

How amazing is Cindi? She made our 6 month old baby, Lillea, homemade baby-butt cream! Zero smell, works amazing, has zinc to protect her bum. We love it and love having a happy rash free baby.

I highly recommend the Cinnamon Toast Soap. It is like scrubbing your body with breakfast bread. It's wonderful!

Also the chocolate mint lotion balm; doubles as lip balm and is by far the best smelling chocolate mint I have ever tried.

All of Cindi's products are 100% natural, crafted with love with here in Kansas City and she gladly entertains custom orders.

I will get those on the website as soon as possible. ( We have yet to shoot website pictures for the products, so it might be a few weeks away.) As always, if you would like more information before I get the website updated please email me and I will forward your information to Cindi.

Other news:

KC Henna Supply will be giving and selling Henna at the Peculiar and Harrisonville Farmer's Markets this summer.

Please check our calender for exact dates and times.

We also have some really great summer programs going on for the kids at the local Libraries. Those dates will be updated on the calender as soon as the dates are set. Most activities will be in June and July.

This year we have added an "India" program. I am super excited for this! We are going to dress up the Librarians in Saris, learn about and do Rangoli, maybe do some Bollywood dancing and of course get some glitter Mehndi. Can I fit all this in one hour? I hope so LOL. I am going to give it my most valiant effort.

For those that do not know, or are new to KC Henna; we support our local communities, kids, libraries and businesses. We do not make money on our library programs, we charge only for supplies & operating coats. We donate our time, skills and passion to our kids for these programs and we LOVE to do so. PLEASE come help support the libraries too by enrolling your children in the summer reading programs.

The theme in Cass County this year is "Many stories one world." Our kids will be learning about different cultures & diversity. It is a wonderful FREE program so please enroll your children.

(AND you get several opportunities for free body art from Kaci; win win!!!)

Are you affiliated with a library or school and would like KC Henna Supply to come teach a program? Send me an email at info@kchenna.com. I would love to talk with you.

As usual, have questions about Henna? Please send me an email. I would be happy to answer any questions I can.

Until next time;

Have a wonderful day & include some art in your life.

~kaci~

A Short History of how Henna came to India and Pakistan

A short history of how Henna came to India and Pakistan.

Henna has been an integral part of Southeast Asian culture for hundreds of years but, did you know Henna actually did not come from India or Pakistan?

The first recorded use of Henna came around 7000 bce in Crete. It is thought henna was used there for bridal ceremonies. Back then there were no Mehndi designs, woman just dipped their hands and feet in Henna producing solid red palms and feet.

In fact until rather recently Henna was mostly a medicinal herb and not primarily used for making beautiful designs on people.

The first written document to mention Henna as a medicine is also one of the oldest documents archeologists have recovered. The text is called the Embres Papayrus. It is from ancient Egypt and list several medicinal uses for Henna, mostly for skin conditions.

In 1700 bce the Egyptians were the first to use Henna as a body adornment. Upper class nobility often dyed their hair and fingernails with Henna as a symbol of their high status.

Henna was such a large part of Egyptian culture that many mummies have been recovered with Henna dyed finger tips.

The use of Henna migrated east from Egypt and eventually came to India around 500 bce. Workers would dip their hands and feet in cool Henna paste to help provide some relief from the hot temperatures.

After a while the practice spread to Indians of all castes. Rich and poor alike used Henna.

The first Henna design was a round circle in the palm of the hand. This was made by mixing Henna into a dough like consistency and pressing it between the palms of the hands. It is thought that using Henna in this manner offered cooling properties without the mess of dipping the hands and feet into a bowl of Henna.

From balls of Henna people started to use sticks to apply Mendhi patterns onto the hands and feet. This became a well established practice throughout India that lead to bridal Mehndi designs by the 1930s.

Sometime in the 1980s someone in India had the great idea to place Henna in a plastic bags and to use it to apply Mehndi designs.

With the invention of the " Henna cone" Mehndi has reached new heights in design and intricacy.

Since then, Henna has spread into all cultures all over the globe.