The Colouring Process
- The active ingredient ‘Lawsone’ that occurs naturally in the leaves of the Henna Plant is preserved naturally within the dried henna powder.
- The dye begins to work when the Henna Powder is activated by a catalyst, the key component being Read the full article »
The Geographical Origins of Henna
Henna is known locally throughout the Middle East and North Africa as ‘Henna’ or ‘Hene’ and is known as ‘Mendhi’ or ‘Mehendi’ in India & Pakistan. For a list of lesser known common names click here.
Henna powder destined for colouring the hair & adorning the skin is made from the crushed leaves of the Henna Plant Lawsonia Inermis, a tall shrub-like plant that thrives in hot and dry climates. Much of the world’s henna powder comes Read the full article »
A Brief History of Henna Body Art
Traditionally, the art of henna application has been a predominantly female practice. This probably accounts for the lack of documented information regarding its historical use; it was not considered necessary for women to read or write in a lot of the regions where henna has long been popular until quite recently in historical terms. Instead, the local knowledge and Read the full article »
Lawsone ~ From Lawsonia Inermis (henna leaves)
Lawsone is the phytochemical constituent of henna leaves, (and hence henna powder) that is responsible for creating the henna stain. The higher the lawsone content of the henna leaves, the deeper the resulting stain produced by the henna powder will be. On average the laswone content of ‘good quality’ henna powder is somewhere between 1% and 2%. The higher the temperatures where the Read the full article »
The Chemical Constituents of Henna
Henna Powder is quite simply, the finely ground dried leaves of the Henna Plant (Lawsonia Inermis L). The naturally occuring chemical constituents of henna powder are often referred to as ‘Biochemicals’ or ‘Phytochemicals’, because they occur naturally within plant matter. There are many phytochemicals in the henna plant, but for the purposes of henna body art we are primarily looking at ‘henna powder’ and so we are concerned only with the phytochemicals that exist in the henna leaves.
The Key Phytochemicals in Henna leaves are: Read the full article »
