How to care for your henna
Here are some do's and don'ts to ensure you get the most out of your henna:
- Before your appointment, use a exfoliting scrub to remove any dead skin cells. This ensures the henna stains the fresh skin cells instead of the dead skin cells and will therefore fade less quick.
- Do not use any moisturizer or hand cream on the day of your appointment. The cream creates a barrier between your skin and the henna.
- After the henna is applied, keep the paste on as long as possible. The longer the paste is kept on, the darker and longer lasting the stain will be. A minimum time of 6 hours is required but for the best results wrap your henna up and go to sleep with it!
- To wrap your henna, cover it with toilet tissue and cling film. Your body heat helps darken the stain so the cling film will help to make the skin warmer. The tissue will absorb any moisture to ensure the skin is warm but not sweaty as this will cause the henna run and smudge.
- If you're not able to wrap the design, lemon sugar solution can be applied to the henna to help keep the paste in it's place.
- When you're ready to take the paste off, don't use any water! Scrape the paste off and try keeping the hennaed skin dry for at least 24 hours. Getting the skin wet will stop the darkening process.
- The design will be bright orange at first and will darken in the next 24/48 hours to a beautiful dark reddish brown. The image below shows how a henna stain progresses on the hand.
- Exfoliation of the skin is what causes henna to fade so keep the hennaed area moisturised and avoid scrubbing the area. Wear rubber gloves when doing housework and rub aftercare balm or oil into it before bathing or swimming.
Depending on the aftercare your design can last up to 3 weeks.
Enjoy your henna body art!
