So, you found your new favorite past-time and it’s quickly turning into a bit of an obsession. You hardly have any bare skin left (neither has anyone else in your household who is willing to sit still long enough!) and your freezer is filling up nicely. If you’re not ‘doing henna’, you’re thinking about henna and if you’re not thinking about it you’re online looking at henna. While you’re surfing the net you come across other addicts artists and join the online community. It’s great to share photos and experiences, but every now and then these words and terms pop up and you’re not quite sure what they mean, it’s all Mehndi Mumbo Jumbo!

Fear not, here is a Henna Jargon Buster with the most commonly used terms to help you out!

• BAQ henna – Stands for Body Art Quality henna. A term commonly used when talking about dyeing hair with henna. BAQ henna is sifted more finely and has better staining powers than ‘henna for hair’.
• Cello – Abbreviation of cellophane, a type of plastic used to wrap flowers in and of course used to make henna cones.
• EO’s – Short for Essential Oils. These aromatherapy-grade oils are added to the henna paste.
• Fillers – Small repeating patterns used to fill in spaces in henna designs.
• LS – Stands for Lemon-Sugar. Lemon juice mixed with sugar is a sealant applied after the henna is applied. It helps keep the henna in place and it’s good for the development of the stain.
• Mehndi – The process of applying henna. Also used as another word for henna . Sometimes spelled differently (mehendi, mehandi, mhendi etc).
• Mylar – A sort of plastic used to roll henna cones with.
• Non-dom henna- Referring to henna done with the non-dominant hand.
• PPD – Short for Para-phenylenediamine. PPD is a very harmful substance used in something referred to as ‘black henna’ and is very dangerous when applied to skin. (More info on the dangers of black henna can be found here.)
• Slinging – The applying of henna. “I’ve been slinging all weekend“.
• Terps – Short for terpenes. From wiki; ‘Terpenes and terpenoids are the primary constituents of essential oils of many types of plants and flowers’. Essential oils containing terps are added to henna paste to help darken the stain. Terping is the process of adding oils to the paste.
• Tp – Toilet paper/tissue. An abbreviation used when talking about wrapping up a henna’ed body part to stop the henna from falling off and help develop the stain.

Of course the list isn’t exhaustive but I hope it will point you in the right direction!  Any other terms you would like to see explained, please post them in a comment.

Happy henna’ing!