henna love

henna milestone for my henna skills

This was an important milestone for me. 

I have always been drawn to natural beauty products; making my own lotions and potions with essential oils for a long time before I ever really thought about henna.

My first introduction to the idea of using henna at home came from a groovy mama catalog. Before that it never occurred to me that it was a natural substance. 

Later I learned that the kit I got came from an artist I admire: Rebecca Freedener of Heartfire Henna (I still buy supplies from her).

In the photo above you can see my work on my daughter's hand and the picture I tore out of the catalog - - I remember wishing I could do that flower. My lines weren't nearly that pretty when I started practicing. And I've made some spectacular mistakes while learning to mix my own paste.

Notice too that my paste looks really, really dark (almost black) that's because I used henna powder from a particular region and the natural terroir means the paste looks dark instead of the green, or green-brown you might be used to.