the alchemy recipe for mixing natural henna at home

henna paste at home

1/1/2017

step by step henna mixing

Natural henna is not instant and requires some time to prepare. This bit of mixing is part of what I love about henna. With one basic recipe, the possilities for customizing are endless. It can be straight forward or witchy, whatever you prefer. Getting the paste 'just right' is nuanced and takes practice to make - like bread dough. Adequate paste works, so does adequate bread dough: it takes some time to develop any knowing about mixing. With practice you'll learn to read the paste and adjust the texture for your own preferences and conditions.

You will need:

body art quality henna (sources listed below)
liquid to mix in (tea, water, apple or citrus juice)
bowl, measuring spoons and spatula or spoonfor mixing
essential oils (certain oils help the staining molecule bond with the skin)

Our friends at Henna Caravan have a super simple recipe called: KISS (keep it simple) - which is failsafe, the recipe here has a few additions but the basics are the same (I like to choose additions based on the event -when I'm at Eldorado General Store; for my studio, I like rose water).

one packet of henna powder is usually 100 grams - our recipe is for a 1/2 packet
50 g henna powder
1/4 c liquid
1/2 T essential oil (lavendar, tea tree, cajeput, rose geranium, lemongrass, sweet orange)
1 t sugar
rosewater to thin paste

measure out the powder and essential oils into a bowl, add sugar and enough liquid to moisten all the powder: about cookie batter consistency.
cover and set aside (we are waiting at this point for dye-release)*
after dye release, thin the paste with rosewater or more tea/water/juice to get a consistancy that will pipe niecely through a henna cone
strain through knee-high hose into a carrot bag
pipe into henna cones, store unused henna cones in the freezer.

Sources for henna: Henna Caravan / Hiral Henna there are other suppliers of quality henna -these are just the two I use most often. They also sell all the other supplies, like essential oil blends, and materials for making henna cones.

Video resources for rolling henna cones: Victoria Welch at Blurberrybuzz is a great youtube resouce.

* Henna isn't ready to stain in the raw-powder state. Once the liquids have been added it takes time to release the molecule in the plant stains the skin. I have discovered that the interior temperature of my microwave with the night light on is 80 degrees. It take 4 hours for henna paste to be ready (ususally).

Resources: links discussed in our workshop

For henna powder, essential oil blends and practice worksheets:
Henna Caravan
Hiral Henna

For henna cones (and also legit suppliers):
Text me at 248-797-0416 or
Henna Lounge
Sarahenna Seattle

The blog of my friend the historian: Eshkol HaKofer

Tutorials for cone rolling:
Blurberrybuzz

Essential Oil resource (I don't buy oils for treatments or perfumes from here, but I do purchase oils for 'terping' -getting good stains- henna):
Bulk Apothecary

Oils to use:
Lavender and Cajeput can be used on their own
or a blend made by choosing a combination of these oils: Tea Tree, Cajeput, Lavender, Rose Geranium, Frankincense, Lemongrass, Geranium Boubon - - they are all high in the natural chemical for good stains. You can add others like sweet orange because you like the smell.