The Henna Plant: Free Tips for Applying Henna Tattoos & Body Art

Video Transcript

"What part of the henna plant that is actually used are the leaves. The flower is used for perfume as I’ve said. The leaves are what we use for the body art. These are dry and ground henna leaves. It’s grounded into a fine fine powder. When you purchase henna, it usually comes, unless you live somewhere where’s it is grown locally, it will come like this. If you happen to live in a country where it’s grown locally, you can go to the market in places like India and sometimes even in Morocco where it’s grown and you can find just the leaves just laid out and drying in big bins at the market place. And a lot of different varieties of henna. You get a lot of choices there. We, in the United States, don’t typically have the ability to get henna that way. Normally when you buy your henna, you’ll buy it if you’re buying fresh henna as opposed to a pre-made paste which I’ll talk about later. if you’re it’ll come in a box. And these are just some different brand names that you might see, it’s very important to look at it and make sure that it’s one hundred percent pure henna. This, when you look at it, it says that it’s henna, superior quality henna. Also, this one, if you look at it it either gives you A) an expiration date and the year that it was harvested. It’s very important that your henna is fresh, so knowing those things can be imperative to what kind of stain you get. The henna plant is dried, the leaves are browned, and then we end up with the powder. In some places they add stuff to the leaves to make the color greener. Because there seems to be a thought that the greener the powder the fresher the henna. This is a myth. This henna is the summer 2005 crop which means it was just harvested and dried and it’s not a bright green as you can see. Henna that is not, that is bright green is not necessarily fresher than this henna. It may have dye added to it. Frequently in other countries they will add dye to it to make it more appealing. Much like we add wax to apples here in the United States. It’s not necessarily going to be harmful but it adulterates your henna. It’s not a pure product anymore. This henna does not have dye added to it, the manufacturer just doesn’t. It’s very good. It’s just my particular favorite and you’ll have to find your own. This henna is henna that I can purchase locally this henna I have to order. So, you know shop around little bit and see what’s out there. Just be careful and make sure you’re getting the genuine article. Once the henna plant is dried and ground it’s a good idea if you purchase from a supplier to sift it. Henna that is not sifted will contain lots of small twigs and things that cannot be used by you in making henna body art. What you’ll have to do is take it home and sift it and sift it and sift it one more time. And after you’re done sifting it, whatever you’re left with is what is usable. Sometimes half of your product is unusable. So it’s better to pay a little extra to get the better quality henna. "