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Summary: Henna is a natural herb that was originally discovered in Egypt. Learn more about henna and how it's used from our henna expert in this free video.
Tiffany Papandrea is a licensed micro-pigmentologist and owner of "Tiffany's Naturals Body Art Boutique." She specializes in henna, sunless tanning, permanent cosmetics, and petite...read more
Henna is a large flowering shrub whose leaves can be dried, ground, and mixed into a paste to dye skin. Henna has been used as body art for thousands of years in the Middle East and northern Africa. There are various shades of henna that can be applied to the skin but the actual color that will show on your skin depends on the tone of your skin, how dry or oily your skin is, and how concentrated your henna paste is. Henna tattooing, for all of recorded history, has been popular among young women and continues to grow in popularity today.
In this free video series our expert Tiffany Papandrea will talk you through all the steps for creating your own henna dye. You'll learn about the ingredients and necessary tools for creating henna. Tiffany will also show you the proper method for sifting and mixing your henna and tamarind together. She'll also demonstrate a few easy steps for creating and using cones in order to help distribute the dye accurately. In no time Tiffany will have you creating your own unique henna dye that you can use for all sorts of decorative designs.
"Okay, one of the first things that we're going to talk about today is where henna comes from. Henna originally was discovered in Egypt, from the Egyptian Pryvit plant. And it soon made it's way over to India. It's a natural herb. It's collected and gathered and then we have to sift it. And I'm going to show you that in a later segment. One of the other questions that people ask me often is: "do you have different colors of henna? Can you do black henna? Are there different colors of stain?" Traditionally, Henna stains a brownish red color. You want to stay away from black henna, it's not safe. It does burn your skin. They put a chemical in it and additives that are not natural and I don't recommend messing with it. It was also known as the first air conditioning of the desert. When it was first discovered, they noticed that it had cooling properties. When they put their hands and feet inside of it, it cooled them down. So it's the first air conditioning of the desert. And they also noticed that it stained their skin, so they started to decorate with it. Now let's get started. "
eHow Article: Henna History
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