About Henna

The Tradition of Henna
Traditionally, women have been henna'd to celebrate their rites of
passage: coming of age, marriage, pregnancy, and a few days after their babies
are born. It is completely all natural and safe, women have been painting women
like this for thousands of years. Henna's origins are mainly in the Middle
East, Africa, and India, because that is where the henna plant grows.
The two main medicinal properties you will experience from the henna
plant are 1) it's cooling effect (it will lower your body temperature a couple
of degrees) and 2) it is soothing to your nerves (it's very relaxing to get a
tattoo). Many women describe the experience as relaxing as a massage, as
pampering as a pedicure.

How Henna Naturally Dyes Your Skin
The natural dye in henna soaks into your layers of skin during the
first 6 hours the paste is on your body, and the more skin layers there are,
the more henna dye is absorbed, and thus the darker the tattoo. Hands and feet
have the thickest layers of skin and that is why they stain the darkest. Henna
does not technically fade, it exfoliates (the lower, less stained cells, rise
to the surface, until all stained cells are shed.). So the less skin layers of
dye, the quicker it exfoliates. Tattoos on the hands and feet "fade"
after 2 to 4 weeks. Tattoos on the belly, arms and legs "fade" after
5 to 25 days. The henna will exfoliate quicker if you wash the tattoo often, particularily
if you scrub it or expose it to chlorine.