Black Henna Beware

[Zorba]

Its good to post this kind of thing from time-to-time. I've done so often when someone is talking about "black" henna or Kohl. Never hurts to remind folks. I use Kohl all the time - but only Kohl that is made by a "real" cosmetics company that follows FDA guidelines and lists their ingredients! It was Sally Hansen for years, but they stopped making it, so now I'm using a Guerlain product - at 4X the price of the Sally Hansen!

And never, EVER "black" henna! Besides, I like the look of the traditional stuff a lot better!

 

[gypsy8522]

Silly question but why do people use the black henna if it's dangerous and there is a safe alternative?

Hi everyone,

I've had the black henna done before, so I have a personal experience with this.

The black henna is often called Sudanese henna in arabic speaking countries, and it IS the traditional henna in the culture of Sudan. The reason they add black die to the henna (as I was told) is because Sudanese women tend to have darker skin and they need a stronger, bolder color than other non-Sudanese women. The Sudanese designs are also different from the Indian designs, they are bigger and more flowery. It is a tradition for women to have their hands and feet done for weddings and contrary to popular belief, many of them are fully aware of the health consequences that may result from using this type of henna, yet they continue to have it done because it is part of their tradition.

Wearing henna to a wedding for them is like the color scarfs that women in Egypt spend hours before a wedding pinning to their heads and coordinating with their dresses, and it's very similar (from a health and beauty perspective)to the many Western women who sit out hours in the sun or in the tanning salon (ie the cancer booth) to get that desired bronze color for a special occasion.

I was invited to a Sudanese friend's henna wedding party once (it's a tradition to have all family and friends come over to the bride's house the day before the wedding to get their henna) and it took the henna artist a whole day to apply her designs for about 60 people. The artist was professional and very fast, it took her about 15 minutes to draw each hand, and 30 minute for each foot. She could create new designs off the top of her head and she never used the same design for two people! It took another half an hour for the henna to dry and after that they make you sit in a sauna type thing, except that it isn't relaxing at all but rather the most painful experience a woman can go through, but I guess that's the price you pay for beauty! There was also another problem I remember, the henna lady was hesitant about drawing on a 6 year old's hand because children have a tendency to forget and unconsciously put their hands into their mouths. She then told us a story about a child back home who died after drinking out of a henna mix cup.

My Bahraini classmate had the Sudanese henna once drawn as a necklace around her neck. I thought she was crazy to have it done so close to her lungs, and asked her if she knew about its danger.. turns out she did and she even gave me the name of the cancerogenous element in the dye. She said it was her sister's wedding and she wanted to look pretty and different.

As far as I know these women (the truly talented henna artists) get invitations to travel to different countries specially for weddings and they make fortunes out it. It is a business to them, so they are very aware of the dangers of this henna. They also have good knowledge about the different chemicals the henna contains since they prepare the mix themselves and due to their long experience in that profession etc.. So it is not necessarily true that these women are ignorant about the chemicals because they are uneducated (hello Tarik! , just look at some of the answers here, it proves that one can be educated yet ignorant about a subject.

 

[jenc]

well how many of us smoke, or use hair dye........there are links to modern hair dye being carcinogenic

 

[Samira bint Aya]

From
"Stay Away From Products That...." lists of 8 warning signs including "Claim to be ‘Black Henna'" and "Contain a greyish – purple coloured powder that you need to mix with water."

:shok: Gosh! Thank you for pointing that out Antiseteph. It describes exactly what I bought!

I guess I will have to stick to brown henna then. I like it a lot, however, the patterns come out somewhat pale, compared to the jet black henna I had done in Egypt…

There is a safe alternative to black henna, called Jagua. I will seek that option out, or stick to the red-brown Indian henna.

 

[Reen.Blom]

Thanks for posting, I never heard of it before!

 

[Eve]

OMG! Eve, it sounds so painful what you went through, you poor thing. Thank goodness you haven't had any lasting trauma to your head.

Samira Bint Aya, I think you should do a test on an tiny area of skin as Dipali suggested before using the henna you have got, I would do it twice as the first time you may not have a reaction. But do it 24 to 48 hours apart and in different spots. I haven't heard of, or seen a grey colour, so it is hard to say if it is totally unadulterated. maybe the Egyptian soil makes it go a greyish colour, but do test to be sure.
~Mosaic

It was sore and itched but I think it looked much worse than it was, wandering about with a head like the elephant woman is not a look I'd usually go for.:lol:

Henna/Indigo -If in doubt don't buy and buy from a reputable source. I now use a lady based in Canada - if anyone wants her details then leave me a message.
Different hennas give different shades and strength of colour/dye release depending on what they are mixed with eg. water, lemon juice, essential oils.

 

[khanjar]

Seem to remember Mehndi oil, an oil which smelled like melissa, which is awful. Lemon makes the skin photosensitive, as does many citrus oils

 

[Eve]

Seem to remember Mehndi oil, an oil which smelled like melissa, which is awful. Lemon makes the skin photosensitive, as does many citrus oils

lemon juice - when using henna for hair.

 

[Reen.Blom]

Seem to remember Mehndi oil, an oil which smelled like melissa, which is awful. Lemon makes the skin photosensitive, as does many citrus oils

Why is melissa aweful? LOL

 

[Tarik Sultan]

Hi everyone,

I've had the black henna done before, so I have a personal experience with this.

The black henna is often called Sudanese henna in arabic speaking countries, and it IS the traditional henna in the culture of Sudan. The reason they add black die to the henna (as I was told) is because Sudanese women tend to have darker skin and they need a stronger, bolder color than other non-Sudanese women. The Sudanese designs are also different from the Indian designs, they are bigger and more flowery. It is a tradition for women to have their hands and feet done for weddings and contrary to popular belief, many of them are fully aware of the health consequences that may result from using this type of henna, yet they continue to have it done because it is part of their tradition.

Wearing henna to a wedding for them is like the color scarfs that women in Egypt spend hours before a wedding pinning to their heads and coordinating with their dresses, and it's very similar (from a health and beauty perspective)to the many Western women who sit out hours in the sun or in the tanning salon (ie the cancer booth) to get that desired bronze color for a special occasion.

I was invited to a Sudanese friend's henna wedding party once (it's a tradition to have all family and friends come over to the bride's house the day before the wedding to get their henna) and it took the henna artist a whole day to apply her designs for about 60 people. The artist was professional and very fast, it took her about 15 minutes to draw each hand, and 30 minute for each foot. She could create new designs off the top of her head and she never used the same design for two people! It took another half an hour for the henna to dry and after that they make you sit in a sauna type thing, except that it isn't relaxing at all but rather the most painful experience a woman can go through, but I guess that's the price you pay for beauty! There was also another problem I remember, the henna lady was hesitant about drawing on a 6 year old's hand because children have a tendency to forget and unconsciously put their hands into their mouths. She then told us a story about a child back home who died after drinking out of a henna mix cup.

My Bahraini classmate had the Sudanese henna once drawn as a necklace around her neck. I thought she was crazy to have it done so close to her lungs, and asked her if she knew about its danger.. turns out she did and she even gave me the name of the cancerogenous element in the dye. She said it was her sister's wedding and she wanted to look pretty and different.

As far as I know these women (the truly talented henna artists) get invitations to travel to different countries specially for weddings and they make fortunes out it. It is a business to them, so they are very aware of the dangers of this henna. They also have good knowledge about the different chemicals the henna contains since they prepare the mix themselves and due to their long experience in that profession etc.. So it is not necessarily true that these women are ignorant about the chemicals because they are uneducated (hello Tarik! , just look at some of the answers here, it proves that one can be educated yet ignorant about a subject.

Good point. My question would be what did they add to it to make it black before they started using unnatural chemicals? They must have had something. I think the problem is everyone wants the quick fix. Perhaps the original additives were more time consuming or expensive? So perhaps a hair dye powder is quicker to mix and easier to obtain, but in the long run it is not a great thing. As for sun tanning etc. I see your point. The thing is I guess when the negative effects happen within a matter of hours it seems more alarming than something that shows up over a period of time.

Well, gotta go perm my hair. What?! Don't look at me that way! After all, I never finished grad school so what do you expect?

 

[Aniseteph]

I imagine the traditional artists have the experience to keep any toxic ingredients to a minimum - after all you are not going to get many repeat bookings if you bring wedding parties up in blisters and sensitise all your customers by painting hair dye on them.

 

[Tarik Sultan]

I imagine the traditional artists have the experience to keep any toxic ingredients to a minimum - after all you are not going to get many repeat bookings if you bring wedding parties up in blisters and sensitise all your customers by painting hair dye on them.

Not really. Some people may have a higher tolerance to it than others. Some people are very allergic. Thing is there's no way to know if you're allergic or not until its done. Kind of like playing Russian Roulette. At the festival my friend had it done, there were many people who had it done. None of them seemed to have had a reaction, but she definitely was a lucky winner. Thing is it may take some people longer to develop a sensitivity. The best thing would be to use different additives. There has to be something else besides artificial hair dye.

 

[jenc]

When we had our hands done by Saharan refugees we were hosting we had to prepare the skin with oil (can't remember which one, but don't know it it is important which one). then after applying they covered it with a thick paste of I think sugar and water. Once this had dried we had to cover hand with plastic bag overnight and wash off next day. The sugar paste and the plastic bag were to protect henna so it would stay on skin longer and be darker.
Forget to say it was normal henna.

 

[lizaj]

I imagine the traditional artists have the experience to keep any toxic ingredients to a minimum - after all you are not going to get many repeat bookings if you bring wedding parties up in blisters and sensitise all your customers by painting hair dye on them.

Fra safer not to have any toxic ingredients at all!
Just do NOT have anything to do with black henna either overseas or here. Just do a search and see it isn't confined to holidays in North Africa or Turkey but also here in the UK. It is about time, the artistes stopped using black.
Last night there was an item on the NW news of a youngster having an arm tatoo in Turkey. The results horrific and he has been warned he may have a large and permament scar thanks to black henna.

 

[gypsy8522]

As for sun tanning etc. I see your point. The thing is I guess when the negative effects happen within a matter of hours it seems more alarming than something that shows up over a period of time.

Tarik, you are saying that the negative effects of tanning only shows up over a period of time. Do you remember actress Charlize Theron when she showed up to the oscars looking like an orange peel? It couldn't possibly get any more alarming than that.

 

[Sita]

When we had our hands done by Saharan refugees we were hosting we had to prepare the skin with oil (can't remember which one, but don't know it it is important which one). then after applying they covered it with a thick paste of I think sugar and water. Once this had dried we had to cover hand with plastic bag overnight and wash off next day. The sugar paste and the plastic bag were to protect henna so it would stay on skin longer and be darker.
Forget to say it was normal henna.

I've studied mendhi (henna) privately for a while and its common practise to use an oil to prepare the skin before applying the henna paste I just use a brought specially made henna oil and most henna designs should be covered and wrapped in a plastic bag over night as both procedures produce a darker colour/tint for longer. I think its just as mendhi became popular and people have started using it without fully being aware of all the procedures involved that these additional routines have been forgetten yet recipes and information can be found easily with a little research.
I'm also quite surprised how little is truly known about mendhi, I take pictures of my designs while they are drying and therefore still black because it shows up better on camera, other artists tend to do the same, and I think this confuses the matter because most people approach me expecting the designs to stay black.
Black henna therefore tends to fall into the hands of people who are trying it for the first time or uncaring practioners motivated by consumer demands; people just look for henna in shops and prefer the tube pastes to making ther own (which can be a lot cheaper). I also, like any make-up artist, perform a patch test as some people can find the application a little itchy on their skin although with pure henna major allergic reactions are rare.

Sita

 

[khanjar]

Fra safer not to have any toxic ingredients at all!
Just do NOT have anything to do with black henna either overseas or here. Just do a search and see it isn't confined to holidays in North Africa or Turkey but also here in the UK. It is about time, the artistes stopped using black.
Last night there was an item on the NW news of a youngster having an arm tatoo in Turkey. The results horrific and he has been warned he may have a large and permament scar thanks to black henna.

And here is that article with pictures, the aftermath and further down the page, the before. (Be warned, it's not nice )

Scarred for life by henna tattoo | Metro.co.uk

 

[Sita]

And here is that article with pictures, the aftermath and further down the page, the before. (Be warned, it's not nice )

Scarred for life by henna tattoo | Metro.co.uk

It's horrific! Black henna is just to dangerous and should be completly banned however I dislike the fact that black henna is not mentioned at all in the article to the casual reader it appears to be just a normal henna tattoo that went wrong. This I feel is the problem; the warnings about Black Henna are reliant on word of mouth more than anything and with many individuals using henna on their own without advise or some kind of guidance I feel the problem will just continue.

 

[khanjar]

It's horrific! Black henna is just to dangerous and should be completly banned however I dislike the fact that black henna is not mentioned at all in the article to the casual reader it appears to be just a normal henna tattoo that went wrong. This I feel is the problem; the warnings about Black Henna are reliant on word of mouth more than anything and with many individuals using henna on their own without advise or some kind of guidance I feel the problem will just continue.

I agree, but if you look at the thirty three comments on that article you will see others have brought up that, the lack of distinction between true henna and ppd laced henna. The fault of ill informed or just plain bad journalism seeking a headline of doom and gloom as usual.

I have used henna for skin patterns and many variations on recipe for success. I had heard of black henna and even tried to find it, but luckily to no avail.

 

[Sita]

I agree, but if you look at the thirty three comments on that article you will see others have brought up that, the lack of distinction between true henna and ppd laced henna. The fault of ill informed or just plain bad journalism seeking a headline of doom and gloom as usual.

Very true-nothing like a horrid shocking story to sell papers.

I have used henna for skin patterns and many variations on recipe for success. I had heard of black henna and even tried to find it, but luckily to no avail.

Unfortunatly i've seen it advertised on the net and in some shops although I have to say in my experience its not as widely avaliable as natural henna which is good. Also I am always looking for good and different recipes to try out so please feel free to share any

Sita