How to practice mehndi at home: Mixing your mehndi

How to practice mehndi at home: Mixing your mehndi 

How to practice mehndi at home? When we think of body art, perhaps the first name that comes to our minds is a tattoo. However, there are other art forms as well. Thankfully, they are not permanent like a tattoo. Mehndi or henna is a very popular type of body art these days. The mehndi designs are not just popular in South Asian countries but also in many Western countries. You will find mehndi in various qualities and styles. However, primarily there are three types of hennas that are most popular – namely Indian, Arabic, and Pakistani.

The practice of getting mehndi art on the body is a popular thing during wedding ceremonies or festivals. Brown and black are the two most popular mehndi colours. However, there are other colours available as well such as dark green and orange. There are two types of hennas available these days – natural and artificial. For those who are looking for darker and, long-lasting mehndi art should go for the natural mehndi.

While planning to apply mehndi to your body, you will need to remember one thing – it is extremely important to create a proper mehndi mix or paste. Only when the mix has been prepared the right way you will get more beautiful, long-lasting, and darker effects. Even the best mehndi design will be rendered ineffective without the proper mix. So, here is how you can create the mehndi mix the right way.

Things you need

• First of all, you are going to need the henna powder or the fresh henna leaves. As abovementioned, it is best to go for the natural mehndi as it will give you better results. So, even if a natural one is not available at the shop closer to your home, it would be worth your while to find the place where you can get it.
• Lemon juice or something which is sour, like vinegar. However, lime juice is the best and most easily available. Everyone has lemons at home. You simply need to squeeze them to get the fresh juice. Don’t forget to strain so that you can remove seeds and pulp.
• Anything sour, like lime juice, helps in breaking the cellulose of henna. This further helps the ineffective release of the molecules. Thus, henna penetrates your skin better.
• You will also need oil. Eucalyptus oil is a great choice. However, even olive oil would do.
• For every 20gm of henna powder, you will require 60ml of lemon juice and oil separately.

Preparing for the paste

• First of all, you will need to sift the henna powder. This is to ensure that you get rid of the chunks. These chunks will otherwise clog the tip of the cone from which henna is discharged and applied to the skin.
• You can also use nylon cloth to sift the powder. You can put the cloth over the plastic container and sift henna using it.
• In case you are using the fresh leaves of henna, you will first need to grind and crush them. Once they are crushed you will again need to sift them using the sifter or nylon cloth.

Making the paste

You will need to transfer the henna powder into a bowl or small container. Follow these steps:

• Take about one-fourth of the lime juice and mix the henna powder to it. Keep whisking it until it becomes thick and looks somewhat like mashed potatoes. This means that you will need to mix it very well.
• Now cover the paste you have just created using a plastic wrap. Remember that it is not ready to be used yet. It should be left like this for at least one full day at the room temperature. This will help in releasing the dye from the powder. After some time you will notice that the dye has started separating from the rest of the paste.
• Now you will need to scoop the dye out with the help of a spoon. To the paste left in the bowl gradually add the lemon juice (1 tsp at a time) and keep whisking it until the paste has the feel of the yoghurt.
• You will need to put this paste in the henna cone (made of plastic). Don’t forget to close the top of the cone tightly by twisting it 2-3 times. Wrap the rubber band around it so that it doesn’t open