Mehndi is the traditional art of adorning the hands and feet with a paste made from the leaves of the henna plant. The leaves are dried, crushed and made into a paste using a variety of different things. I have heard so many no-no's and yes-yes's that I have just stuck to coming up with my own recipe and perfecting it from there. The design lasts anywhere from 3days to 3 months. I used my husband as a guinea pig and it lasted 3 1/2 months! He has very olive skin. I have never known of anyone to create a rash from the paste itself. But it really depends on what you use. I use limes, lemon juice, red rose tea, eucalyptus oil and lemon oil. I have used powder from India'n stores and from my local health food store. Both with pretty much the same result. I have not found a combination that has made very dark designs but I usually get a dark orange to lt. brown color when used on my own skin. The designs range in size from delicate to extreme! My favorite thing about mehndi is you cannot do dishes for at least 3 days after you apply it to your hands!! *hee hee*

My recipe is as follows:

Boil half a lime sliced in water. I use tap water but have heard that rain or bottled is a better choice. Depending on how much paste you want to make I usually use 2 cups water to 5-7 lime slices. Also, drying the limes and boiling them works well. After the limes and water have boiled for 5 minutes add about 7-9 bags of red roseor green tea. While this is simmering, place 2-3 tbsp. of henna powder in a glass bowl. Add 2-3 Tbsp. of lime or lemon juice to the henna powder and stir until it reaches a cookie dough consistency. When simmering mixture reaches a reddish tint, strain and add to the powder/lemon mixture until smooth. You don't want this to runny. Let it sit over night, or at least 6 hours before applying.
Before you make a batch sift your powder through a pair of nylons to get the leftover stems and twigs out of the powder. You can do this as many times as you want. The purer your powder the better the paste! Let me know what you come up with!! *S*


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