Mehendi is a beautiful temporary body art form, popularly used in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. The leaves of this plant are used to dye skin, fingernails, hair and even leather or wool. This form of tattoo art is used extensively during festivals and celebrations, especially during weddings. The leaves of henna when crushed do not stain the skin. They will stain only after the release of lawsone molecules (2-hydroxy-1, 4-naphthoquinone) present in the leaves

if someone said to you that “Mehandi absorbs heat from the body and turns that part coloured”. He must be kidding, don’t believe him 🙂 !!

well here’s a molecule that plays the role of temporary staining skin, we are talking about “Lawsone”. A dark-orange-brown coloured solid, it is the source of the characteristic henna stain. Lawsone gets absorbed in porous surfaces like Skin and hair (even it can stain your walls). Get back to the skin. The dye sinks into the upper layer of dead skin and produces skin colouring. Due to nature Exfoliation, old skin flake down and new fresh skin replaces the old skin and Mehandi colour will also fade with old skin. Henna/Mehendi is prepared from the crushed leaves of the henna plant Lawsonia Inermis.

When henna leave’s paste applies to the skin, lawsone diffuses outer layers of skin and make a chemical bond to the skin cell proteins. And the Henna stains last for many weeks.  Lawsone is non-water soluble, so Organic solvent are blended with Heena, it can be easily absorbed by skin cells. Products sold named as “Heena oil” Are often contains “monoterpenes”. But some may contain other solvents which may not safe as Monoterpenes. After absorption, Heena darkens in a few days due to Oxidation.

LAWSONE MOLECULE

It can cause some side effects such as inflammation of the skin (dermatitis) including redness, itching, burning, swelling, scaling, broken skin, blisters, and scarring of the skin. Rarely, allergic reactions can occur such as hives, runny nose, wheezing, and asthma.

AVOID BLACK MEHENDI !!!!

Natural Mehendi, when applied to the skin rarely causes any adverse reactions. There is no such thing as black Mehendi. In order for Mehendi to produce a black colour chemical that is unsafe for your skin have been added. Black Mehendi should be avoided. A chemical dye known as p-Phenylenediamine, which is not authorized for use on the skin by the FDA is often added to the natural Mehendi to produce a black colour